Have Backpack. Will Travel.

April 18, 2021April 19, 2021 / jim fetig / 5 Comments

The Appalachian Trail, March and April to date, 2021 — We’re back in the saddle. It’s been nearly 20 months since the eponymous sound of my Jet Boil stove signaled that morning coffee was close at hand. From now until when, subject to the inconvenience of pandemic protocols, we’re in the backcountry in full force patrolling, building, digging, and sawing. The ridgerunners, the North District Hoodlums and the trail maintainers are riding again.

Now it’s been a minute since the last blog post. There’s a lot of catching up to do. The excuse is simple, WordPress decided to reject the original file format in which the newest Apple phones store their images. It’s taken awhile to figure out a relatively convenient way to make it work. Meanwhile the other social media automatically convert the files and everyone is none the wiser. If Word Press can’t figure this out and become a little more customer friendly, I’m moving to a new platform.

April 1, aka April Fools Day, kicks off the year. Job one is establishing the caretaker site at Annapolis Rock, a beautacious overlook and campground just off the AT. First we pitch the tent, graciously donated by REI. Then we string the tarps. They help protect the tent from UV and the picnic table from sun and rain.

Once the caretaker site is established, we walk the area for orientation and OJT. In the beginning of the season, there’s always noncompliance issues to fix including dismantling fire rings, picking up a load of trash and cleaning the privies.

This humongous fire ring is the largest I’ve ever seen. It’s at group site 1. The sign on the tree says “No fires.” No irony intended.

Branden has muscles!

Gone. Ash has been shoveled and scattered in the woods.

I’ve been volunteering to do this job since 2015. That experience has taught me to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. This act vandalism was truly upsetting. This was a beautiful grassy picnic spot just south of the main overlook. Some people built a large fire and smashed their alcohol bottles on the rocks carpeting the space with small shards of broken glass. It was a perfect area denial attack. The amount and size of the shards are impossible to clean up. It is no longer a place to spread your picnic blanket. Of course the sign says no fires and no camping.

Here’s what really frosted my sense of humor. The process of destruction cooked this environmentally valuable nonvenomous snake. I hope there is a special place in hell for people like the ones who did this.

The amount of trash was not bad for this time of year. Fortunately the maintainer had been there within the previous month.

The next step in OJT is patrolling. This hike covered the nine miles from Washington Monument State Park to Gathland State Park. Of course there’s the ubiquitous trash haul.

Ridgerunner duties include sweeping out the shelters and tending the composting privies. This time Branden is dispersing the “cone of deposition” which had risen nearly to seat level. Glamorous job it ain’t. Critical job it is.

Ridgerunners perform light trail maintenance. In practice that means clipping vegetation which generally means chopping back thorny briars and berry vines. They also have a 12-inch folding saw which allows them to clear obstructions too small for chainsaws.

Large blowdowns are photographed and geolocated in the FastField app.

In this case we cleared a path for hikers by removing small branches. In concept we are trying to prevent errosive social trails from forming before a saw crew can address the big stuff.

We spent the night at the Crampton Gap Shelter. Branden had not set up his new tent before. It was not intuitive. Let’s just say it took awhile.

Let’s call it dinner on a rock. The best practice is to transfer freeze dry meals from their heavy and bulky packaging to freezer bags. Freezer bags don’t melt or transfer a plastic taste to food. The name of the meal is written on the outside along with the amount of water needed to rehydrate. No dishes to clean, zero risk of food poisoning, and very little trash to pack out.

Morning giddy up juice.

Humans tend to have common instincts and ridgerunners develop a sense where people hide trash. They type of trash suggests an overnighter or a short stay by a homeless person.

Patrol complete. That’s nine miles worth of trash. The red object is a sleeping bag intended for a sleep over or possible summer car camping. Clearly its owner didn’t think it was valuable enough to hike out.

The Shenandoah ridgerunner starts tomorrow. Stay tuned for the next adventure.

