Week 14/8

I've managed without the least difficulty to sleep in, not rolling out until after seven-thirty. Ed is up and gone; there's no one else around.

Blackburn Center is owned and operated by the PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club). It's an old cabin resting in a high cove south of Loudoun Valley. For years the job of restoring and modernizing the old place has been an ongoing PATC project. Each time I return I'm amazed to see the additional work that's been done. At this visit I find an entirely new porch roof has replaced the old one with the most pleasing forest-green standing seam metal roofing covering the entire place . . . and the project goes on. Scaffolding surrounds one of the stone fireplaces and new rockwork is almost complete. As I look around, taking in the whole scene, a pleasant warmth and contentment comes over me, a nostalgic feeling. Here rests that mysterious, unexplainable ingredient that we all remember and long for, the secure, safe haven of our childhood when we were kids with not a care.

It's a short switch-back climb to the ridge and the familiar white, rectangular AT blazes, and so a little after nine I'm back on the trail headed south again. The endless jumble of boulders and rocks that have "graced" the trail for what's seemed countless and endless miles to the north are petering out. And so, isn't it approprATe that they should have one last grand hurrah, an encore for the big finale if you will! So, does the trail this day pass Devils Racecourse, a place where demons surely hold their Olympic events. Here is a narrow band of rocks coursing down the mountain in a manner so strange, straight as an arrow and rough as the proverbial "cob". Suffering nightmares, what a bizarre scene!

In just awhile I'm at Bears Den Rocks and the blue-blaze to Bears Den Hostel. I look around for what surely must be the resident bear, but he is away . . . and I'm not surprised, for there have been no bear on all the Bear Mountains I have climbed, nor at any of the other places bearing the name, "bear." I've trekked over 6,500M now on two separate odysseys and have yet to see my first bear (save the one hanging at Bear's Lair in Riley Brook, NB). I've even been skunked twice while passing the bear compound at Bear Mountain Zoo. It's also a joy to return again to the old Bear Mountain Mansion. What a beautiful restoration by ATC!

Today is the day for the "rollercoaster," an up and down section of trail south of Blackburn. I haven't figured it up myself, but I've heard say that there's over 5,000 feet of elevation change through here . . . and I believe it. One ball-buster is no sooner over than I'm bailing off to start the whole rock-slam again, but I make it through in good order, averaging 3MPH in the process, arriving early at Rod Hollow Shelter. I'm surprised to find Ed not here, for this was our planned destination for the day. Instead, I am greeted by Kathryn, a kind lady out for a section-hike in preparation for an AT thru-hike "one of these days." She has not seen Ed —strange. In fact, other northbounders I met today had not seen Ed, so I'm thinking, "He'll come bounding in later" but dark descends and he never comes.

I spend the evening in enjoyable conversation with Kathryn as I prepare a fine fire and a warm supper. She's on the right track with her preparation...but like all of us as beginners, she's carrying entirely too much. I remember what Warren Doyle, Jr. said, "The more we carry for our comfort, the more uncomfortable we become." At least she hasn't brought a dog along. Why do so many women drag a dog into the woods? Does taking a dog provide a feeling of safety? I've never figured it out.

With the dimming glow of the fire's dying embers and with my tummy full, I tumble in, tired and content.

What is he carrying? Check Nimblewill's gear list.

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