7 May - 15 May
Pen-Mar, MD -- Thornton Gap, VA
7 May 2005 – Saturday – Pine Knob Shelter (Maryland) on the Appalachian Trail
So, after some months of planning and figuring, Ann drove me from home this morning to the Pen-Mar County Park just barely south of the Mason-Dixon Line. We got there about 8:45 a.m., and I got hiking about 9:00. Got here to the shelter (17.6 miles later) at 5:20. Had a short lunch break at Ensign Cowall Shelter, which was roughly half-way in between.
Mostly the Trail was pretty easy. Long stretches of it flat and dirt-covered, but there were some harder rocky patches. And I really did need this shelter to be here. The big drawback here is the traffic noise from I-70, just down the hill, and a supposed drag strip nearby. On the other hand, the spring is close to the shelter.
Met 3 or so NO-BO through hikers. Ate lunch with a couple NO-BO section hikers from Syracuse who had started down in the Shenandoah someplace and were hiking back in the direction of home.
Saw a little wildlife: a turkey on the drive in; chipmunk, rabbit, various birds (heard but didn’t see a raven); some butterflies; and – remind me – is it a good thing or a bad thing to see a salamander in the pool of water at the spring you’re dipping from?
There’s a hiker holed up in his sleeping bag in the shelter. Raised his head to say hello when he heard me arrive, but laid back down again. Coughed a couple times. Maybe he’s waiting out a cold. Noisy group of tenters on the far side of the privy.
Scarlet tanager sighting – two of them! Make that at least 3.
Going to make supper and read the shelter register.
8 May 2005 (Sunday) Ed Garvey Shelter (Maryland)
What a nice shelter! Only drawback is that the spring is listed as .4 miles down a steep hill. Two guys left almost a half hour ago to get water and aren’t back yet. I filled up back at Gathland State Park, about 3 miles north of here and intend to make it last through breakfast and the 6 miles into Harpers Ferry.
The guy in the sleeping bag yesterday turned out to be a section hiker doing a shakedown hike preparing for a through hike he wants to start in January, after he graduates from college. He was learning a lot about what he didn't need to take with him.
The Trail today was again pretty easy. This sure isn’t northern Vermont. If I’d tried to do the miles there that I’m doing here, I probably wouldn’t be here. And that would be a shame.
Weather’s been beautiful. No clouds today, but breezy. Started out at about 48-50 degrees at 7:00 this morning and was in the low 70’s at mid-day. Went by the historic 1827 Washington Monument in the morning.
Birds abound. Not as many flowers as yesterday when there were lots and lots of yellow violets, but I did see a couple stands of pink azaleas today. Saw a deer today and something that might have been a groundhog moving very quickly through the woods when it heard me. AND I think I saw a bald eagle fly by after I got here to the shelter at around 3:30.
Yesterday my head was full of all kinds of thoughts as I walked. Today not so much.
In the morning it’s off to Harpers Ferry, downhill and then flat along the C & O Canal, a total of 6 miles. Then walking around town a bit to go to the ATC headquarters and maybe eat a restaurant meal. After that another 5 miles probably all uphill, then 5 more to the shelter, total of 16 + town.
Not sure about that uphill part because I seem not to have brought toe second map I need, plus I can’t find any of the photocopies I made of the data book or the thru-hiker’s companion. I really should be absolutely sure tonight. Actually, I should have 2 more maps to get to my first Post Office. Hmmm.
I get to call Ann tomorrow when I’m in town. Yay!
Found the maps and photocopies in the first pocket of the pack I looked into.
Two college guys hiking north are here and spreading their stuff in the upstairs loft. They’re eating that expensive Mountain House freeze dried stuff.
It’s 6:10. I’m going to review tomorrow’s maps and then read a while.
9 May 2005 (Monday) – David Lesser Shelter tenting area (VA or WV)
Tenting tonight mainly because 4 SO-BO college buddies are at the shelter. My thinking is that they’ll be up a while. It’s only 7:00 and I’m in the tent ready to lay down (well, I am already laid down to write). I followed these guys over the Shenandoah River bridge out of Harpers Ferry and we passed each other 3 or 4 times. I ended up in the lead somehow and got here about 15 minutes before them. They do a lot of chattering on the Trail. Then right away one of them went to sleep and started snoring – or breathing heavily – and I though I didn’t need that tonight. So I started thinking about the tent.
