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[at-l] Section Hiking & Bobcats & whip-poor-wills
Pete, I've always enjoyed your posts and this one about trail magic is a
good one. I try to put myself in another's place and think, "How would I
feel?" I remember a time when we were hiking the area between Front Royal,
VA and Pen-Mar in early April 1990. It snowed the first two days and was
in the freezing temp range most of the hike. I pulled a muscle in my knee
and hiked the whole distance with pain in every footstep. I got the female
thing and was bleeding heavily. It was raining and close to freezing when
we reached the Bear's Den Hostel where we hoped to stay but it was closed.
Off we went in the rain to find a place to camp. On the way two day hikers
passed us and we must have looked like half dead, drenched rats because
without more than a hello they offered us each a big navel orange, a cold
soda, and a Hershey bar. I was so uplifted I almost cried. That is Magic
to the 'nth' degree! I thanked them while trying not to gush and I'll
never forget them. From that time on I remember how I felt and how
wonderful their gift was and when I do trail magic of my own I may just
find someone who may need a lift just as I did.
May I also state that thru-hikers, whom I admire greatly, are not the only
ones who need trail magic. We section-hikers sometimes carry 2 weeks of
food at a time not using the towns to restock. I know we miss a lot of
the town magic but for 50 weeks a year we live and work in town and just
for those two weeks we want the wilderness so we pack it in.
NO flame intended folks, just my opinion from my experiences.
Happy Hiking and God Bless
Slim
PS: We saw a huge bobcat in the area of Roaring Fork Shelter. He was 2 ft
tall to his shoulder and was 100 ft up the trail heading right for me. He
stopped in his tracks when he saw me, did a complete about face and ran
like a wild cat the other way. Too bad I didn't get a photo. This is the
first time I saw one.
Hoping sometime to hear a whip-poor-will. I used to hear them when I was a
kid in the Pine Grove Furnace SP area.
Slim
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