[at-l] Trail Fest and an Adventure

[DaRedhead@aol.com]

Well, a very nice weekend in Hot Springs.  Not a big crowd or anything, but 
pleasant none the less, just to be camping out on the river and spending time 
w/ a few listers.  The HATT logo flag/banner/whatever that MrsGorp made was 
incredible! Awesome! Fantastic, even.  It looked very professional.  We were 
all duly impressed.  Be sure to stop by the HATT booth at Tdaze to see it - 
it is truly a work of art.  The tent thing Sloetoe sent Pittsburgh worked 
just fine.  Listers there (that I actually saw and spoke to) were Pittsburgh, 
Baltimore Jack, John and Beth, Highlander, and Fanny Pack.  If there were any 
others, I didn't see them.  I missed the Nimblewill Nomad presentation :(  
They had drummers, but no bonfire.  Actually spent most of my time either 
hanging around the Hike USA and HATT booth, or at the campsite.  The weather 
was beautiful all weekend.  To top off a really nice weekend, we had a grand 
adventure today before we left.

Toney, Cassy and I decided to hike up to Lovers Leap.  Someone told us there 
was a short blue blazed trail up to it, so we decided to take it.  Somehow we 
lost it - and suddenly the trail was MUCH steeper than any trail should be.  
We pressed on, inching our way up the steep incline, scrambling for hand 
and/or foot holds, figuring that it was bound to be short if the blue blazed 
trail was only supposed to be a little under a mile.  By the time we realized 
that what we were on could not possibly be a trail, it was too late.  Going 
back down that way would have been very dangerous.  So we continued up.  And 
up.  Cassy was incredible about it, only crying once when she was scared that 
*I* was going to fall - which I almost did.  (I did end up having to give 
Toney the daypack I was wearing.)  Now I'm thinking, if this isn't the trail, 
what if this comes up on the top of a rock and there's no way to get over to 
where the Trail is?  I mean, I'm trying to calculate how much a helicopter 
rescue is going to cost us.  Stop laughing.  I really WAS thinking these 
things :)  So we finally, after over an hour of some serious free solo 
climbing in spots, practically crawl over the edge of lovers leap - and there 
is THE Trail (and the blue blazed lovers leap trail that we THOUGHT we 
started out on), and I was very happy to see those white blazes, I can assure 
you.  There was a thru hiker standing there admiring the view when we crawled 
over the edge, so to speak.  He looked at us in total amazement - especially 
when Cassy became visible.  Apparently we didn't take the standard route . . 
. he was quite impressed.  I, on the other hand, was not only NOT impressed, 
I promised myself I would NEVER EVER EVER take a blue blazed trail again!!! 
(a promise I will probably end up breaking some day, but at the time I was 
thinking that every blue blazed trail I've ever taken ends up being harder 
than the AT (right, Woodelf? <g>)) and we never would have been dangling on 
those rocks like that if we had just taken the AT up to Lovers Leap.  When 
will I learn??  So, to sum it all up - Cassy thinks she had the grandest 
adventure ever, and proudly proclaimed (to the amusement of two hikers) at 
the top of the mountain that "I'm a great little hiker and climber!"  When we 
came back down and were walking across the bridge towards the campground, I 
looked back in amazement at where we had been, and what we travelled over to 
get there.  Now see, if I had had my Trail guide and maps with me, I would 
have figured out long before it was too late that we were going in the wrong 
direction.  Second time in two weeks I didn't have 'em when I needed 'em.  So 
I'm bringing mine to Trail Days . . . just in case :)

Lessons learned? 

Leki's are useless when on a REALLY steep trail
Always take a map at least
The sound of the river at night is better than any lullabye ever sung
Baltimore Jack is wearing a new shirt this year
Pittsburgh gets up really early in the morning
Cassy likes being in the woods much better than anywhere else
Roasting marshmellows is a big deal to a three year old
We cook WAY too much food when we're car camping
If you can't see a blaze of ANY color, you're in trouble

:-)

The Redhead
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