Tomorrow could be a hard day. Shorter miles planned – about 14 – but over a section called “The Rollercoaster” because of its constant ups and downs. An older guy pulled in here ca. 7:00 and said it wasn’t too bad because they’re short and because there’s a stream in each low point. Well good.
Today I did 16 Trail miles, plus over a mile in H.F. First I missed the turn to get to the ATC office and had to backtrack when I saw I was up to the Jefferson Rock. Maybe half a mile there. Plus it’s a half mile uphill from town center to the ATC Office. Half a mile back. Back up to Jefferson Rock and then onwards. BUT if I’d stopped to get out the new map, I’d have seen that the other blue blazed trail to the ATC was just a bit beyond the Jefferson Rock. Drat.
I had been thinking about a restaurant breakfast there in town, but there was nothing convenient enough for me. Saw the place. Got my Polaroid picture taken for the album (I’m section hiker #44 for the year to pass through the office).
The stretch from the last shelter to H.F. was nice.
Pretty flat and clear, then a switchbacked downhill, then the C & O Canal stretch.
[Click image to see full size]
Saw a turtle and 3 babies on a log in the canal, a deer coming onto the towpath from the river side, and then a flock of 6 or 8 orioles in trees between the path and the river just before getting to the bridge to cross into Harpers Ferry.
When I called Ann from the ATC office she was surprised. Had forgotten I’d be going right through town and stopping there. Made my bird reports. It was good talking with her.
My right knee is acting up a little. Doesn’t like downhills so much. Ibuprofen and prayer to the rescue!
If I get off early enough in the a.m.. I should be fine. I left Ed Garvey shelter at 7 a.m. today and got here around 4:00, but spent an hour or so in H.F., so I did 16 miles in 8 hours walking. Good pace.
Oh, the shelter register claims there was a bear nosing around food bags last night. I’ve hung mine (probably a little low). Took a little doing, especially getting the last knot in place.
7:23 p.m. I’m going to read a little and see about sleep.
10 May 2005 (Tuesday) Sam Moore Shelter (VA)
6:20 p.m., I’ve been here 2 hours by myself and might just be for the night (though, of course, it’s never too late for someone to arrive). I’d guess a lot of NO-BO hikers blow right by this shelter, headed for the Bear’s Den Hostel. I was going to blow right by the hostel this afternoon except that I met a north-bounder in between there and Snickers Gap who said the magic words “Ben and Jerry’s.” So, what the heck, I stopped. Spent $5.50 on ice cream and a bottle of Gatorade; used the bathroom; filled my water bottles; and I was returning the spoon I’d eaten the ice cream with when I saw a computer with internet access for their “guests.” It didn’t specify overnight guests or not, so I sat down to email quick notes to Ann and the kids.
I was on the Trail ca. 7:00 this morning. Walked in the clouds for 2-3 hours before the sun came out. Just occasional sprinkles now and then, and quite chilly, but a lot of that part of the Trail was level, easy-going stuff. My right knee really slows me down on the downhills, but I figure I was averaging the standard 2 mph much of the day anyway. Still hopeful of keeping that up.
Tomorrow I’m “scheduled” for Dick’s Dome Shelter, another 16 mile day after today’s 14, but I’m tempted to shoot for the next shelter (Manassas Gap) as it’s “only” another 4.5 beyond, is bigger, and of course closer to the Linden Post Office. And this is such a huge food box I’m picking up – 11 days’ worth. I should try to shorten that heavy day somewhat. I’ll probably also question to wisdom of walking that much food through Shenandoah when it’s supposed to have restaurants sort of near the Trail.
No special wildlife sightings today. Some pretty wildflowers, though, here and there.
74 degrees and breezy. It was breezy much of last night and I fretted over whether to put up the rain fly over the tent. Didn’t need it in the end. Heard there should be “showers” tomorrow (both from Ann on the phone yesterday in Harpers Ferry, and from a woman accompanying a bunch of kids north on the Trail to “do some rock climbing” at Crescent Rock. Looked to be about 7th graders. I was most happy to talk with her because I was having a little trouble pinpointing just where I was, and that at least put me south of Crescent Rock.).