Sisu

Hiking with Contagion

March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

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Everywhere, March 23, 2020 — On a cool spring morning, on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, we were on a 12-mile hike that would put this state’s 42 miles in the books. It would mean one state down and 13 to go for Bulldog on the AT.

In some ways nothing has changed. Hikers still have to lift their feet one step at a time. In other ways everything has changed. In addition to an over abundance of pollen, the invisible threat of the COVID-19 virus ominously hangs in the air.

As governments closed restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and other gathering places, the media observed that at least the hiking trails were open.

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Shenandoah National Park Photo

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Shenandoah National Park Photo

It didn’t take long for people to figure that out. They have been swarming the trails, especially the beauty spots such as trails with popular waterfalls and overlooks. The overcrowding defeats nature’s benefits.

Bulldog needed the most popular section in Maryland to fill in her dance card. This is the footbridge across I-70 near Boonsboro, MD.

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Social distancing from above.

In the course of the first eight miles, from Washington Monument State Park to the Pogo campground, we counted 50 hikers, 17 of which were backpackers. From talking with them, noting more trash than usual and the type of trash, and from observing the size of backpacks and bear spray, we deduced the crowd was mostly novice.

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The miles after eight are less popular and we saw no one.

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Bulldog’s step count.

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Stay tuned for the next state. It’ll probably be West Virginia’s less than five miles. After that, they’re pretty much out of day-hiking practicality. Virginia’s 500+ miles are a prime example. Remember this sucker is 2,200 miles long.

We did not wear masks while hiking. We could easily stay six feet apart and well away from other hikers. We did mask up to shuttle our cars to the start and end points. I am in a vulnerable group relative to gray hair and having allergy-related asthma.

“Zooming” with Sandi Marra, president of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Our hike was only the kickoff event for a relentless week. As the CDC and state governors refined their guidance, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy needed to make decisions relative to hiker safety, the ridgerunner season, trail conditions, meetings and a lot more.

As of this writing, noon Monday, March 23, the following closures and restrictions have been announced: Rocky Mountain National Park is completely closed. Shelters/campgrounds closed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, George Washington National Forest, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Numerous hostels and trail centers have also closed. Trail crew work trips are canceled including my beloved Hoodlums.

This just in: The Appalachian Trail Conservancy will officially ask Americans to stay off the AT until further notice! The overcrowding is unsafe. Darwin Award candidates everywhere.

I’ve asked the park if I should do this or not. Thursday I’m driving up to Shenandoah to prepare my AT section for spring, raking leaves out of the waterbars (drains), paint some blazes, and a couple of other small projects. Will count cars in the parking lots on the way out.

Stay tuned and stay safe everyone.

Sisu

Educating Hikers

September 12, 2019November 3, 2019 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

This was my final trash run. The load included a discarded tent, new boots, wet cotton clothing and uneaten food. Total pack weight was close to 70 lbs.

September 12, 2019 — There’s a popular website/blog/resource for hikers called the Trek. It was originated by my friend Zach Davis who wrote an excellent book about psychologically preparing for an AT thru hike called “Appalachian Trials.”

Recently a writer for the Trek interviewed me and others about educating hikers. Here’s the result.

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Link to Trek Article

Sisu

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Hike

July 11, 2019 / jim fetig / 10 Comments

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C&O Canal National Historic Park, July 7 – 10, 2019 — My Hoodlums trail crew colleague Cindy invited me to join her Allegheny Passage hike after her first partner was felled by a hip injury. We agreed to rendezvous at Paw Paw, WV – around mile 158 where the 3,118 ft. Paw Paw tunnel begins. From there we’d trek to mile zero in Georgetown, D.C. Link to Allegheny Passage Trail info.

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When Cindy asked me to join her for the last 160 miles, I thought, How hard could this be? The tow path is flat! Just plant one foot in front of another for 10 days. It would be a snap with campsites every 3 to 10 miles apart, each sporting a Porta Potty, a potable water pump and a picnic table. Pure luxury!

