Washington's original Monument

Tuesday, October 23, 2012:

Built in 1826, this venerable old monument, resembling a silo/furnace stack was the first, far predating the famous obelisk on the DC mall.  And this one suffered no damage from last year's 5.6 earthquake.

The view from the top on this mild fall day wasn't bad, either:

It was a 20 mile day, lots of easy trail, and I crossed over I-70 on the AT-dedicated footbridge - probably the best example of the AT in a steel cage/tunnel:

As you see, fall color was resplendent even on this cloudy day.  But it's waning fast - such ephemeral beauty just once a year - ahhh, how the long absence 'makes the heart grow fonder' ...

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Here's the map of today's hiking route, and a link to more photos:

AT Day 265 - Washington Monument at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Maryland

Why so sad?

Monday, October 22, 2012:

Ran into this 'Dilbert-style' character today on the trail.  He looked so crestfallen (especially after I made a few minor enhancements [*wink, wink*]).

Why so sad, little white blaze?

Is it because I'll soon be leaving the trail?  Looks like only about 5 or 6 more day-hikes will wrap up my ten month journey - 4368.4 miles in all, and after today I have only 87.4 of them left to hike.

Or is it because the trail seemed to have so little that was noteworthy to show me today.  I hiked 9.1 miles of new trail between Ed Garvey Shelter and the Rocky Run Shelters (old and new), and had only this limited view from White Rocks on Lambs Knoll

and the various old stone foundations and this monument to War Correspondents at Gathland State Park:

But I don't think the trail should be sad for either of those reasons.  I may be gone from the AT soon, but my relationship with it has never been stronger, and will not fade away.  For one thing, I'm going to work on that book I've been talking about, probably some sort of day hiking guide.  And although today's hike didn't offer the spectacular photo-ops of some recent days, I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it.  The weather was nearly ideal, almost too warm in early afternoon, but clear and bright.  The leaves are putting on a magnificent display, so I was bathed in a kaleidoscope of color, not just the greens and browns of summer or the grays and browns of winter.

So ... no, little white blaze.  You should not be sad ... not on my account anyway.  Maybe you're thinking about all the folks pent up in offices today, not able to get out and enjoy your trail.  Maybe you're sad for all the many people who don't even realize you exist, or understand how much you have to offer them along your 2184.2 mile treadway.  Yeah, that must be it.  So maybe that's what my book ought to try to do - open the doors to the trail, open the eyes of the uninitiated.  Invite people to "Come Walk this Famous Trail".

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Here's today's hiking route plotted on a map, with a link to more photos:

AT Day 264 - White Rocks at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Maryland

Harpers Ferry check-in day

Sunday, October 22, 2012:

Here's my official AT thru-hiker mug shot.

... and then ... they gave me TWO mug shots, because I will have completed two thru-hikes.  The first one is my SoBo shot, the other is NoBo.  (Normal yo-yo hikers pass through here on two separate days and get two mug shots also.  I'm just unique in that my two shots are taken the same day, one as I arrive from the north, the other as I depart, returning to the north - does that make sense?)

It was a glorious day, so I almost begrudged my time indoors visiting with staff, volunteers and other visitors.  Besides getting my mug shots taken, I had to check all the photos of other 2012 hikers.  Here's just one that I want to share - Corky and I hiked together for about an hour one day up in Massachusetts.  Here she is finishing at Katahdin -- in her Crocs! (as always).  And she's posing the way I wanted to pose but didn't have the guts to - or the balance.  Way to go, Corky!!  (She sent in this photo after completing her hike and they posted it on the bulletin board in the hiker room.)

I got a chance to meet with Laurie Potteiger for a free-ranging discussion on what kind of book I'd like to write to share my experience.  Options include a story of my personal adventure (perhaps a bit bland compared to some of the stories already written), a coffee table book featuring photos (ATC already has an excellent one), or a guide for day hikers - experienced and novice.  I like this last option best ... a chance to attract people to the trail, just to hike it once - one little piece - experience the magic of this famous trail, and maybe get inspired to do more, to join a local hiking club, to do some maintaining ... whatever.

Tentative title and subtitles are now:  "Come Walk this Famous Trail:  50 Best Day Hikes on the Appalachian Trail, Maine to Georgia"

Outside again, I hiked through town, with fall color resplendent, St. Peters church glowing in the morning sun.

