My second and third solo overnight backpacking hikes didn't happen until 2005 and then again in 2010. In the summer of 2005 I planned for a 40 mile backpack from Pen Mar north to Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania and return to Pen Mar. Using the AT Data Book (I stopped using this in 2009 when I realized how much more comprehensive and details were in David AWOL Miller's AT Guide) I knew there was a shelter 10 miles north of Pen Mar and that I could camp in Caledonia State Park. My plan was to hike 10 miles to Tumbling Run Shelters (1 for snoring and 1 for non-snoring) on my first night then hike north to Caledonia State Park and overnight my second night. I would retrace my hike south and end up back at my Subaru in Pen Mar.
After crossing the RR tracks and the Mason-Dixon Line sign I had an initial climb that was pretty easy. By this time I was using my new ULA P2 backpack and my pack weight was down considerably. I was hiking in my LL Bean hiking boots and my feet became hot and I had to stop several times to take off my boots and air out my feet. By the time I had gotten to Tumbling Run Shelters I had a blister on one heel and an almost blister on the other heel. I had gone from a hot spot to a blister so quickly that I hadn't noticed it. I tried to use the blister patches I had but my feet were so full of moisture they didn't stick. I even tried to soak my feet in the stream near the shelter but that only worked for awhile. The next day I hiked back to my car in Pen Mar stopping every 30 or so minutes to check my heels. This would be the last time I hiked with these LL Bean Boots and they just built up too much heat and I had to find something else to use for hiking. It was at this time that I began to use Merrill trail shoes.
In September of 2009 I attempted to summit Katahdin in Baxter State Park and got to within two miles of the summit and had to turn back. Yes, this was an "off the couch" attempt to hike the Hunt Trail. I considered myself to be in good shape for a 69 year old, but it had taken me nearly 6 hours to reach the two mile arrow on the rocks and I was low on water and tired. At the time I had no idea I had climbed and scrambled up the hardest part of the Hunt Trail. Had I'd done more research and talked to more hikers I would have realized that the last 2 miles were a lot less difficult. My other concern was climbing down what I came up in the dark. I decided not to take the risk and quit and returned to my tent site at Katahdin Stream Campground. I ran out of water about a 1 1/2 miles from the Campground and reduced my pace as I knew this part of the Hunt Trail was pretty easy and flat and had a great slopped downgrade. I knew I was dehydrated and took a lot of time to cover these last miles as I didn't want to risk an injury at this point. I had met a Thru Hiker on his way up and again on his way down and I told him I'd take him into Millinocket after I finished. As a side note here to anyone hiking Katahdin is that unless you have arranged for a pick up after submitting Baxter you are 20 miles from Millinocket and hitching a ride back to town could be an issue. Charlie helped me back up my gear and I drove him into Millinocket where we had a large Shrimp Pizza to celebrate his completion of the AT. We've remained friends since 2009.
In May of 2010 I had made contact with another younger senior, Ron, age 65, who also liked hiking and we had arranged to hike across Maryland, but he developed a medical issue so I decided to use a "shuttle service" and hike from Harpers Ferry to Bears Den.
I met my "shuttle" driver at the parking area at Bears Den and he drove me into Harpers Ferry so I could hike south. At this time I was tenting as I had heard many stories about various issues about sleeping in shelters. I tented at the David Lesser Memorial Shelter and had the entire shelter and tenting area to myself. The next day I crossed into Virginia and encountered my first "road hazard". I had to cross VA 7 at Snickers Gap which is a 4 lane highway with a median. The AT crosses this busy highway and I had to run across 2 lanes as there is no sign on the highway that the AT crosses here. Apparently the County doesn't want folks to know the AT is in there County. My AT terrain map ends at VA 7 and I didn't pack the terrain map for this next section, big mistake. I saw the white blaze and I also saw a blue blaze too. Not having the terrain map I wasn't sure which trail to take to get to Bears Den. I stopped to ask two women which trail went to Bears Den and they told me the blue blaze trail. I took the blue blase trail and ended up in the AT parking area. I had to retrace my steps and make a 200+ foot climb up to the blue blaze turnoff to Bears Den. I passed these ladies again and I held my tongue. I was almost out of water and I am glad I had some Lemon-lime Jelly Belly energy beans to eat. Making sure I had the proper terrain maps is another important lesson learned on this hike.
