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[at-l] Re: hiking with Mountain Roamer and Outta Chocolate
This past weekend we had the pleasure of joining Mountain Roamer and
Outta Chocolate on the AT for a short while. We met them on Saturday
morning at Bearwallow Gap. This was their last day in Shenandoah
National Park, and despite the fact that they had been able to see bears
almost every day, like most of the thruhikers, they were quite happy to
leave the rules and regulations of the park. We saw one big black bear
just as we entered the park - Teresa has seen so many she got quite
blase about it. That seemed to be a main topic of register discussion,
who had seen bears and who hadn't. Then there were the persistent deer
at Gravel Springs Hut that kept trying to eat their gear - taking off
with hats, packs, walking sticks, etc. The first time it was funny,
after a while it got annoying. Anyhow, we took off about 10:00 after
driving their friend Daisy back to her car. She had spent the night
camping with them at the shelter, and hiked with them a little bit in
the morning. The story of the exploding casserole is not mine to tell,
but let's just say that her visit was not entirely without incident. It
was a cool windy gray morning, a real surprise after a miserably hot
week. We donned our packs and hiked down out of the park, detouring
once to take in a hazy view and stopping at Possum's Rest for a long
lunch break. We saw some deer, a groundhog, and a couple of rabbits,
but no bears. However, just before we left the park, we encountered a
BIG dark Timber Rattlesnake. It was lying half on the trail and no one
paid any real attention to it at first. Jim walked by without seeing
it. I stepped over it, noted that it was a snake and was two steps past
before my mind registered the fact that it was a rattler. I stopped,
turned around and yelled at Teresa "NO, BACK UP!" By that time she had
already stepped about 3 inches from the snake's head. She said that as
soon as she saw my face, she knew exactly what it was, but it was too
late to do anything but keep going. Daniel got his stick out, and the
snake turned around and took off. I'm not sure if it was scared off by
my yell, Daniel's stick, or all the people almost stepping on it. Got my
heart pumping anyway; the others didn't seem bothered. Anyhow - we kept
on hiking to the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter - passing by the swimming
pool at the 4 H Center. Teresa was amazed that Outta Chocolate passed it
up, but the storm clouds that were building may have had something to do
with that - or the rumor that there is sometimes trail magic at the
shelter on weekends. Maybe it was the thought of the shower at the
shelter (which was broken) that kept him going. The day heated up as we
hiked, and by late afternoon it was clear, hot and very humid. There
were not many people at the shelter - Caterpillar, Flutterby, Weary
Pilgrim and Huffer & Puffer. We sat out on the wide porch of the shelter
(a particularly nice one) and talked until it was full dark - late for
thruhikers, early for us city folks. Since I couldn't sleep and it was
hot, Jim and I lay in the tent with the rainfly off watching the
lightning bugs. After a while, we noticed that some of those flashes of
light were not fireflies. "Just heat lightning" we thought. Then we
started hearing rumbles. When they started getting louder, and we
figured the storm was about 2 miles away, we reluctantly got up and put
the rainfly up, stuck our packs under the shelter, dragged in our sweat
soaked clothes, and went back to bed. It was a good thunderstorm, that
soaked everything but cooled us off too. It rained all night and into
the morning. No one was in a hurry to leave, but finally one by the one
the hikers took off. When we were packed up, we had a brief Sunday
morning service, then Outta Chocolate and Mountain Roamer led us out
into the storm. It was still a warm day - so no one bothered with rain
jackets, we just let the rain cool us off as we climbed through empty
fields, past old stone walls, over the hills and through the woods.
There were masses of wildflowers - some that I know, like columbine and
red day lilies, many that were new to me, like black Cohosh (I think
that may be what it was. They were all over, looking like tall white
candles), since we don't usually hike this far south when it is hot.
Particularly welcome were all the ripe blackberries and red
raspberries. They were wonderful, and more than made up for all the
scratches I got from the overgrown trail. We had lunch out of the rain
at Manasses Gap Shelter, then left Mountain Roamer and Outta Chocolate
at Dick's Dome, while Jim and I hiked on through the mist to Ashby Gap.
Walking in the rain and fog was interesting, because it reminded me so
much of old times. How many days on the trail were exactly like that -
long miles over the hills in dense fog and warm rain. It was fun.
Seeing Outta Chocolate and Mountain Roamer was terrific. We traded
stories and talked constantly as we walked, which made the long miles
pass quickly. They are still having fun, looking happy and healthy.
Listening to the constant chorus of birds, walking in the fog, talking
trail with thruhikers - it was a good weekend.
Walk softly,
Ginny & Jim
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