Sunday, May 11, 2008

Appalachian Trail Adventures Part V


When I woke from my night at the Rocky, I was eager to get back on the trail. Sometime before falling to sleep I decided that I would start to hike back to Harpers Ferry the next morning. I still had a lot of things to take care of for my upcoming road trip. I was due to leave in less than a week and I was constantly going over my 'to-do' list in my head. Each day that I hiked north meant a total of 2 more days on the trail.

The previous evening I had told Jim that I was going north a few more days. After getting my gear ready I was out of the shelter and heading back on the trail. Jim went down to get some water and he was traveling in the opposite direction that I was going. He must have cut through the woods because I ran into him a few minutes later. I was traveling south and he asks me if I was traveling in the right direction since I had said I wanted to go north. I told him I had a change of plans and wanted to hike to the Crampton Gap shelter and spend the rest of the day camping. At that point Jim decided that would be a good idea, so for the first time I would have a hiking partner.

Since Jim spends so much time on the trail, he was able to show me a few shortcuts that end up in the same places we wanted, just showing a slightly different terrain. We went up a road that ended up at a few towers and what looked like a small military outpost way up on the mountain. Jim also knows different landmarks and can estimate hiking times from those landmarks. 1 of the landmarks that Jim pointed out was a memorial marker to a young man who had died in an accident. He was involved in doing trail maintenance. His family thought it would be good as a memorial to raise money and purchased a 4 acre section of land that is now used for the trail.




We finally ended up at Crampton Gap shelter. While the shelter is older, built by the CCC in the 1940’s, it very scenic location with a spring that runs through the campsite. There is a boardwalk that leads over to the privy. While walking on the boardwalk, you can hear a spring that runs under the rocks. I spotted a small break in the rocks where you can see some water bubbling up through the ground. As nice the Garvey shelter structure was, this site had it beat for camping beauty. So we camped. We fetched wood and built a fire. We hung out and cooked our meals and soaked in the sun.

Later 2 brothers from PA joined us. Both go to Brigham Young University and both are studying to be mechanical engineers. We thought they were twins, but weren’t. And 1 or both of them snored.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Appalachian Trail Adventures Part IV

The trip to Rocky Run shelter was uneventful. Uneventful that is if you don’t count making sure I didn’t step in any of the puddles left on the trail. Most of the time I was able to navigate my way via the rocks jutting out of the trail. Stepping on the knife edge of the rocks sure is tough on your insteps. Seeing how I didn’t leave the Garvey shelter until 2pm, I assumed that I could make it to the Rocky Run shelter before sundown, even though the wet trail had me hiking slower than normal.

All seemed well and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss the turnoff for the shelter. I referred to my map often as I got closer. If I missed the turnoff for the shelter I would be dark before I ran into the next one. Night hiking isn’t the best idea, as hiking in daylight poses enough challenges. As I near the turnoff for the shelter I see the sign and I see a note left by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.

My heart sank as I read the note that the shelter was under renovations, but perked up when I saw a hand-written note that said the shelter was 90% complete and livable. Here’s a picture of the shelter and you be the judge.

A fellow hiker staying at the shelter came out the approach trail to greet me and reassure me that the shelter was Ok to stay at. There were already 3 other people there for the night when I got there and I’m sure they weren’t thrilled to see me. They had most of their gear spread out all over the shelter drying. So after some maneuvering I had a spot to put my sleeping bag in the middle of the shelter. Some of the boards were quite saggy and wouldn’t support my weight. Don’t ask me how I know this.

By the time I cooked my dinner of Lipton’s cheddar broccoli rice, it was getting dark. The 2 college aged thru hikers went to bed around 7:30. We chatted before they turned in while I was cooking. They said that there were 2 dozen thru hikers ahead of them on the trail according to the thru hikers sign in register at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC).

The other hiker, the one who came out to meet me, was Jim from Baltimore. Jim is 60 years old and a retired Marine. For the last 7 years has been spending around 8 months on the trail. So basically you can say that Jim ‘lives’ on the trail. Jim figures that he’s racked up around 5,000 miles of hiking the trail, but I think that number would be conservative. 1 other thing I noticed about Jim is that for a slim person he sure seems to eat a lot. Jim spent 2 nights at the shelter waiting out the rain and having some of his things dry.

