The Dynamic Duo

Okay, I had my little pity-party last night, so now its time to, once again, relive the experience of a lifetime…............
When we last saw our heros, they had just left Bar Harbor, Maine and were heading back towards the Appalachain Trail. Sara knew the guys’ hiking plan, and our plan was to find the trail access where they would be ending up. We would hike in several miles and meet up with them, and then all head into the town of Stratton for a good night’s rest and a hearty birthday celebration. (remember: Sara turned 23 that day.) We drove into Stratton and checked on the lodging: this, as it turned out, was prime hunting season. Everything was booked up solid. . One motel wouldn’t open until later in the day, so we headed for the trail. Sara had good maps and instructions, Debi is a very good driver, and I am an excellent back seat sitter, so we were soon at our destination. The Appalachian Trail is marked with white paint slashes on the trees along the path. Mostly, there are markings when the trail intersects a road or takes a turn that may be confusing, and Sara explained to us how differently places slashes could tell the trail-savy hiker which way they were to go, or what was up ahead, but not being a partcularly trail-savy hiker, I promptly forgot it all.
It was an absolutely glorious day, and we were all in high spirits. Sara was feeling better after a few days off. Also, she had visited the hotel laundramat the previous evening with all of her washable trail belongings, and we were all enjoying the results. She had to run them through two complete wash cycles before they didn’t stink! And it was her birthday, and she was going to see her friends again. What was not to feel good about? Debi and I were excited to, at long last, be doing what we had crossed a continent to do: hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Sara stripped to shorts, tied on her bandana and secured her backpack. “Bring whatever you want,” she said, “Just put it in my backpack.” I think we threw in some water bottles and raingear, but were soon wishing we had added a few boulders. That girl could move. Of course I think her legs are approximately twice as long as mine, so that helped (her, not me). We finally got to try out our hiking poles, and they were great! The trail, far from being a paved promenade, consisted of a lot of elevation changes, and a lot of wet and rocky stretches. We became acquainted with “bog logs”. As you may deduce, these were logs, in various stages of algaed slipperiness, laid over the more boggy stretches. You walked along them single file, as on a balance beam, though a pretty wide one. “As soon as you see one, you have to say “Bog Log!”’ Sara informed us. “Ah. Is that some more of that Appalachian Trail hiker tradition?” I inquired. “No,” she said, “I just think its cool.” The hiking poles especially helped save my arthritic knees when going down, but I could also tell that using my arms as well as my legs was contributing to my overall cardiovascular workout. Of course I thought about all that sometime later.

Bog Logs

Sara was very encouraging as we scrambled after her. “You guys are doing great. Don’t worry, I fall down sometimes too. Sure, we can stop for another water break, but next time lets try to hike longer than 10 minutes, okay?”, etc. After a while, we encountered another hiker coming the opposite way.
“Hi”, he said, “I’m Hopeful Hiker.” I think he was someone they had seen before, and he and Sara had quite a long conversation about what was ahead on the trail, what was behind on the trail, and whom else Hopeful had seen on the trail. Hopeful Hiker had been ‘flip-flopping’: though he was ultimately headed north, he sometimes took sections of the trail and hiked them north to south. He was worried about a section of the trail that Sara had already hiked, and she said nothing to allay his fears. Hopeful had just come from Stratton, and raved on and on about the virtues of the hostel where he had stayed. “There are lots and lots of televisions,” he enthused, “and there is any movie you can think of.” He must have been a little media-deprived because the wonders of the televisions and all of the movie choices were an oft-returned to theme. He hadn’t seen Sara’s “party”, but there had been a couple of other guys.
These other guys turned out to be Stan and Okie. Stan was the father of TDS (Totally Different Subject), a thru-hiker who was often with Sara’s group. Stan had come from Oklahoma to experience a little of the trail. I’m not sure if Okie came along with him or what. That part was never quite clear to me, but what ended up happening was that TDS hiked pretty much alone and Stan hiked with Okie. We heard stories of how Okie (supposedly the expert) brought Stan out on a big hike with just an energy bar to share. We did run into the pair on the trail, and Okie quizzed Sara about us being prepared for the day’s hike. “We’re fine,” she told him a bit testily, “and we have plenty of food.”
After a couple of miles, Sara decided we were not going to run into her boys, and we needed to get into town and start finding a place to spend the night.

On the Trail

Debi & the Birthday Girl

To Be Continued…..
Next…......The White Wolf