Best of all, like the Laurel Highlands Trail, every mile is marked! Measuring progress by the mile is reassuring. The distance simply melts away. Easy peasy, right? Stay tuned.

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The tow path can be a bit muddy in places, but overwhelmingly consists of hard packed gravel. Emphasis on the word hard. It was like walking on unforgiving concrete.

The guide book is written for bikers, not hikers. Hiker guide books have maps of trail towns showing where and the distances to needed business. Whereas a mile is a lot for a hiker to walk to a grocery store, it’s nothing for someone on a bicycle. The only clues we had were town name and yes or no for restaurants, grocery and the like.

Accordingly I packed 10 days worth of food. My pack weighed 30 lbs. full up including four lbs. of water in the bladder. That’s a lot for summer when I usually schlep something closer to 20 lbs.

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The C&O is full of history which has been curated by the National Park Service. We need a funder for a similar initiative on the AT.

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National Parks are a good cause, but it may surprise most citizens to learn how much the parks depend on volunteers and donations. Without volunteers and philanthropy our national parks could not continue as we know them. I wore the glove on my left hand to cushion the surgical scars from my hand surgery five weeks ago.

Lock keeper’s house. The canal closed in 1924 and it is surprising how much of its infrastructure survives.

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There’s an old mule barn in the distance. Boat owners usually kept two mules hauling and two resting on the boat while boarding others along the way. The sign says they would often get their animals back skinnier than when they left them because unscrupulous livery stable owners would feed short rations.

Most locks are preserved for appreciation. A few are overgrown and barely visible.

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“Please stay off the ruins,” the sign says. Of course there was a well-worn pathway to the ruins.

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Active train tracks. When George Washington proposed building the canal, he could not have anticipated the invention of the railroad which paralleled the canal route even before the canal was finished. Thereafter, canal boats shipped mostly coal rather than the full range of commerce originally anticipated. Sadly, the C&O was obsolete before it was done.

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Some of the old infrastructure is still working. The power plant still generates power.

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We saw a couple of friendly black snakes, a few deer, squirrels, turtles and water fowl, but not much else.

Enough of the park. Here’s the people story.

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After a hot day, the first night we set up at a decent campground. Later a couple on bicycles joined us. Cindy is a hammock hanger. In the absence of trees Cindy pitched it as a bivy.

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With T-storms in the overnight forecast, sweat soaked clothes hang in your tent which has places to attach lines for that purpose. The rain and thunder drummed all night long.

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Yup. It rained. Everything inside was dry.

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Reveille.

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Midway through day one, we discovered abandoned bacon and dog food at a campsite. We thought it interesting that the dog food attracted butterflies, but that the bacon was undisturbed. In fact, we saw lots of raccoon tracks in the tow path mud. However, in spite of being in bear country, we saw no bear sign whatsoever. It appeared the camper couldn’t start the fire.

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In spite of the absence of bear sign, we hung our food anyway.

After a respite from the rain allowed us to pack up in the morning, the skies then opened in offering of a day-long baptism of our march. Note the clothes line behind the picnic table where we hung our stuff out to dry including the plastic ground cloth from Cindy’s bivy.

When I pulled off my sopping socks, my feet were wrinkled and white. They’d been aching a bit during the day, but I attributed that to the hard-surface walking. Upon inspection I had developed blisters on the soles of both feet.

This is a first. I haven’t had a blister in 30 years! Blisters on the soles of your feet are no joke. By morning my feet were dry and the pain was tolerable, so I changed into dry socks and thought I was good to go.

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Trash on this trail proved to be a feature rather than a bug. Bikers are pigs. The park supplies plastic trash bags at each campsite with instructions to pack it out. Of course Leave No Trace educational signage was nowhere to be found. Information on Leave No Trace outdoor ethics at this link.

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At noon on day three we stopped for lunch and to change my socks. The heat and humidity induced profuse sweating. To my surprise, my feet we again white and wrinkled with a cottage cheese appearance. The blisters were worse. I was in trouble.

