[at-l] 2/27/04 Woods Hole Shelter

[spurhiker at pocketmail.com (spurhiker@pocketmail.com)]

Wouldn't I like to be back out on a long hike! Alas, I'm out on the GA AT for just a few days tagging along with Takoma Tedd, who is out on a thruhike for real.

Takoma has been a friend since the first day we met on the trail coming into Hanover, NH in 2001, but if memory serves me correctly, today was the first day we've hiked together since that first encounter.

He and his wife began a thruhike at Springer 2 weeks ago, but Mary Lou decided to leave the trail at Woody Gap and return home to Florida, where temperatures never dip into the 20s. Takoma then spent a week with Ready and me in Atlanta recovering from a bad cold.

Today Ready drops Takoma and me at Woody Gap around noon in the middle of a huge silver cloud. The air is still and the temperature is a pleasant 40 degrees, ideal for uphill hiking.

There's snow on the ground, but not very much. We're both exhilarated to be walking the trail. We take it slow climbing Big Cedar Mtn. Takoma pauses frequently in rest step fashion as he makes his way up a steep, rocky section. Since I consider myself a guest on his thruhike, it's up to him to set a comfortable pace.

On Preacher Rock, we encounter a group of 15 hikers who are part of a high school group out for the weekend headed for Neels Gap. Here also is John, a dayhiker from Gainesville who tells us about his AT section hikes, which have taken him up the trail to New York and beyond. He hopes to continue his journey as far as Andover, Maine this summer.

Takoma and I continue across Big Cedar's summit, passing by the sidetrail which leads out to Deacon Rock, one of my favorite campsites on the AT. There's no open view there today because the summit is socked in.

We descend the mtn, picking up new trail which takes us along the side of the ridge instead of following the ridgecrest as it did in the past. Around 2 PM, blue patches begin forming in the sky. Pretty soon it becomes a bright, clear day.

We pause to sit on a log next to the trail and share a sandwich, then push on across a few more sections of ridge. We play leapfrog with the high school group, which is moving faster than we are but seems to stop every hour for a long break.

Takoma and I become immersed in conversation, sharing stories from our personal histories. The miles slide by. It's 4:30 when we pull up at the sidetrail to Woods Hole Shelter. Takoma asks me if I'd rather keep hiking and try to make the hostel in Neels Gap tonight, or stop here for the night.

"You da man" I say, even though I'd surely keep hiking if I were alone. He says "Let's go stay at the shelter," so we head half a mile along the ridge, stopping for water from the excellent spring about halfway.

The sun is low and the temperature is dropping into the 30s. We have the shelter to ourselves, and we begin cooking supper on the table. I brought along a canister stove, which heats one pot of water for cocoa, then promptly runs out of fuel.

Fortunately I have some Esbit fuel tabs and a tiny wingstove for backup, so continue heating water for noodles with that. The high school group troops into the clearing in front of the shelter and begins setting up camp after their leaders come over and ask us if it's all right with us. It's a well-organized, well-behaved co-ed group.

A half moon lights the forest as the sky grows dark. Takoma tunes his backpacker guitar and starts playing. Joey, one of the group leaders, comes over and sits down with us while Takoma plays his heart out.

While he's playing, I recall how today started with sort of a special event. Before departing Atlanta, Takoma and I mailed off to a music mfr a package containing the music master and the artwork for his third CD, Songs of the Blue Ridge Runner.  The Earl Shaffer Foundation is publishing Tamoma's arrangement of 8 of Earl's poems which Takoma has set to music. He enlisted me to produce the CD's artwork, so we both feel we have a stake in the project, whose proceeds are intended to benefit the hiking community.

Within a couple weeks the CD will be available to purchase online from the Foundation's website, http://www.earlshaffer.com . The songs include Walking With Spring, Calling Me Back to the Hills, Mountaineer Manifesto, Wanderers Quest, Blue Ridge Runner, Susquehanna, Kinzua Death Chant, and Robin Singing in the Rain, all of which were originally written as poetry by Earl.

Takoma concludes tonight's concert and we settle into our sleeping bags, warmly insulated from the evening's chill. Tomorrow we'll pick up his maildrop at Neels Gap, then push on a few more miles. Right now I'm searching for my earplugs. Takoma keeps a nice rhythm going even after he falls asleep.

--Spur 
http://www.artofthetrail.com


------------------------------
PocketMail available in Europe from
our partners www.ryanairtelecom.com