After cleaning up my dinner mess, it was time to turn in for the night. It was predicted to be somewhat cold at night. Jim has some sort of weather gadget that he can tune into weather reports while on the trail. I slept well for the most part. Someone kept getting up at night. I counted at least 5 different times that someone got up. I slept with foam ear plugs to drown out any snoring and other noises, but people use lights when they get up in the dark.

A tight squeeze
Creek








Sunday, May 4, 2008

Appalachian Trail Adventures Part III

Earlier I mentioned that I met a lot of 'Characters' on the trail. Upon arriving at the Garvey shelter I met another hiker named Dee. It seems that she had a few recent setbacks in her life. She felt overwhelmed at home and work so she thought a few days on the trail would help out. So she asked for some time off of work. When they told he no, she quit her job.

Later on I started to prepare my dinner of orzo, dehydrated cheddar cheese, onions, peas and chicken. A sort of 1 pot casserole. I asked Dee what she was having for dinner. Her reply was that she wasn't going to eat and hadn't eaten in 5 days. She then starts to mention how she didn't bring any food except for some grape juice and beef bouillion cubes. Her goal was to fast for 40 days. She thought it would be easier to accomplish this by being out on the trail, away from temptations. Her reasons for the fast were both spiritual and to detoxify her body. I was hungry and was looking forward to eating my dinner, even though I didn't manage to finish all of it.

Cooking dinner on the AT

Seeing how hiker's midnight is right around sundown, I ended up going to bed sometime around 8pm. I set my hammock up on the 2nd floor of the shelter. I added in my mattress pad, zero degree sleeping bag and silk bag liner to make me a nice little cocoon for the night. Right after dinner the rain started to fall. It rained all through the night.

When I woke up on Monday morning it was still raining. I didn't have a weather forecast so I didn't know how much longer it would last. I heard that the Harpers Ferry area got quite a bit of rain on Saturday. When I got home and check the local weather, it showed that Harper's Ferry received almost 1 inch of rain on Monday. I repacked my backpack and tried to arrange everything in some sort of logical order. The pack only has 5 compartments, with 2 of those being side pockets that aren't very deep. I brought an excess of ziplock bags and put similar types of gear together. I tried waiting out the rain, then it looked like I may have to spend another day in the same place at the rate it was falling. In the mean time I read all the register entries that other hikers had left. My favorite was the group of hikers that had 1 car in Harpers Ferry and another car at the MD/PA border for when they were finished. They get in the second car and drive down to their starting point. It saves them having to hike back from where they initally left. It seems that the keys for car #2 were locked in car #1. So they were planning on heading back to retrieve the keys. Ouch.

Around 2pm I was getting a little bored and anxious to get back out. I put on my pack cover and raingear and started hiking north. I didn't see another hiker all day. I had to watch where I put my feet since most of the rainwater didn't soak all the way thru. The trail was quite wet and in someplaces underwater. I went thru Gathland state park. There is a memorial to Civil War correspondents there. That was the only time my feet got wet was when I had to hike thru a field with tall grass. When I got to the trail that led to the Crampton Gap shelter I decided to continue hiking north. I didn't see any point in stopping when I got a late start and I still had quite a bit of daylight left. I was going to push on to the Rocky Run shelter, which was the next shelter in succession. Shelter sites usually have a water source and a privy or outhouse. And if it was going to rain again it would be better to be in a roomy shelter instead of my cramped tent.

What the trail looked like on Monday afternoon
Gathland state park memorial
Gathland park building
Not everything on the trail is green

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Appalachian Trail assorted pictures

Back of Garvey shelter with ladder to 2nd story
Cliffs view
Looking south
Virginia hills
Rock outcrop on trail
2nd floor viewed from 1st
Garvey shelter
Potomac river
Don't wake him up


Appalachian Trail Adventures Part II

After coming off of the C & O tow path, I headed up into the woods. My destination was the Ed Garvey shelter. It had rained fairly heavy the night before so most of the vegetation had some moisture on them. The path to go up to Weverton cliffs is a series of 16 switchbacks. A switchback is a part of the trail that turn 180 degrees. It send you the opposite way you just came. This is done since it is easier to walk up the side of a mountain gradually. A switchback looks like a sideways laying 'W'. I think the purpose of a switchback is to remind you of how out of shape you are. I was huffing and puffing making my way up to Weverton cliffs and had to stop several times to catch my breath.

