Digging a bear pole hole.
Northern Virginia section of the Appalachian Trail, July 21-24, 2016 — It was time for the monthly PATC ridgerunner meeting, this time at the Blackburn Trail Center where “Trailboss” is the caretaker and gracious host. Since he has an endless list of projects, Robin Hobbs and I showed up early to help do some work at the Sam Moore shelter (AT NOBO mile 999.6).
Bear poles have hooks to hang food bags using a forked pole, here tied down on the far side of the pole.
The pole is set 18 inches in the ground with four 60-lb. bags of concrete.
Working bear pole at Jim & Molly Denton shelter.
While the Sam Moore overseer and I installed the bear pole, Robin and Trailboss hiked north to clear two blowdowns across the AT.
We finished up by replacing a fire ring with a new fire grate.
The social and dinner prompted a lot of discussion. This is where the real business is done.
Sara Leibold, our Northern Virginia ridgerunner and I started patrolling immediately following the meeting.
We spent the first night at the Tom Floyd Wayside shelter with three others.
We took a break after picking up micro trash at the John Singleton Mosby campsite. It is deep in the area Mosby’s raiders patrolled during the civil war.
Along the way we clipped plenty of vegetation which grows prolifically this time of year.
Our last evening was spent at the Denton shelter with a large grouping of campers. Sunday morning we hiked to a road where Sara’s dad was waiting to take her home to Alabama for a whirlwind visit. She works 10 on and four off which gives her sufficient time.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized Sara might be a serial killer! 😉
Tried to photograph an interesting spider web with a phone camera. No luck. A good camera is on my Christmas list.
I was testing a new Osprey pack for use in the 100-mile wilderness next week. It carries nicely, but I like the cargo features of my old one. On a long hike the ride is more important, so the new pack made the Maine manifest.
Next stop Kennebunkport to see my friend Ed, the guy who taught me to split granite. Then to Manchester, NH to pick up Wendy “Pepsi Hiker” Horn at the airport and head for Millinocket where we’ll drop my car and get shuttled to Monson to begin our 100-mile journey. Boots on trail Aug. 1.
Sisu