Of Hiking and Rescues

Of Hiking and Rescues.

    So last weekend  I decided to head out to VA and hit the AT for a little hiking. So, I grabbed the Thru Hiker Guide, found an area that looked interesting and headed out last Friday.  The plan was to hit the trail in the afternoon, hike to a hiker hostel Friday night, eat a good dinner and a good night of sleep.  I would continue on with the hike Saturday and finish Sunday hiking about 30 miles.

Well, Friday started out raining but warm. I finished up some loose ends at work,  tossed the pack in the bed of my truck and made the trip to Virginia.  As I was approaching the trail head, the rain stopped and I could admire the beautiful valley I was in.  The trail head was easy to find and there were several persons there with the same idea I had...a few days hiking and camping.  So I checked my guidebook, shouldered my pack and headed off to hike 7 miles to the hostel.  I reached the hostel about 3 hours later after a fairly easy hike with only one big ascent at the beginning of the hike. 

I checked into the hostel, and decided I would have dinner in the attached Bed and Breakfast.  This particular place has a communal dinner in the evening for their guests and the hikers.  The dinner, was awesome with freshly butchered chicken, rice, squash, fresh baked bread and so forth.  While waiting for dinner, I struck up a conversation with an older woman who was staying at the Bed and Breakfast who had dropped her husband and 2 friends way north of the Bed and Breakfast and were supposed hike to the Bed and Breakfast but there arrival was way overdue.

 Eventually the woman's husband arrives, dehydrated and worn out.  He states he left the other two persons that morning as they were slower and he had wanted to hike quicker.  None of these people were prepared to hike the miles they had planned to hike, they had not brought enough food or water, and did not have shelter or additional clothing for the cool night.  So, a search party was established and to make a long story short, we found them still 8 miles away from the hostel on the trail.  Hungry, thirsty and cold, the couple were obviously not in any shape to be attacking this section of the Appalachian Trail.  We gave them water, food, and extra jackets and  limped them slowly back to the  hostel safe and sound. Note: they were taken to an emergency room and kept over for observation overnight then released.  I did get a new trail name out of this however and at some point I will tell you all what it is..

After a couple hours of sleep I headed out Saturday morning to continue my hike.  There was one good ascent and descent over a mountain that was both physically and mentally taxing otherwise the rest of the day found easy walking rolling hills and valleys.  I found a campsite, pitched my tarp and settled down to dinner and a good book.  Sleep came quickly and I arose the next morning to find it cold and very foggy. 

The fog made everything eerily quiet.  Wispy tendrils of fog hung on the ground and the air was so damp that much of my gear was as as wet as if it had been raining for hours.  I packed up my wet tarp and ground cloth while making sure my sleeping bag remained dry, made a quick breakfast of oatmeal, hot chocolate, and a breakfast bar and moved out for the final 7 miles of hiking.

The hiking today was hard, the fog was so thick for the first two hours, it was hard to see 10 feet in front of yourself and made finding the white blazes near impossible to see until you were right on top of them.  However all was well, and the fog eventually burned off letting the mountain show off her amazing vistas (Hiker Television).  Five deer were spotted as well as two rattlesnakes that appeared to be cold and moving very slowly because of the temperature.  Over the next couple of hours, I enjoyed the hike.  As I was hiking, I realized, soon I will be beginning a hike of the decade and will be re walking these same paths I was on this weekend. Not as a weekend hiker but as a stinky smelly long distance hiker again.  How cool is that! 

So, nothing spectacular happened during the end of my hike and as I awaited my shuttle back to my car, I realized that I live in a great area of the county where I can be at my home and within an hour, have access to hundreds of miles of mountain trails.  This is my front yard so to speak and I love it.

So, another post and I still have not done the gear post yet.  I will try to post it next time....so hold your horses.  Until then......Hiker out...

A Motto to remember, No rain, no pain, no Maine!