Then I headed into Maryland, my long-time home state, and where I first fell in love with the AT.  I hiked up to the Ed Garvey Shelter and visited Weverton Cliffs, taking in the great view on this crystal clear fall day.

And I found the single most rustic trail marker yet, on a telephone pole - far-and-away the best anywhere on the trail:

Weather for the coming week looks spectacular, if not too warm.  I'm hoping to get in most of the remaining miles (just 53 left!) hiked (both ways, of course) before a serious weather change moves in next weekend.

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Here's the map showing today's hike route, and a link to a bunch of additional photos:

AT Day 263 - Weverton Cliffs at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Maryland

The technicolor tunnel

Saturday, October 20, 2012:

The leaves continue to put on a super display of color along the trail.  I finally got the 'yellow tunnel' shot that I was looking for, of the hickory trees all changing color.  (I've shown some good red maple trail scenes in previous posts.) Hickory trees put on a spectacular show for just a few days, all leaves on a tree change color simultaneously and quickly, then they turn brown and drop just as quickly.  The red maples are now at peak or almost past - beginning to drop leaves.  Same for the sassafras, with their yellow to salmon-pink palette.  Black Gums can turn a spectacular deep red color, but in the woods they tend to do so early, one leaf at a time.  Their show is almost finished.  White ash and many Chestnut Oaks have dropped most of their leaves already.  The other Oaks, for the most part, are still green.  Many varieties are just turning brown this year without much color, and then dropping their leaves.  Tulip poplars are still green, but will turn yellow one leaf at a time, not as consistently as the hickory trees.  Because of the green oaks and tulip trees, both of which are very common in the mid-Atlantic woods, the impression of some mountain slopes from a distance can be of a still mostly-green landscape.

I hiked the 9.2 miles of trail between Buzzard Rocks just south of the David Lesser Shelter, north to Harper's Ferry and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy office.  Other than the endless color variety in the woods, the good views I had today were from these two end points.  Buzzard Rocks view is limited.  Here's the view of the Shenandoah River, looking north toward the confluence with the Potomac, taken from the US 340 bridge:

I got to spend about 45 minutes in the ATC office, chatting with Laurie Potteiger (ATC information services), thru-hiker 'Hersch' who's doing a charity hike, and Denny-'Katahdin Kid', an office regular.  Tomorrow I'll hike back there from the north (I'll be entering Maryland!), and will spend more time there.  Today I had to cut the visit short in order to get back to my parking spot at Keys Gap before dark.

As the photos show, it was a bright, clear fall day.  Temperatures were perfect for hiking - in the low 60's - the kind of weather you'd like to bottle and have ready to uncork on those hazy, sweaty mid-summer days of malaise, or on a dreary frigid winter day.

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Here's the map of today's hiking route, and a link to more photos:

AT Day 262 - Keys Gap, Harpers Ferry at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Virginia

West Virginia!

Friday, October 19, 2012:

A quarter of the Appalachian Trail is in Virginia, and today I finished that and moved into West Virginia.  It's the home stretch - just 70 trail miles to go now.

Today was a Jekyll-Hyde sort of day.  Thick fog filled the woods all morning, then it broke up and the sun came out in the afternoon.

But despite the lack of views, or really because of that, the fog was magical - a soothing, mild, calm cocoon of serenity that followed me around wherever I went.  Funny how it does that.

Fall color in the fog is a special sight.  Here are a couple of views, including the "viewpoint" at Crescent Rocks - a very popular local day-hike destination:

And here's the "money-shot" from Crescent Rocks in the late afternoon sans fog:

I covered 9.9 miles of new trail today, finished the "Roller Coaster" and then hiked a lot of easy trail along the ridge that straddles the WV-VA state line, passing the significant milestone (or mile-tree) marking 1000 miles from Springer (The actual 1000 mile point for 2012 precisely coincides with the WV-VA boundary sign shown up top).  Tomorrow I'll do the rest of that ridge walk and will be ready to drop down to the Shenandoah River and hit Harper's Ferry.

