[at-l] Taking our wheel for a walk - and a challenge

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Sounds like some of you should have taken a walk this weekend.  We did.
We met some friends in PA and ran a measuring wheel over the western 25 
miles of the Donut Hole Trail.  We started to write a trail guide for the 
Donut Hole about 4 years ago, but got interrupted by a couple thruhikes.  So 
now we've started to wheel it again to recheck the numbers.  Ah, hell, let's 
face it -- it's just an excuse to walk the trail again - it's our favorite 
East Coast trail -- 90 miles of fern-filled forest, beaver-dammed streams 
with waterfalls and knee-deep crossings, killer climbs, flowery meadows and 
a chance to see some interesting wildlife - we've seen bear, bobcats, 
turkey, deer and elk up there - among others.

Anyway, it was an a**-kickin' weekend, and a whole lot better than listening 
to y'all beat each other up.

So let's talk about the "challenge".  Some of you seem to think you can find 
"wilderness" on the AT.  I won't comment on that right now, but if some of 
you REALLY want WILDERNESS, I'll give you a challenge - walk the Donut Hole. 
  For purposes of this challenge, I'll define "wilderness" this way - 
someplace where if you hike solo and break your leg, the greatest probablity 
is that you'll die before you can reach help or before you're found.  Yeah - 
I'm talking about Pennsylvania.  I estimate that the section of trail that 
we did this weekend *may* have seen 2 dozen hikers -- in the last 4 years.  
Including us (3 times).

So if there's anyone who really wants "wilderness" hike, Let me know and 
we'll send you the trail guide for the western section.

Walk softly,
Jim and Ginny

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