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Finding abandoned cheap tents isn’t surprising to experienced hikers. My bet is that someone either got soaked in the previous rain or did not want to carry a wet tent.

As the day progressed, the walking grew more painful. I felt like a bird with a broken wing. Fortunately vitamin I (Ibuprofen) took the edge off.

That night we camped at Fort Frederick State Park, the site of a 1756 stone fort from the French and Indian War. Link to Fort Frederick State Park

We discussed my ability to continue. The next day we’d be passing through the town of Williamsport where we planned to grab lunch in what turned out to be a stereotypical dive bar that served a delicious burger. That’s where I’d need to decide.

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They were rebuilding flood-damaged part of the canal in Williamsport forcing a detour through the town. We had stopped at the campsite closest to town where I inspected my feet. The left was tolerable. The right was a clear no go. If the skin sloughed off, I’d be unable to walk and might require an embarrassing rescue.

As it happens there’s a C&O Canal visitor center in Williamsport. That’s were I slipped my pack off my shoulder for the final time with only 60 miles on my odometer. I limped inside and called for the hour-long ride home. I must have looked pathetic. The people at the center tried to cheer up a disappointed visitor who had failed his partner.

Cindy’s trail name is Song because she sings at any prompt. She’s a walking parody of a Hollywood musical. At one point, after reminding me that a mutual friend noted that her hiking partners tend to have bad luck, she launched into Queen’s 1980 hit, “Another one bites the dust.” Well, as it turned out, that another one was me.

The good news, I’m meeting Cindy and our mutual friend, and her new partner, Janice in Harpers Ferry Saturday morning for breakfast. It’s the least I can do.

Sisu

A tale of two hikes on the Appalachian Trail

June 29, 2019June 29, 2019 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Me, Mary and Joanne at Nutter’s Ice Cream, Sharpsburg, MD for a pre-hike treat.

Appalachian Trail, Maryland. June 27 – 28, 2019 — The Appalachian Trail is not all work. Sometimes it’s a truckload of fun. So it was this week with two different gravel-crunching adventures.

Making a last gear check in the Penn-Mar Park parking lot.

My ridgerunner friend Mary decided to hike the 47-mile four-state challenge to celebrate her 45th birthday.

Her plan: Ridgerunner colleague Joanne would support her by car. Roughly speaking she would hike the first quarter alone. I would join her for the second quarter, and her colleague Witt, the current speed record holder at 9 hours and change, would trot the last half with her.

The adventure begins on the AT in PA at the Mason-Dixon line, then passes through MD and a corner of WV at Harpers Ferry. It terminates where the trail breaks into Virginia territory. To be official, the hikers have 24 hours to git ‘er done. The average successful hiker uses close to the entire time.

It doesn’t count without the predawn selfie.

Crack of dawn start.

She’s a blur at Pen-Mar Park.

She’s off!

Joanne met Mary at road crossings along the way. Staying hydrated on a hot day was paramount.

Blister repair at the I-70 footbridge. “Dr.” Joanne officiating.

Unfortunately, this is the last known photo. After handing off Mary to Witt at Washington Monument State Park, about 8 miles later they encountered unforecast thunder, lightning and hail. The tenderizing effects of head-banging hail caused Mary to call the game at 32 miles.

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Flash forward one day to the long-planned first hike of the season for the Gang of Four (minus one). Our plan: Annapolis Rock where Mary was on duty as ridgerunner/caretaker.

Green Briar Lake in the background. Catherine with a Ninja pose and Tina photographing a camera-shy copperhead wedged in a crack in the rock.

Mary, none the worse for wear, warns hikers of the copperhead.

Best part of the day at Dan’s Tap House. We missed you Alexis.

Sisu

Serendipity!

June 6, 2019June 6, 2019 / jim fetig / 1 Comment

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, June 5, 2019 — My friend Karma is hiking the AT again this year and I have been following her blog. In the past some of her blogs from previous hikes have been cross posted here to share her adventures.

