Date: 2004-06-17
To: ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here's something special for you -- a different point of view of the past few days of hiking. The following paragraphs are "Three F's" account of the hike from Swift Run Gap to Rockfish Gap, unabridged and unedited... the good the bad and the ugly all from her perspective. ENJOY! (Reminder: the person she refers to as "Nat" is really me, "Bumpo"... old habits are tough to break.)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------"I don¢t remember when I first heard Nat talk about hiking the Appalachian Trail, but I knew I had to go with him for a tiny stretch. I had always wanted to backpack but was afraid that I couldn¢t carry a pack and didn¢t have any idea how to go about getting gear or route together. I had also hiked Mt. Greylock last summer and had touched on parts of the AT and was intrigued by the notion of hiking the AT. Nat agreed for me to come along on one of his sections and started by taking me shopping for a pack, since neither one of my kids¢ packs fit me. He helped me buy a number of other items, including a ¢spork¢ and a spade, one for each end of the digestive process. Nat gave me a written list of what I should bring¢three shirts, two shorts, raingear, long johns, etc, detailed instructions on meeting him at his sister and brother-in-law¢s house in Virginia near our hopping-off point, a meal plan, and projected destinations for each day¢s hike. "Good planning is the key to successful backpacking. It is also axiomatic that no plan will be adhered to. Right from the beginning we deviated from the plan. Instead of meeting Nat after he had done a section of the AT, we traveled together to the Rogers¢ in New Market, Virginia, on Friday, June 11, enjoyed dinner with Roberta and Bill and spent the next few hours lightening backpacks and sorting food. Before taking off the next morning, I weighed my pack in at 28 pounds without water. After running a few errands to buy a new camera battery and pepper spray, Nat and I posed for pictures and departed from the Rogers at Swift Run Gap at 1:15, headed for Hightop Hut all of 3.4 miles away. "The trail started off with an uphill gain of 1000¢ and I think all the uphill hiking in Aspen paid off because it wasn¢t hard, even with the pack. We arrived at the hut at 3:30 and decided to continue on to Pinefield Hut, our next day¢s destination. Arriving at 8:00, I found Nat had already selected a tent site and was getting our tents set up. I wasn¢t much help because by then I needed to recover from the 11 miles that at first, I didn¢t feel."Nat had brought along a lightweight sleeping bag that resembled two bath towels sewn together and was about as warm. We shared a tent in an attempt to increase the ambient temperature, but Nat was cold during the night despite having donned all of his clothing. He kept pulling at my sleeping bag as if it were a blanket for him to share, thinking I would save him from hypothermia. Wrong. While breaking camp the next morning, I accidently broke a small but significant part of the small tent. Nat was truly Mr. Fixit with his multipurpose, all-in-one tool, and we started out a little late but with a working tent. I dragged my butt. Fortunately it was a mere seven miles to Loft Mountain which has a camp store and campground. In an act of enlightened self-interest, I bought Nat a blanket to supplement his ¢sleeping towels¢ and we headed off to find a campsite amongst the RV¢s. I felt like I was playing hooky from the AT by staying at such a commercial campsite, but I have to admit I liked the first class flush toilets and warm running water. I must admit that I also like the meals we¢ve had so far on the Trail. A lot. "In the morning, we hitched to and from the Loft Mountain Wayside for a store-bought breakfast. It¢s sort of anathema that AT hikers will walk every inch of the AT even if there¢s a short cut to be found but will do anything to hitch a ride and not walk an inch of non-trail. We anticipated another short day, six miles to the Black Rock Hut, to give my feet and knee another day¢s rest before doing the ¢Battan Death March¢ the following day. We arrived at Black Rock on the early side of hut arrivals to find a darling young hiker, a student trail-named ¢Shepherd¢ because he¢s studying to be a Lutheran pastor. Soon we were joined by three kids from the UK hiking for 5 days before going to a wedding in Kentucky. They were followed by and quite a few others. We decided to sleep in the shelter so that I could have a little taste of every experience the Trail has to offer. Staying in the shelter also meant that we wouldn¢t have to pack tents the next morning and could get an earlier start for our long day. Shelter discussion, this evening had centered on the rodents and flying squirrels at the shelter where the NOBO hikers had stayed at the night before and where we were headed for our next night."Most Thru Hikers go in the south-to-north direction because they can start on the Trail in Georgia earlier in the spring than they can in Maine. We, however, for this section hiked north-to-south so that Nat could meet up with people he had been hiking with before, and indeed everyone on the Trail, seemed to know Bumpo. (See Nat¢s journal for the ¢Meanderthal¢ incident.) I went to sleep a little concerned about the long hike the next day and about my snoring and talking in my sleep and disturbing the dozen others in the hut. I didn¢t disturb anyone, but about 11:30 that night all of us were awakened by a group of 13 who arrived at the shelter, having missed their intended campground several miles back and seeking level ground which they eventually found in a parking area three miles past the shelter. (I saw them the next morning.)"We were up and out at a record early time of 7:15 the next morning and headed from Black Rock Shelter to Calf Mountain Shelter, a mere 13 miles away. The hiking was easy and pleasant but we could hear distant thunder during the last hour and a half and we ended up walking in an easy rain for the last hour. We set up our tents and visited with the others who arrived at the shelter in a steady stream, figuratively and literally, including ¢Blue,¢ one of Nat¢s Trail friends who is an adorable young lawyer on leave from legal services in New York. I had my own tent, and felt positively in the lap of luxury to be able to lay out all of my soaking wet clothing for the night even though there was no hope that it would dry by morning. "As our last day on the trail dawned, I had mixed thoughts. I am so grateful that Nat let me experience the AT under his tutelage. Nat is a great baby-sitter, spiritual adviser, philosopher, therapist, and NOLS instructor. I used to think that Nat would be a ski instructor in his dotage. However, he¢s too much of a National Trail treasure and repository of Trail information not to share it with those of us AT wannabes. Besides, how many people carry an empty baggie and take great pride in picking up what little trash can found on the Trail? Nat brakes for ¢Trail Treasures¢ as we he calls the tiny pieces of trash he collects. Nat is also the only person I saw pick up a broom and sweep the inside and OUTSIDE of the shelter. I can¢t think of any other person who would do the AT in honor of his 60th birthday or who is capable of doing it for any birthday. My hiking cap is off to ¢Bumpo.¢ I cannot deny that dry clothing, blister relief, and a shower were not on my mind as well as we set out for the last leg of our hike. "I have no desire to do the length of the AT, but I do want to do some more sections. Nat, you gave me a rare gift. You made it possible for me to do something that has been on my checklist for a long time and, maybe more importantly, you taught me how to do it myself. Thank you for being a true friend." Fern