Monday, June 26, 2006

Peak Bagging

With friends from the AT in town yesterday, (hi Trace and One-Third!), we decided after lunch that we HAD to hike the Medicine Bow Peak trail. Got started hiking about 3 and had a beautiful, flower-filled hike. What lovely vistas. Reminds me of why I love hiking.

Speaking of which, we're heading for Maine soon to do our 120 miles from Rangely south to Pinkham Notch on the AT. Looking forward to that... this time I'm taking my digital recorder to do a better job of journalling.

Summer so far has been a parade of visitors, which has been lovely.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Not Enough Time

In spite of the fact that it is summer, I still have not had the time to finish posting my hiking journal from my Virginia AT hike last month. Perhaps because suddenly the deadline on the handbook section that I am co-editing is NEXT WEEK! Erg. That means I've got to spend every moment of Monday and Tuesday doing final edits on all four of the chapters I'm tracking, along with working on our co-written introductory chapter.

So . . . more hiking journal later, folks.

Now it's back to yard work. It is summer, dammit.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Hiking Journal -- Monday, May 22nd

My loving spouse dropped me off at the Blue Ridge Parkway (not sure of the mile marker, but it's near the Peaks of Otter Lodge) at about 10:30. He's only got just enough time to get back to the Tri-Cities Airport if he speeds the whole way. He'll probably miss his flight.
I hiked 7 miles in lovely sunny but cool weather to Marble Springs Campsite. Along the way, I met some thru-hikers: Pumpkin, Pepperoni (whom we gave a ride to Pearisburg), Caboose and Walkabout (picked them up on the Parkway), Energizer Bunny, and Lounge Lizard. Interestingly, Lounge Lizard was sitting next to a van at a forest service road about halfway through today's hike, with sodas, fruit, cookies, etc. When I asked what he was doing, he said that he had started the trail, but only got a few days into it (in Georgia) when he injured his knee. The interesting thing is that he was doing his dissertation research -- he's working on a degree in Recreation and Leisure Studies -- while hiking the trail. Sound familiar? When I heard this, I immediately took off my pack, sat down, and chatted for a while. I wish him the best -- in fact, it's probably for the best that he was injured. Though it means he won't get to hike the trail, he'll probably do a better job of his dissertation than I did.
As I reached Marble Spring, I thought about going on, but my legs were a bit wobbly -- first day, and all -- so I decided to stay put. Energizer Bunny, a 60-year old woman who is surely high on caffeine at all times, pushed on, planning for a 22-mile day. Better her.