Her blazing speed this time around is impressive. You can do that when it’s your second rodeo. On a repeat performance the B.S. is reduced to noise and the anxieties are taken in stride. You can actually enjoy the experience. That she’s having a good time was obvious at lunch.

The truth is that she’s a week ahead of schedule, not because she’s faster but because she’s hiking smarter by spending less time in town. It just so happens I was in Harpers Ferry upstairs at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy when a friend there told me Karma was downstairs, fresh off the trail, wringing wet with sweat. Serendipity!

I bounded down the stairs into the hiker lounge and gave my friend a soppy hug. After finding out that it was too early to check into the motel where she could have showered, we decided to go to lunch anyway. After all, it is a hiker town and we’re hikers.

Our plan always had been to meet for lunch in Harpers Ferry where Karma planned to take a day off known as a zero for zero miles hiked. Now as it is, I always buy lunch when a friend hikes in from Georgia. It doesn’t happen that often, so it’s a bet that won’t break the piggy bank. When it does happen, it’s special.

My first question was “Why are you doing this a second time”? The answer was simple and complicated. In the end, her reason is universal. She likes being out there.

Karma first hiked the AT in 2013. Her blog “Karma on the Trail” is the most entertaining AT blog I’ve ever read. You can find it here: https://thumperwalk.wordpress.com/

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Karma’s half way photos from this 2013 and 2019.

You go girl!

Sisu

An Ugly Start to the Summer

May 26, 2019May 27, 2019 / jim fetig / 7 Comments

Bucky

Appalachian Trail, Maryland and Northern Virginia, May 20-24, 2019 — Usually the trail is an undramatic place. Hikers come and go. Some even dig cat holes to go in.

This week opened uneventfully and hopeful of good times to come. I met the short-season Maryland ridgerunner at the Greenbriar State Park visitor center where the rangers with whom we work have their offices. Bucky was issued his radio, parking permit, apartment key and other such stuff.

Bucky’s room. Packs explode when you open them.

We met Mary, his ridgerunner partner, at the apartment. We drove around pointing out landmarks and key areas. Then we adjourned to Dan’s Tap House for juicy gourmet burgers before bounding up the mountain to Annapolis Rock where Bucky will spend his first shift as caretaker. Mary will be patrolling in Maryland.

The sundown faded toward black as Bucky and I arrived at Annapolis Rock. As the last of the sunset peepers were sliding down the hill towards home, we stowed our gear and made the rounds. We found only one camper, a thru hiker. He actually properly hung his food bag on the bear pole. Score! After securing the sagging tarp over the picnic table, we called it a day and dove head first into our respective dream worlds.

We woke to the thunderous snoring of Jake brakes and the throbbing pulse of commerce rushing along I-70. The interstate is invisible from the view point, tucked in behind a low ridge. When the wind is quiet, its presence is as undeniable as is the drag strip across the valley.

With the crack of dawn piercing the tent walls, we raked the sand out of our eyes and adjourned to the ridgerunner office/picnic table for breakfast. Two packs of instant oatmeal and a Jet Boil coffee later, it was time to inspect the rock.

Following orientation, we hiked to the Pogo campsite about two miles up the trail. First we stopped at the Black Rock overlook and scoured the area for trash.

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The desecration of Black Rock and other places is a pastime for local high school kids. I’m certain Shawna wasn’t present when the perp misogynistically memorialized his conquest.

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The good news is that it didn’t last long. Mary followed up the next day with a bottle of Elephant Snot and a scrub brush. Bingo. Like it never happened.

We also checked out Fox Gap where a Civil War skirmish was fought. New graffiti topped the old.

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Once again, Mary and her trusty Elephant Snot to the rescue. (Learn more about Elephant Snot here.) All in a day’s work for a ridgerunner, right?

Now it’s time to interrupt this friendly story for a brief trip to the dark side.