This place is in a tulip poplar grove … lots of very tall, straight trees … no branches reachable for bear-bagging unless you’ve got a cross bow and lots of rope. I take the presence of a lot of mouse hanger thingies to mean that bears don’t like tulip poplars (even if mice do)
It’s cooled to 72 degrees at 7:30 and I’m going “to bed” even though it’s still light out.
11 May 2005 (Wednesday) Manassas Gap Shelter (VA)
Long, hot day. But here I am 4 miles further than my schedule said. I decided that 18(+2) was too long on a mail pick-up day, even if some of it was before the pick up. So now tomorrow will be 14 Trail miles + 2 road miles (round trip) for the mail.
A random view of the smooth AT footpath taken at 8:15 in the morning -
[Click image to see full size]
And just three minutes down the Trail the rocks appeared -
[Click image to see full size]
But it was hot today. I didn’t check the temp during the day, but the talkative guy in the shelter said the radio reported it at 91. Yowzers!
LOTS of trillium blooming today. There were a couple of miles of Trail just north of here where 30-40 feet off rail on both sides was carpeted with them! Quite a sight.
Here in the shelter there’s a gray bird with lighter chest that’s built a nest inside above the “door,” a sort of mud and stuff set-up. Was real hesitant about coming in when one of us humans was sitting in the doorway, but now that we’re both down on our sleeping bags, it comes and goes with a flutter. Wonder whether it’ll be singing us awake.
Trail re-route in Sky Meadows State Park cut half a mile off the section, but it was virtually all in the blazing sun. Not good. The promised rain for today kept to a brief, few minutes of sprinkle. Did cool things off a bit, though.
Physical report: feeling pretty good except that the knee still hurts a little; ups are still tiring; downs are still slow; and now I’m chafing (especially where my pack belt rubs). A real annoyance. Plus, I believe the “convenience” store near the Linden P.O. doesn’t open until something like 5 p.m.! The convenience part must be for the owner, not the hikers. Had been hoping to pick up some powder or something.
It’s 7:30 p.m. and 85 degrees.
That bird has a darker grey head , and bobs its tail when it’s on the branches contemplating a run at the nest.
Third guy just showed up and said two more are behind him. They’re here and identified the bird as an Eastern “Foe-bee.”
12 May 2005 (Thursday) Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter (VA)
6:30 p.m., 63 degrees, cloudy.
So, anyway, those guys were up until 9:45 last night and there seemed to be an awful lot of rustling of bags and bivies in the shelter until all hours and through the night. Between that and tired legs, I felt like I couldn’t get to sleep, and then didn’t sleep well.
The 5th guy at the shelter last night was there when I arrived, name of Pine Tree. Older, retired carpenter from the Midwest, now out of Florida. Started a thru-hike with his son a couple years ago. After his knee “went out” and he then had an operation on it, he’s at it again, but taking his sweet old time this time. Thought that next year he might go out to Wyoming, buy two horses (pack and ride) and just ride around out there to see what he could see. Likes Florida’s winters, but not its summer heat, so he’s planning on doing something away from there in the summer.
Today, then … up early (the 2 latecomers still in bed when I hit the Trail) and out about 7:00. Easy walk down to the road, then a flat road walk to the P.O. in Linden where the clerk got my box, and checked for but couldn’t find any letters. I repacked the food (what a load!) for the next 11 days and walked over to the convenience store which IS open in the morning after all. Called Annie from the payphone outside and got updates. She said she sent a letter last Saturday, same day as the box, and another one on Monday. Bought a bottle of grapefruit juice and cookies. Back to the P.O. Guy said he’d check again and found a letter in back someplace. I thanked him and asked about the earlier one. He checked the general delivery cupboard again and this time found it. Jeepers! Back to the store again, to get fuel. Their gasoline antifreeze is isopropyl alcohol and I mixed it with the methanol I have. Yeah. It leaves soot on the pot. Only an hour or so later did I remember that I wanted to get some foot powder or something, too. Maybe at the next store, if I still need it.