At the end of July 2010 Ron and I finally got to backpack across Maryland. This would be my longest backpack, but Ron had backpacked a lot more than I had and I expected to learn a lot from these next four days. Yes, I had my Maryland terrain maps but I can't remember if I had made copies of the Maryland pages from my 2009 AWOL AT Guide.
We left my Subaru in Harpers Ferry where I had to complete a form that I would be leaving my car for the next four days and then Ron drove us in his Honda to Pen Mar. We decided to have an early lunch as today was going to be an easy five mile day to Devils Racecourse Shelter (Raven Rocks Shelter replaced it), so we thought. Somehow we missed the turnoff to Devils Racecourse and by the time we got to Raven Rock Rd, MD 491 we decided to push on to Ensign Cowall Shelter, but we decided to water up as we didn't know the water situation at the next shelter. I had eaten some snacks, but I guess I was just hot and tired and on a slight incline after the creek I fell forward rolling like a ball. Ron came back to check on me and I was fine except for a scratch on my right leg. I decided to eat another protein bar before continuing on. At one point after crossing Foxville Road, MD 77 I looked at the big wide open field we were hiking through and asked Ron if we could just stop, pitch our tents and go to sleep. He laughed saying we only had a mile to go. It was nearly 8pm when we reached the shelter and I pitched my tent, crawled into my sleeping bag and went to sleep as I was too tired to eat. Lesson learned today was pay attention to trail signs and signs for shelters.
The next several days were pretty easy, but my ankles were sore. I was hiking in Merrill's and they didn't provide a lot of ankle support. The last day the hardest part of this day was coming Weverton Cliffs and I had to stop several times to rest my sore ankles. The C&O Towpath is nearly flat but does have some dips. Again, fatigue was a factor as I hit one of these dips and it through me to my right and towards the green muck of the old canal. Ron grabbed my pack strap and saved me from a wet and slimy end. As tired as I was I watched my footing. We had finished the 40+ miles of the Maryland AT in 3 1/2 days and enjoyed our tacos and beer.
In May 2011, Ron and I made plans to hike from Springer Mountain Georgia to Neels Gap, about 31 miles. We also decided to use a "shuttle" to pick us up at Neels Gap and take us to US Forest Service Road 42, which would put us 9/10th of a mile south of Springer Mountain. We both agreed that we didn't want to hike the nearly 9 miles from Amicalola Falls State Park to Springer Mountain as we had heard this would be hard miles. Although Ron and I were carrying tents, we decided to sleep in the shelters if we encountered rain. Our "shuttle" driver Dixie said it was going to rain today around 4pm. We got to Hawk Mountain Shelter around 3pm and by 5pm the sky darken and it poured. We had hail stones part of the time too. The shelter was packed and I got dripped on by those on the upper level. Ron set up his tent after it stopped raining but I stayed in the shelter. Gooch Mountain Shelter was our next nights stop and I stayed in the shelter in spite of two guys who constantly smoked. Their snoring was so loud I missed not having earplugs. We had planned to use the Woods Hole Shelter but I wanted to avoid the "smokers" so we tented at the campsite off Slaughter Creek Trail and I had a peaceful and quiet night.
The climb up the rest of Blood Mountain wasn't difficult as I had become a good climber. We had lunch at near the old stone Blood Mountain Shelter and took a lot of photo's before heading down the trail. This trail was one of worst maintained trails I had been on and I took my time coming down. Ron took the side trail to where we had left his Honda and I continued down to Neels Gap. There was a long line for the showers but we were happy we'd completed these 31.7 miles in 3 1/2 days. I also enjoyed my 2 hot dogs and Pepsi too.