This hiking season has already been marred by a tragic event. One hiker was murdered and another maimed and nearly killed when someone who was deranged stabbed them. Click here for details: (How safe is the Appalachian Trail).

The AT attracts 3 million visitors annually. They represent a cross section of society with all that entails. Normally hikers are pretty mellow, but this tragedy elevated concern within the hiking community, especially for unbalanced and misogynistic behavior which was reportedly exhibited by the accused killer.

Earlier in the day, a hiker complained to us about another hiker variously called “Yogi Beer,” “Renegade,” or “Air Quotes.” Bad actors often change their trail names to avoid authorities. Judging from reports of his behavior, Yogi Beer appears to be a raging alcoholic and possibly bipolar. He had been aggressively harassing women.

With this in mind, Bucky and I were enjoying the brilliant weather while hiking to the trailhead — Bucky to pick up a bale of wood chips for the Annapolis Rock composting privies and me to my car so I could meet the Northern Virginia ridgerunner for his orientation hike the next day.

Three hikers stopped us to complain about a guy called, you guessed it: Yogi Beer. They had first-hand knowledge. One of them had been concerned enough to snap Yogi Beer’s photo. We immediately filed an incident report and shared the photo with law enforcement rangers, trail officials and the other ridgerunners. (Details not shared here to protect the innocent because some of it may be hearsay.) With that, we thought we were done with the dark side.

In the interest of chronology, let’s put the dark side on hold for a minute because we’re not done. It will be right back after a bit more of our friendly story.

Witt

Each of our ridgerunners is an expert backpacker. Occasionally a resume stands out. Witt has thru-hiked the triple crown – Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. He also as held the FKT (fastest known time) for the Arizona Trail and is the FKT holder in Maine’s 100-mile Wilderness. ( Info on the National Scenic Trails System)

Unfortunately for Witt, ridgerunners are more commonly evaluated by the number of contacts they make and the amount of trash they pick up. That’s slow going for a guy who’s used to moving in the fast lane.

Along the way we noticed an unusual arrow made of sticks pointing to a path in the woods.

Somebody wants us to follow the yellow brick road, right? Naturally we did.

About 100 yards in we discovered a sign for a hiker hostel. Unfortunately it’s on National Park Service land, about 20 feet inside the boundary according to the marked trees. We informed the folks who deal with these issues. The owner only has to move it off park service property and it’s good. Commercial ads/promotion isn’t allowed on federal land.

Stacking rocks has been a thing for awhile. Cairns and rock art are inconsistent with Leave No Trace principles. In short: Leave only foot prints (not rock stacks, painted rocks or graffiti) and take only photos (not flowers, feathers and antlers). Leave those for others to see.

Boom. The rocks were widely scattered.

We hiked 12 miles. The trash collected was moderate. Best highlight: We opened the tool cache at David Lessor shelter. We immediately noticed a field mouse. A second later a juvenile Black Snake became obvious. We left mother nature to her business. If they could get in, they could get out.

Now we’ll return to the dark side. When we left we were dealing with Yogi Beer.

Turns out Witt and I may have passed a hiker who turned up in an incident report for threats and sexual harassment. His photo was familiar. Not long after learning that, a report came in about an abusive hiker at a nearby hostel.

Believe me. This volume is highly unusual. Unfortunately, there’s more!

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So, there I was at home in my favorite chair, quietly sipping coffee while reading the New York Times early Saturday morning. The phone rings. It’s Mary at the Ed Garvey shelter in Maryland.

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She’s found a mess. The guy in the tent won’t get up. He doesn’t appear to be under the influence. She wants to educate him to pack out his trash, not to mention properly hanging his food and not to make the mess in the first place.

Raw chicken is in the mix. This could attract animals including bears. Then we’re dealing with a different problem.

Since the camper rolled over and would not get up, she moved a distance away to observe, radioed the Maryland Park Service and waited for the ranger. Before the ranger could arrive, the guy packed up and left. She cleaned up the area.