The hike wasn’t so bad with the heavy pack except for the last couple miles when it started to show on my shoulders. Did a lot of sweating today after the post office stop. Even stopped at a shelter to change pants, they were so wet from sweat. It’d almost started to rain in town, so that I put on my jacket and pack cover, but then let off before I got to the Trail … and didn’t take off either for a while; that may have been part of the issue.
At the last big road (Rt. 522. which goes into Front Royal) there was a parked car and I was hoping for a trail angel with something cold to drink. No such luck. It was a woman dropping off a couple, the woman of which was looking for her cell phone. I humped on up the hill without checking the map because this is in the new guidebook for the Shenandoah which I got in the mail; and I’d put the maps in the pack rather than separating the first one out into my waist wallet. Well, one way or the other I was hoping to get to what the book said was the Northern Virginia Trail Center where I could get water from a tap (I’d been warned by a NO-BO hiker to get water on the way to this shelter because it’s a long quarter mile from the shelter to the spring). I wanted to camel up at the Center and then get water at a spring and be set. Well, I never saw such a blue blaze trail. Maybe it’s not there any longer.
Then the guide book talked about benches and views and trails elsewhere. First bench was okay but now with no view. Next bench seemed to be on the wrong side of the Trail, I thought. Finally came to a sign which said the shelter was a half mile ahead, a rarity to get a warning (promise) like that. I took the long blue blaze to the spring and then went up to the shelter wondering if it would have hurt anything to build the shelter closer to the spring? (As it turns out, the spring wasn’t on ATC property when the shelter was built, else they might have.)
Rested; read; made supper; and as I was hanging my food bag on the cable by the shelter porch (I’m virtually in the Shenandoah so there may be bears about), the two cell phone people wandered up from the tent sites to see what the shelter looks like. They’re sort of section hiking: last year did Springer to Erwin, now Front Royal to Erwin, and maybe the rest later. I may be seeing them for a while because I’m pretty much going shelter to shelter through the Shenandoah (although I have seen neither hide not hair of those 4 guys who came out of Harpers Ferry with me).
Tomorrow’s only a 10 mile day. At 7:00 it’s a chilly 62 degrees. Gonna lay me down and read a bit.
[A chillier 48 degrees upon getting up in the morning. Hit the Trail ca. 8:30 a.m.]
13 May 2005 (Friday) Gravel Springs Hut, Shenandoah National Park, VA
Yeah, it must have been chilly last night. I ended up with my sleeping bag zipped all the way up, and was comfy, not too hot. Today I kept an eye on the temperature. It never got above 58 degrees. Then there was the wind, too, most of the day. Quite chilly. Didn’t see the sun at all until after I got to the shelter, and it’s just peeking through now and then; most of the sky is still thickly overcast.
Easy Trail today, though, and not so long (10 miles, I thi8nk it was), but the chill made it not overly enjoyable. Signed in and got my 'backcountry pass' when I got the the Park border. Saw deer a couple of times, and just a couple other hikers. One group of six kids calling themselves “Team Vanity” for some reason. Now a pair of No-BO sections hikers are here with me. The woman seems to be the one doing more hiking as they said he hadn’t been out with her before, and has only a week now, while she has a month.
Another phoebe nest in this shelter.
I spent some time after arriving trying to plot a shorter ay a few from now when I’m set for a 21 or so. If I bypass the shelter before there’s supposed to be a relatively flat former farm field about 3 miles beyond. That would make two 17 mile days in a row. ‘Course, who knows?
I’m going to get in my bag early tonight just to keep warm.
There’s supposed to be a restaurant of some sort not too far south at the Elkwallow Wayside on the Skyline Drive. Tomorrow, being Saturday, may see a bit of tourists, especially if the sky clears. On the other hand, it could be raining tomorrow. Maybe yesterday morning and today are the omens of rain … a cold front has come through, that’s for sure.