In July 2011 Ron and I drove to Maine to hike Katahdin to Baxter Peak. Ron had already hiked the Hunt Trail and we decided to hike to Baxter Peak via Chimney Pond Campsite.
We left my Subaru at Roaring Brook Campgrounds and hiked the 3.3 miles to the Bunkhouse at Chimney where we'd be for the next 2 days and 2 nights. On Sunday July 11th we got up early, left most of our gear in the Bunkhouse and carrying daypacks with extra clothing, water, our lunch and lots of snacks started up 2.2 miles of the Saddle Trail to Baxter Peak. Except for the last 1/10th of a mile the Saddle Trail is pretty easy with a number of large rocks to crawl up and over. This last 1/10th of a mile is loose shale rock and it becomes a scramble on all fours. We could tell that it was a lot colder so we put on extra layers and I put on my Patagonia Wind-shirt. It was cloudy and overcast and Ron almost took a turn to our left that would have put us on the Cathedral Trail that ends up back at Chimney Pond. I called out to him to stop and he did.
The summit was fogged in when we arrived, but within 15 minutes the winds blew off the fog and we had a wonderful and grand 360 degree view. We took lots of photo's at the Katahdin sign and then headed down the Hunt Trail 1 mile to Thoreau Spring. At this point I was 1 mile from the place I had quit in September of 2009 and Ron and I hiked this mile down to the 2 mile arrow on the rocks turned around and headed back up the Hunt Trail to Thoreau Spring. We turned left and took the Baxter Cutoff trail to the Saddle Trail turned left and continued to the spot where the Saddle Trail drops off and becomes shale. Ron just walked or sort of skiied down and I just sat on my butt and slide down. I was very tired and decided I needed to eat and drink before hiking down. It was also great to just sit in the warm sun and relax after what had been thus far a hard day. Ron got back to the Bunkhouse about 45 minutes before I did and again I was so exhausted I had trouble walking. I did manage to go down to Chimney Pond and filter and refilled my water containers. I still wasn't hungry but Ron offered me a packet of cheese and crackers and I ate them and drank some water lased with Gatorade. As tired as I was I slept badly and woke up several times.
On Monday July 12th after eating a good breakfast of oatmeal and peanut butter and having a Starbucks VIVA coffee with three sugars I was ready to hike out. I didn't notice it at first but Ron was wearing his full face bug mask and when I asked him about it he said he was fine. I think he said the gnats were bothering him. When we finally got down to Roaring Brook Campground and he took off his bug mask I was shocked to see his swollen face. He looked like Rocky at the end of the first Rocky movie. He said he was having a reaction to the gnat bites and I asked him if he had anything he could take and he said he had forgotten to bring an Epipen. We encountered some hikers and they offered him some Benedryl and he took several pills. I decided to take him to the Hospital in Millinocket as I recalled there was one near the downtown area. The doctor told him that a number of people who come to Maine have this allergic reaction to gnat bites in Maine. The doctor gave him some medicine and we decided to cancel the rest of our hiking plans and head back to Maryland.
We stopped that night in Massachusetts and by Tuesday morning he was a lot less swollen but he didn't look great. By the time I drove him to his home on the Eastern shore we was a lot better, but his wife screamed when she saw him. So glad she hadn't seen him on Monday. I had done all the driving and I was really tired so I asked Ron if I could sleep for a few hours before heading back to my home near Annapolis.
This would be the last time Ron and I would be able to hike together as he developed skin cancer and it would take his life in 2012.
Learned lots during these years, including hydration and eating often. Not pushing for more miles than you are comfortable with and most of all, proper footwear and replacing it before it wears out. I always carry more water than I plan to use, just in case and I have a habit of carrying more food too. Because I'm not 75 I wear my ACE flexible ankle braces (2013) almost every time I hike the AT and I now wear my Asolo Boots (2015) which provide better ankle support but have a thicker sole so I don't feel the rocks as much. The Merrill soles were just too thin and I could star to feel the rocks within months
No comments:
Post a Comment