Old Man's Hike

[deluxestogie]

On June 8, my older brother and I drove up to where the Appalachian Trail (AT) passes through Pearisburg, VA, and followed the AT for 4 miles up Peters Mountain, then another two miles to the first shelter. We each brought our own tents, so we could leave the shelter for the footsore AT thru-hikers that straggle in at all hours.

The weather was perfect. We spent the night, then hiked back down the following day. Old age has caught up with us. We used to do 10 day backpacking trips on the AT and in the Grand Canyon in our 50s. But this was good.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I left out my brother, Richard, who is an Engineering professor at Virginia Tech.

This is a stile that crosses over a fence near the Rice Field shelter on the AT.

Bob

 

[jekylnz]

Do you know what type of lizard that is bob...i like its camouflage tiger stripes...looked like fine weather for it...there's nothing like getting into nature

 

[Boboro]

I call them wood lizzards.

 

[Wagner]

Bob,
The first week of April the wife and I go up to Newfound Gap in the GSMNP and feed Thru hikers. Not your ordinary kinda vacation but hey, they're an interesting bunch! We follow em on Trail Journals til they make it up to Katadin. They froze there butts off this past April.

Do ya remember any trail names by chance? Not sure where our crew is at, the wife would know...

 

[deluxestogie]

Do ya remember any trail names by chance?

I sure don't. I'm getting so old that I forgot to even look at the shelter register this trip.

Thru-hikers are an amazing mix of young and old. Kids just out of high school, military retirees, accountants in mid-life crisis. On this hike I met a thru-hiker whose sons were born in the same hospital as my 35 year old son, in Berkeley, CA. Amazing. And I saw my first thru-hiker with a Kindle reader.

By the time they reach Virginia (and mostly by the Great Smokies) the faint of heart have already gone home. So they're trail hardened and systematic about their gear and activities.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Do you know what type of lizard that is bob...i like its camouflage tiger stripes...looked like fine weather for it...there's nothing like getting into nature

I believe that's an Eastern Fence Lizard Sceloporus undulatus. It thought it was well camouflaged, so it just stayed there and posed for the camera--unlike the 5' long Black Racer that was gone before the camera could come out.

Along the AT, I also find gobs of fossils. I always look at the rocks on the trail.

18" slab of fossils.

The hefty chunk of fossils shown above was sitting right on the trail. It likely weighed more than double what my backpack weighed. So it just sits there. I believe it contains several large cephalopods.

Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Bob, I'm going to send these pictures to Myth Busters. I have a hard time believing your story that YOU went hiking. In every single picture of "you" there are no cigars visible anywhere! Did your stunt double forget them?.....

Randy B

 

[Chicken]

i like the '' store bought'' walking sticks.

just dont run up on no moonshine still's.

 

[indianjoe]

If you do run up on a still, just pick up one jug and keepa walking

 

[leverhead]

Looks like a great trip! I wouldn't make more than a couple of miles a day, I'd be checking out all the rocks.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob, I'm going to send these pictures to Myth Busters. I have a hard time believing your story that YOU went hiking. In every single picture of "you" there are no cigars visible anywhere! Did your stunt double forget them?.....

Randy B

You want the truth? Can you handle the truth?

On the morning of my departure, I skipped my breakfast cigar, and carried no cigars with me. So no cigars until I get back home on Sunday afternoon.

As Richard and I gathered our gear from my car, parked at the trailhead on Saturday morning, I carefully removed my car key from the keyring, and left the rest of the keys, along with my cell phone, under the car seat.

"You sure you have the key?" Richard asked. We could both have still been teenagers, the way he asked--older brother to younger brother.

I held it up, and ceremoniously placed it into a zippered pocket. "If I drop dead, this is where the key is."

Now, you have to understand, my mind was in a tobacco-free fog. I'm sure that's where the problem arose. No breakfast cigar, no brain.

Come Sunday afternoon, when we finally arrived at the trailhead once more, I unzip my pocket, extract the key, hold it high for my brother's admiration, then discover that it doesn't even fit in the keyhole of the car door. I had taken the ignition key, which GM, in its wisdom, decided should not unlock the door.