The shelter register has a lot of stories in it about a raccoon who has learned that there’s food atop the bear pole thing. It is said to climb to the top and then eat into food bags as they swing below. One entry says to hang your bag by at least 2 feet of cord so the coon can’t reach it. Others have tried to use trees (but a coon who can climb a smooth steel pole can just as well get up a tree, can’t it?). I’m going to try putting my cookset on top of the food in the bag, and then my dirty socks on top of that to make it more difficult for Mr. Raccoon to get to the food, plus mask the food smell a little perhaps. Or maybe the coon has gone elsewhere as the last coon story was a while ago – a few days anyway.
There’s a resident chipmunk here. And the register talks about mice (which could be the chippy) at night.
I’ve got 5:03 and 62 degrees --- but a pretty steady wind, too. Time for warm food.
14 May (Saturday) Pass Mountain Hut, Shenandoah National Park, VA
Much hotter today than yesterday, up around 80 degrees in mid-day with good sun pretty much all day. I was up and about before any of the others woke up. There were 2 SO-BO section hikers who showed up around dark, after I’d given up and snuggled deep into my bag looking for warmth. Found it, of course, but I didn’t get to really meet the people, so I half wondered if they were the two cell phone people. At 3:00 a.m. I heard the first two people waking them up saying that the raccoon was atop the pole getting her food, and they’d bring it in the shelter if she wanted. I heard them say it was the second time they’d gotten up to shoo it away.
At 5:30 I heard the pole and chain clanging, but by the time I got up the coon was gone. Then I sat and listened to the birds waking up (how do they ever hear their own calls in the morning amongst all the others?). After that I tried to pull my things quietly out of the shelter and packed a lot of it up. Then I got my food bag down, made breakfast, finished packing, and hit the Trail about 7:15. I suppose the others might wonder if I just disappeared. (I remember sort of envying the hikers in Vermont who could do just that.) At the bottom of the food pole there were the wrappers for a Lipton Cajun Style Beans and Rice, and for 3 granola bars. Guess the coon ate well.
Shortly after getting on the Trail something dropped into the leaves about 4 feet to my left. I stopped to see what it was and then suddenly there were 4 or 5 baby orioles playing a roughhouse game of tag from ground to branch and away. Quite a sight.
A bit of hot hiking later I got to the Elkwallow Wayside (gas station / snack bar). Was there about 10:30, so I could still get 2 egg and cheese sandwiches (one with honey mustard and relish, the other with barbecue sauce and relish). Yummy! Called home and left a message for Annie on the machine. Went back into the store and got 2 large Snickers bars (total of 810 calories if I did the math right). Washed up a little in the bathroom, where I removed the second tick of the day from myself and flushed it down the sink. These were the big dog ticks; I don’t know how anyone can see the tiny deer ticks.
Met the guys from Ohio again today. They come out to do 30 miles or so each year on this weekend in May, a group of 5 of them. They leave one car at either end of the day’s stretch, and exchange keys when they pass each other in the middle. At least they say there are 5 of them; I saw the same guys each day.
Talked with an older couple a little ways back on Pass Mountain. I’d stopped to rest on a rock and heard voices, then realized that there was someone just ahead. These two were sprawled out flat on their backs chatting. She was from Lebanon, PA and had gone to E-town College; he had gone to F&M and then taught somewhere. Their first time out this season, they said, getting their hiking legs back for backpacking later.
So I pulled into the shelter at about 2:30 to find the place swarming with at least 50 Koreans from a church in Vienna, VA. They were wrapping up a barbecue and offered me a slab of chicken, which I declined saying I’m a vegetarian. Didn’t get any other offers of food. What I was really hoping for was a cold drink. They cleaned and bustled (a few of them anyway) for half an hour and then were gone. One guy stopped and asked me about my hike; I asked him about the group. He said they were going on overseas missions trips and this was part of their physical training. They did a pretty good job of cleaning up the hut area, but the flies know they were here.
Which brings us to the newest pair of SO-BO hikers (you’d think with all these other people going southbound, I’d see some of them more than once). This young couple from Colorado popped into the shelter a little while after the Koreans headed downhill. Said they’d seen a bear back on Pass Mountain. Now I’m wondering how much Korean barbecue got spilled in the woods where the various groups were eating. And how much spilled bbq sauce is near the fire pit for mister bruin to come lick off tonight while I’m sleeping.