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Here's today's hike map and photo link:


AT Day 261 - Crescent Rocks at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Virginia

Fall color

Thursday, October 18, 2012:

More hiking in the 'Roller Coaster' and taking time to enjoy the near-peak display of fall color meant fewer miles today - just 6.8 new trail miles.  Here's a full description from my personal journal:

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Today’s drive was 80 miles to the trail head at Ashby Gap. I prepared and was ready to hit the trail at 8:15 when two hikers came by going northbound, both of whom I’d met separately on previous days. We struck up a conversation that ended up lasting at least 15 minutes. ‘Shaky’ is 55 and hiking a section to Harpers Ferry, and ‘LA’, who looks Hispanic/native American is hiking from Rockfish Gap to New York City (Bear Mountain Park). This is his first AT hike, but he's also done 500 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.  These two met because they both stayed at Bears Den hostel last night.

Finally we headed our separate ways around 8:30 or so. I climbed up to Bears Den rocks and absorbed the only view of the day. The rest of the walking was in the woods with no good views, and I really wish I had some views of the intense fall color on adjacent slopes, which I had scant tantalizing glimpses of.

Anyhow, I visited Bears Den, but it seemed all dark, and the backpacker hostel was locked up, as usual (day hikers not welcome). This place gave me the impression of being a dark, unfriendly fortress both two years ago when I visited in the middle of the day, and this morning.

The rest of the day was hiking the ups and downs and often very rocky and eroded trail through the ‘Roller Coaster’ to VA 605 and back. I was not hurrying, taking in as much of the ambiance of fall color as I could.

Fall color is so fleeting, I want to soak it up and savor it. It will be gone in a week. And this year’s display seems particularly good – enough moisture to keep the trees from shutting down prematurely.

The only distraction from the woods walking was a stop at the Sam Moore Shelter where the log book had entries from Iceman, Samus, and Achilles all together (plus lots of others that I'd met), but none from Parkside.

I was back at the Ashby Gap trailhead at 5:15, and the forecast afternoon storms were nowhere in sight yet, so after changing, I decided to take advantage of the hour of light and drive to Blackburn Trail Center. This is an official AT shelter that is (theoretically) easier to get to by vehicle rather than from the trail, since there’s a major drop in elevation to get from the AT on the ridge to Blackburn, which is down on the lower slopes. But those slopes are still steep, and the road up to it has not been maintained for over a year. According to the caretaker, the guy who was doing it with a road grader has quit and they can’t afford a replacement. I suggested they acquire a cheap road grading implement, much like a heavy rake, towed behind an ordinary pickup truck. I saw this very successfully being used on private roads up in Maine.

It was getting dark and beginning to rain when I finally left Blackburn Trail Center and inched my way back down to the flatland.
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Here's the map of today's hike and a link to more photos:

AT Day 260 - Bears Den Rocks at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Virginia

The Roller Coaster

 
Wednesday, October 17, 2012:

Today I started my ride through 'The Roller Coaster' - an infamous stretch of trail with about seven short but steep hill climbs and descents in quick succession on sometimes rocky trail, taking you to near the West Virginia border.

Of course, the way I do my daily hikes (both ways over a piece of trail every day), I got to stop the ride in the middle, put the roller coaster in reverse, and ride back to the beginning (the south end).

The hills and rocks slowed me down, and I got a late start on this beautiful day, so only covered 7.4 miles of new trail between Ashby Gap and VA 605 - the road that takes you up to Mt. Weather where there's the super-secure government base and huge deep underground bomb shelter facility to which the president and congress would be whisked in time of a nuclear war.

But I digress.  The hike itself was just through the woods, no glimpse of Mt. Weather, no views or open areas at all - nothing to take a picture of except the fall color.  The show is getting spectacular now as the leaves approach peak.

What a drab world this would be without 'Acer rubrum', the common red maple, which actually takes on all shades from yellow through orange to pink and, of course, brilliant red.  And the hickory trees are starting to do their thing - they all turn brilliant yellow quickly and then drop their leaves in just a few days.  Being in a woods full of hickories this time of year is like bathing in liquid sunshine!  It seems bright and cheery even on a cloudy day.  What a great time of year to finish this long adventure.

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Here's the map and photo link for today's hike:

AT Day 259 - Rod Hollow and 'the roller coaster' at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Virginia