How could I not know this? Since car keys come with a huge, electronic key chain fob, it had been many months since I had actually used the key (the other key; the one now under the seat, next to my cell phone).

Well, Richard, older brother that he is, carried his cell phone. We called our sister, Lynn, (40 miles away) to retrieve my extra set of keys from the top of my fridge, and come and rescue us. We hiked out to the main highway in the unshaded, scorching sun, and waited.

Waiting for Lynn to come to the rescue.

All was not lost. There is a Dairy Queen in Pearisburg. "Oreo Blizzards for three, please."

Richard returned home with Lynn, allowing me to stop at a nearby outfitter, and purchase a plum-colored "Appalachian Trail in Giles County, Virginia" tee-shirt as an apology gift for my thoroughly ticked-off brother.

So, now you know the whole story.

Bob

 

[DonH]

There's a moral to that story. Never head out into the woods without tobacco and a lighter!

 

[Knucklehead]

That's called an "adventure". That is some beautiful country you are hiking in. It could almost be Alabama. (high compliment)

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Bob, That story is pretty funny because it reminds me of an AT hike I did with my brother in the 80's. It was winter and there was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. We set the tent up and my brother built a fire. He proceeded to dry his wet pants by holding them over the fire. I was inside the tent and decided to light my 1 burner Coleman stove. When I first lit it a huge flame came out. I calmly said out loud "I wonder why it's doing that" I then decided I better toss the torch outside the tent before the tent caught on fire. I rolled to the door and in one smooth motion cocked my arm back intending to throw it like a basball. Just as I started to hurl it my brother's face appeared in the tent opening wondering what was going on. This caused me to drop the stove causing the tent to catch on fire. Luckily we put the tent out and were able to sleep in it. The temps dipped into the teens that night. The next day we broke camp and hiked for about an hour when all of the sudden my brother could night find his keys . I told him I was not walking back to look for them. So there I sat for about 3 hours until he finally came back with the keys. What had happened was when he saw the flame and heard me say something he dropped the pants he was drying and ran to the tent. The keys in his pants evidently fell into the fire which we promptly smothered and covered with snow the next morning. Calling somone was not an option since the nearsest person was 3 hours away. I too did not have any cigars so I guess the lesson learned here is that when hiking the Appalachian Trail always takes some cigars!

 

[johnlee1933]

You want the truth? Can you handle the truth?


Bob

That'll learn ya ! No cigars? Ridiculous .

 

[deluxestogie]

That's a great story, Randy.

Bob

 

[Wagner]

On this hike I met a thru-hiker whose sons were born in the same hospital as my 35 year old son, in Berkeley, CA. Amazing. And I saw my first thru-hiker with a Kindle reader.

Bob

We had to drive 700 miles from Fla to Tennessee in order to meet a married couple that live five miles away from where we do. Small world....

I won't venture a guess at how old you might be Bob but this this year we met a feisty gal named Mam maw. At 71 years of age she's the oldest woman to complete the AT to date.

Not unheard of, April 1st at Newfound Gap. Pretty chilly for a Fla boy....



A younger group here but there was a good percentage of 40-50's.
I know of no other situation where a bologna sandwich & Coke will make a pretty girl smile like that.



It's a hoot meeting all the different folks.

 

[deluxestogie]

...how old you might be ...balogna sandwich

I'm 65 at the moment, but it keeps changing. Fortunately for me, my older brother always stays ahead.

Most thru-hikers subsist on mostly carbs, with a smattering of protein. When they reach a town, they eat pizza and ice cream. Even though they are bulking-up a lot of muscle, they still lose weight over the 2000 mile trip. That bologna was much needed fat and micronutrients. [Each member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition consumed ~7 pounds of lean buffalo meat per day, and little else. They didn't do veggies and carbs, other than what the natives offered them.]

You're an agent of "Trail Magic," Wagner.

Bob

 

[Wagner]

I really envy that you are able to hike in such a beautiful area. The palmetto bushes & planted pines here in Fl are not very awe inspiring. The Smokies are a twelve hour drive for us, well worth the ride. We wear ourselves out day hiking when we're up there. We're in the middle of planning a trip up to Amicalola in Oct.

Sorry about the keys, sounds like a trail name in the making to me.