The guy just got a job with the High Mountain Institute, an interesting-sounding educational endeavor in Leadville, CO where they bring in high school juniors from all over the country for a semester and – while keeping them up on their regular subjects – also do some environmental/outdoor education stuff with them. Sounded fun. She used to be a park ranger in Colorado, but just recently quit because it’s getting to be too much law enforcement. So they put stuff into storage, jumped into his truck, and came to Virginia to hike for a while.
It’s kind of clouding over and cooling off now, down to 75 something degrees here at 5:00. The couple said we’re supposed to get thundershowers the next tow days, but the weather’s been wrong the last week, too. (They re-supplied from relatives today just down the Trail a piece, so it’s locals reporting the weather – or semi-locals anyway.) I’d appreciate a day with temps and cloud cover in between yesterday’s and today’s. Suppertime soon.
15 May 2005 (Sunday) Panorama Restaurant, Shenandoah National Park, Thornton Gap, VA
Well, like so many before me, I’m going to “get off the Trail” before I’d originally planned. My reason is gout. I’ve had it, I don’t know, 5-6-7 years or so, with only 2 flare-ups, both right at the beginning. Take my little pill every morning and it leaves me alone. Except now it comes back. Could be just what I was eating the last couple days, or that plus the stress of backpacking, or who knows what. (Ate much the same, and backpacked in Vermont 3 years ago without any gout. Go figure!) Yesterday I did eat the 2 egg and cheese sandwiches, and I’ve been eating gorp with mixed nuts in it (that I now remember some of which are on the list of foods high in purines hat should be avoided). Plus my meals have been the beans and rice sort of thing, but nothing different from my usual fare. It boiled down to a lot of proteins do metabolize. And, maybe, in the end, not as much water as often as I should. Oh, well.
Last night, again, I couldn’t find the right position to sleep in. Between that and my to joint hurting if I put pressure on it the wrong way, I didn’t feel like I got much sleep. I was up at 5:30 or 6:00, and really on my way before the others got up. The third other resident last night was a NO-BO section hiker from Montana and/or Colorado, just into a couple weeks’ vacation. No bears last night.
Well, I got here to the phone just a minute or two after 8:30 and called home. Ann had changed the greeting to a message for me saying she’d be out till 12:30, going to church with Jon. That was because I was scheduled to get to a phone later in the day at the Skyland area and she didn’t want me to miss her being home by calling too early. Anyway, I left a message and said I’d hang out here till 12:30 and call again. The restaurant is closed so I’m sitting on its porch to stay out of the wind.
Funny thing about the gout: in my experience it’ll be “all better” in a day or two. I probably could have stayed out on the Trail if I wasn’t in such a tight section-hiker schedule, needing pretty much to be at least to particular places each night, if not beyond. Maybe I’ll go back out next week and finish the part of Pennsylvania I haven’t done yet.
12:30 … called home and Joanna says that Ann left at 10:30 already, in between church services. So the wait won’t be as long. She has the cell phone with her, so I’ll call and let her know just how to find me without paying to get onto the Skyline Drive.
20 May 2005 – Elizabethtown, PA
So the gout flare-up is over and gone, as I thought it would be. I probably could have gotten along on the Trail in spite of it, but the Thornton Gap spot was too convenient to skip calling from there. I was slower getting down to it from Pass Mountain that I would have been otherwise (even back when my knee had been hurting). It was more real annoying that painful. But I still wouldn’t have wanted to stub my toe on anything.
Still thinking of the rest of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania starting some time next week. People had asked about my section hike and generally liked that I was going to be out for a month. I’d been telling them that I did the Long Trail 3 years ago, and so got the southern 100 miles of Vermont done then; and that I used to live in New York and got all of NY and a little bit of Connecticut done then; and that I was now in Pennsylvania and had hiked half of the Trail in PA (all establishing my “Trail cred” pretty firmly). As it turns out, when I looked at the maps and Data Book I’ve done a lot more than half of Pennsylvania. I’ve hiked from Port Clinton (Hawk Mountain) south almost to the Maryland border. From Port Clinton up to the Delaware Water Gap is only a few days’ hike. And adding New Jersey wouldn’t be all that much longer. Hmmmmm.