Enough already? Damn right!

Of note. Sexual harassment on the trail isn’t a universal experience, but its frequency is way too high. Sometimes it’s subtle as when one of our women ridgerunners quipped that all she needed was another septuagenarian man-splaining how she should hike. Other times males go out of their way to tell women they don’t belong on the trail alone or they aren’t strong enough to hike long distances. Sometimes it’s much more sexually suggestive or worse as when someone attempted to rape a hiker I know.

This is shameful. Men need to step up and stop this behavior. We need to own it and step in when we see or hear it.

Incident Reporting: http://appalachiantrail.org/home/explore-the-trail/report-an-incident?fbclid=IwAR2dlPHezWWPQy17qyRHUBqR21UWz-GyyrA7xtHD9FgXgZmrtxGLhZ7l73U

Sisu

No rest for the wicked

May 19, 2019February 22, 2020 / jim fetig / 10 Comments

Everywhere, May 2019 — No time for a deep breath. May is just like that. The list is long.

In all, I flew to my brother’s in Loveland, CO and belatedly celebrated a milestone birthday (50 + shipping and handling), led a Road Scholar hike, attended ridgerunner training, and worked with the Hoodlums trail crew in Shenandoah National Park.

Walking around the lake at my brother Jack’s. Rocky Mountain National Park (Long’s Peak) is on the horizon.

Next comes two orientation hikes (OJT), our neighborhood homeowners’ association meeting (with several contentious issues), an appointment with the Social Security Administration (it’s that time: 50 + shipping and handling), and a pre-op physical because I’m having two more Dupeytren’s fingers surgically straightened on the last day of the month.

Oh, my friend Karma, who hiked he AT in 2013 and the Pacific Crest Trail last year, is hiking the AT again. I’m hoping to meet her on the trail in Shenandoah when I weedwhack my trail just before surgery, but for sure we’re having lunch in Harpers Ferry just like we did in 2013.

Karma was was not only an inspiration for my hike the following year, but in practical terms, she was the person whose wisdom and practicality was worth its weight in gold when I was preparing for my AT thru hike. Her blog for that hike is the the best AT blog ever, IMHO. Click here: Karma’s 2013 AT blog

May has been and is going to be a blur.

Robert, the 2018 northern Virginia ridgerunner, briefs Witt, the incoming. Witt is a tripple crowner having hiked the At, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. He also holds the FKT (Fastest Known Time) for the Arizona Trail. That’s a bunch of hiking.

Joanne, will be patrolling in Shenandoah again this year for 30 days beginning June 15.

Wilderness First Aid – It also was my year to re-certify. It’s an excellent course. Sixteen hours drinking from a fire hose and splinting the hell out of them and so much more. If you’re ever injured on a trail, you want a WFA to find you. Click here: Wilderness Medicine

Caffeine addict alert.

Hoodlums work trip.

Does it get better than this? I don’t think so!

Sisu

A Flip Flopping Festival

April 29, 2019April 29, 2019 / jim fetig / 2 Comments

Harpers Ferry, WV, April 26 – 28, 2019 — The fifth annual Flip Flop Festival this weekend was fun and helped send off a new class of hopeful thru hikers on their 2,200 mile odyssey.

Some hikers jumped on the trail on a drizzly Sunday morning. Others departed earlier, while others chose to wait until Monday for better weather.

The festival features a kick off party at the Barn in Harpers Ferry Friday evening with educational seminars and vendors punctuating the activities Saturday and Sunday. That was a bottomless box of nachos on the lower right weighed as much as a black hole and took a lot of digging to empty it out.

The well-attended seminars included tips for beginners, trail health, hiker hacks, navigation and survival, trail craft, forest bathing and food dehydration. For one, I would rather hikers actually bathe than rely on the breeze through the trees carry away their scent. The ridgerunners were on hand to do pack shakedowns with the idea of helping hikers rid themselves of superfluous kit and the unnecessary weight. Folks this year came well-prepared.

