Bullfrog: Back to the Trail to the South

Tomorrow, we're picking back up where we left off last August. Hopefully, we'll make it to the James River. We might be having a guest join us; stay tuned.

Bullfrog: A hike without Rhino...

is like a day without sunshine.

Seriously, Rhino had to be out of town and two other guests bailed on me. So, Robert and I went instead on June 19-21. We hiked from Snicker's Gap (Route 7, Bear's Den) to Chester Gap (Route 522) just southeast of Front Royal. It was the same section Rhino and I had done in hikes #2 and 3. Rob and I did about 11 miles the first day, about 17 miles the second day, and coasted to my car on Sunday around 11 am with about 6 miles for a grand total of a little over 34 miles. Not bad. Then I went to the farm and fished all afternoon and got a sunburn on my legs.

Highlights:

• It rained Saturday morning, but then cleared up. Not nearly as much water through there as Hike #3.
• Sunday was Father's Day and also the First Day of Summer, also known on the AT as Naked Hiking Day. We saw only one naked hiker, a dude with bandana strategically placed on the waist-strap of his backpack, so we didn't see any of his junk.
• We camped at the top of the hill just south of I-66. There was a wonderful meadow at the top ... laced with poison ivy.

Who says the Washington Post has nothin' good!

Here is a good article about thru-hiking the AT. Someday, someday.

First Hike of 2009

Bullfrog and I drove up to Maryland again for a quick day hike north along the AT. We had started in Gathland State Park last year and this is were we picked the trail up again. Since it was only going to be a quick day hike I didn't want to overpack...but I did. God! It felt good to get out and on the trail again. Bullfrog and I hadn't seen each other in months, and as we talked, and walked the miles seemed to fly by. My core temperature began to warm up and the jacket came off. We stopped at some Civil War monuments for a quick lunch of tuna and crackers.

While there we met another hiker who had been section hiking for 10 years from Georgia and had finally made it to Maryland. He was doing the Maryland Challenge, which is Hiking all of Maryland in one day...about 40 miles. We continued on just enjoying the day. I really didn't have any problems with fatigue or endurance and we just kept trucking on. At a clearing we looked back at the distance we had travelled, seeing landmarks on the horizon that we had passed early on that day. Around mile 10 we arrived at the Washington National Monument and it began to sleet/rain. The monument was interesting but the weather was beginning to suck and I was getting tired so we didn't hang out to long.


My pack was really digging into my shoulders by the time we reached the Interstate 70. As we victoriously crossed over the bridge, cars zooming underneath I raised my hiking poles in triumph. I got a few honks for my efforts. 12 miles a good day.

Our First AT Vlog

Duality

And no, I don't mean people fighting each other.

Courtesy of xkcd (http://xkcd.com/77/)