Once I arrived at the junction of the AT and the blue blaze trail that leads to the lookout at Weverton cliffs, I met a fellow hiker taking a breather. It was Bob, a 70 year old, who recently lost his wife. I found out that he lives close to where I live. Bob attempted a thru hike that spring, but found out he wasn't physically up to the challenge and had some gear issues that prevented him from being successful. Now Bob does day trips on the AT, leaving his car then hiking in so far, then turning around and retracing his steps back to his vehicle. I invited Bob to go to the cliffs, but he declined. Too bad for him since the view of the cliffs was worth the hike down. Even with the cloudy conditions I could see back past Harpers Ferry and all along the river and surrounding mountains. The trail to the cliffs had the most rocks I had encountered so far. It was more rocks than dirt on the train. The rocks jutted out of the ground like the scales on an alligator's tail.

After coming back from the cliffs I met a bunch of day hikers that seemed to be in quite a hurry to get to the cliffs. The cliffs is a nice place for day hikers since they can park at the base of the trail and just walk up the steep part. That would save them from having to walk the 2 1/2 miles of the tow path to get to the cliffs.

I finally reached my destination, the Ed Garvey shelter. The shelter is quite a structure. The shelter was built in 2001 by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. The shelter was built in Bowie, Md and airlifted by helicopter to it's present location. It is a 2 story layout, with the upper level accessible by climbing the back stairs. It has plexiglass windows that let you look out over the forest. The site also contains a privy and spring for drinking water. The shelter contains a register that people who visit can write comments for the shelter and trail maintainers. The biggest complaint was the distance and layout of the trail to get water.

Weverton Cliffs

Ed Garvey shelter
This little guy spent the night in the shelter's first floor. Good thing I slept upstairs!

A view of a switchback

Weverton Cliffs, viewed from below. It's the dark patch of rocks.
Looking back towards Harpers Ferry
A few of the rocks along the trail
The trail down to Weverton Cliffs

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Appalachian Trail Adventures Part I

I spent a few day hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I started in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I started a day later than what I wanted to due to rain.
I met a lot of interesting people on the trail. Some of their stories you can't make up. I think the trail characters add to the charm and allure of the AT in general.
The trail has shelters spaced out about a days hike apart. They are 3 sided structures usually with a picnic table, fire ring, water source and a privy. Accomodations are spartan to say the least. But after all nobody expects 4 star accomodations in the woods.
After leaving Harpers Ferry I walked along the Potomac river on the old C & O canal towpath. The path runs 185 miles from Georgetown, DC to Cumberland, MD. The towpath is where mules use to pull barges up and down the river in days before the railroad. A lot of joggers and bikers use the path to exercise. It is a pretty walk along the river, but a little boring. I was glad to finish this portion of the trail and get into the 'woods'. The rest of the journey will follow in additional entries.

Unusual building style in Harpers Ferry
Hillside

A view of the Potomac river thru the trees.


View down river
Jefferson rock



More 2008 fish pics

St Mary's lake crappie

Spring break fish
St mary's pickerel

Calvert pond crappie


Early 2008 fish pics

Some various fish picture from 2008

Mayport Florida sea trout, caught a lot of them 1 day

Double header

Maryland early season trout limit
Andrea's Calvert pond bass

Recent fishing pictures

It's been awhile since I've updated these pages. So here's some recent fishing pictures.



Watch those teeth!

This guy had a full belly. Notice the bulging stomach area. He still went after the lure anyway.



Another picture of the same fish.


The pickerel seem to bite fairly regular at the local lake in the spring and fall.




Decent sized crappie.


We even took some fish trolling out to our spots. We'd trail a lure behind the boat and go slow. We'd catch a few fish out in the deeper pockets of water.

I saved the best for last. This hungry jumped on a lure half his size. This spring we've had a bunch of bass between 5 & 7 inches caught on lures. You go to set the hook when you feel the bite and launch the fish out of the water.