The Methodist church hosts a pancake breakfast. By the time this was taken, the vast majority of the hikers had filled their tanks and moved on.

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Posing with James Smyle who is the esteemed organizer of this mighty event.

Mugging with my friends in 16-year-old mode.

Friends photos by Laurie Potteiger

Posing again in adult mode. See you next year.

Sisu

The 2019 Ridgerunner Season Begins

April 16, 2019April 17, 2019 / jim fetig / 6 Comments

Sabine and Mary at Annapolis Rock, Maryland with Greenbriar Lake in background.

Appalachian Trail, Maryland and Shenandoah National Park, April 1 – 14, 2019 — Dawn cracked to reveal a chilly drizzle like the warmth a Sunday school teacher might project showing a little leg through clouds of petticoats. Right place. Wrong idea. Can’t see that much, so up the mountain we marched.

Mary is a veteran ridgerunner some readers will recall from last year’s blog entries about her service in Shenandoah. This season her Maryland tour is seven-months long. She will be reinforced by another ridgerunner from Memorial Day to Labor Day. She started on the auspicious First of April. No joke.

Sabine will be in Shenandoah National Park through early September. She arrived a tad early to observe and get to know Mary before launching her own long march toward autumn on her 102 miles of the AT she’ll be patrolling some 55 miles southward.

20190401_1845221 Earlier Mary had kicked down winter’s door, Hoovering up the off-season detritus like a caretaker opening a musty summer house long dormant. That’s bags of trash to the uninitiated.

On her first morning sweep of the Pine Knob shelter she found two backpacks apparently abandoned on the floor. No note. That’s more common than one may imagine. People get tired, wet, quit, and abandon their gear all the time. Regardless, they were available for animals to rummage. She decided to wait and see.

On her evening swing they were still there, so she packed them out tandem style to the Greenbriar State Park visitor center.

The knuckleheads called the park looking for them late in the evening. They’d been day hiking from the Pennsylvania border. Unfortunately the packs weren’t available til morning. Sorry guys.

Off we marched to begin patrolling the area between Annapolis Rock and the Pogo campsite. Trash picking was easy.

Pogo, where a tree fell atop one of the iconic fire pits.

Ridgerunning is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to find – tent poles, plastic container and a rubber band slingshot.

Painted rocks have become a trend in the hiking world. We found one at Black Rock that seems to advertise a lake front development in Maryland. There will be follow up with the developer.

Drying out. Caretaker tent graciously donated by REI.

Senseless vandalism.

Photo: Mary Thurman.

Please pad your anchors and save the trees.

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Somebody actually tried a bear hang instead of hooking their food bag on one of the tines. This method actually makes it much easier for the bear to get the food. 🙁

Sabine’s OJT at Annapolis Rock was complete. On to Shenandoah.

Shenandoah day one starts in the backcountry office for orientation, paperwork and equipment issue. Then it’s a hike to check the north boundary kiosk.

We made a side trip to hike the cult-like Piney Memorial Trail and paid our respects to the fallen. While there, the ridgerunner janitorial instinct kicked in.

The first overnight is at the luxurious Indian Run Maintenance Hut which is available to the ridgerunners when in the area.

First showdown with a hanging tangle. She drew her clippers faster than Gary Cooper in “High Noon” and cut that sucker down. Note the full trash bag.

Foundation of what was once intended to be a restroom for a “colored” picnic area that never was built.

Taking a break on a handy rock.

Second night at Gravel Spring. Not sure if the tree is apple, cherry or otherwise.

Sabine’s trail name is “Foureyes.” Not what you’d think for a hiker who’s done the Appalachian Trail, the Long Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail while in between earning a PhD in physics.

Some people come to the trail ignorant, thoughtless and unprepared. Yes, it’s what it appears to be. Digging cat holes to bury other people’s feces is one of the more unappealing aspects of the job. You have to want to protect the trail with all of your heart to do this work.