I'm unboxing my Kindle!

Yaaay!

A Walk in the Woods 28 May 2010

Went out to Shenandoah National Park yesterday with a plan for a simple out-and-back to the top of a mountain called Mary's Rock. When I got there the entire Eastern slope of the range was covered in mist and fog.

But since I was going to be hiking on the Western slope this wasn't much of a problem. I parked at Jewell Howell Overlook, hopped on the Appalachian Trail, and started North. After about a mile i started to hear voices, causing me to stop, look around furiously, then continue. When I reached a AT Shelter I noticed that someone was still in their tent(I found this odd as it was after 0900, well into the day for long distance hikers) and decided to sit a spell while perusing the shelter registry.

Shelter registries along the AT are suppose to be places where you just sign your name (or "trail name") and move on. Most of them include tidbits about the area(e.g. "saw bear") as well. This one included about a million stories about Jesus, one two page Star Trek fanfiction, at least one screed about how Muslims are taking over the country, and finally someone advising not to use the shelter, as he had had a bad acid trip and thrown up in it(bears might be attracted).

About the time I finished my entry two people came out of the woods from the direction I had come from. One was an older guy about my Dad's age(he was 55 if he was a day) another was a younger woman about my age. The girl was going to grad school shortly and the older guy taught kiteboarding(after working at CSX for 30 years). I had made the leap that it was a Dad and daughter team doing a big loop, but it turned out that they had met at a kite boarding class 0_O.

Made my way to Marys Rock, scrambling to the top.

That cloverleaf is the Thorton Gap entrance to the park. After a few more pictures I climbed down and head back to the AT, set on returning to my car. I somehow blew right past my turn off and kept going...until I stepped onto the Thorton Gap parking lot. I was pretty displeased with myself. I turned around and headed back.

On the way back I saw several people on the trail, including a woman about my age with a extremely overweight Chihuahua. She looked like she was doing a long distance hike, and I couldn't help but notice the tent on her pack looked like it was the one I saw set up at the shelter. The Chihuahua wasn't friendly. Considering the number of people I was seeing it was clear that people were starting to arrive en mass for the long weekend. I also probably saw about a dozen RVs as well on the road.

As I approached the overlook where I had parked my car, an older(and extremely heavy) couple stared at me as I came stumbling out of the woods. You'd think they had never seen a hiker before.

A walk in the woods 7 May 2010

So yesterday I went back to Shenandoah National Park, this time intent on taking what's known as the "Camp Hoover Loop". I visited Camp Hoover last week, but only went out and back, for a grand total of 4 miles. I decided I would do the loop this time, for about 7 miles or so. I took my sister's dog on a playdate with me. She(Daisy) was so excited!

Met a few people on the first 2 miles and NO ONE the last five. For about two of those last five we were walking on a ridge near a ravine. The condition of the trail was such that it was clear it was rarely used(at least compared to the first two miles, which went to Camp Hoover and back to the road). Daisy's excitment rapidly waned as it gradually dawned on her that this trail was going on...and on...and on... She was soon walking exactly behind me exactly 2 feet behind me. Trudging along like she was on the Bataan Death March.

The views from the ridge were breathtaking, and you had a nice breeze hitting us.

The trail started at 3200 ft, went down to 2200, then went UP to 3800 ft before easing down to 3200. More than once I would break out my map, then my GPS, and curse. Whenever we stopped for a break Daisy would drink her water than keep an alert watch on the woods. We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, except at the end as we approached the car...

She damn near pulled my arm out of my socket.

Walk in the Woods 30 April 2010

One good thing about working the graveyard shift is that when the weather is nice you don't have to be inside at work like all the other schmucks(or in the case of one person I know, defending his thesis). Today I went to Shenandoah National Park again. First I went to Hawksbill Summit, which is the highest point in the park. I was gasping and wheezing like an asthmatic puggle, regretting the high altitude steep slope. A hiking group went by me in the other direction, and one of the people in that group said "don't worry it gets easier".

She looked like my grandmother with more gray hair.

Anywho, finally made it to the top. View was gorgeous. One of the things city folks like myself notice is how damn quiet it is. Quiet Quiet Quiet. There would have been more to explore at the top by a big section was taped off for Peregrine Falcons. Stupid endangered species.











After that I went on down to Camp Hoover, via the Mill Prong Trail. Camp Hoover is also known as Rapidan Camp. It was a presidential retreat built by(you guessed it) President Hoover. It was there Hoover and the Prime Minister of the UK hashed out the horrible scrapping and neutering of reasonable reduction in sizes of the major navies.


Trail is a 4 mile round trip with 3 stream crossings each way(this is important later on). During the first third or so I ran into two old guys, Bob and Jack(and Jack's Black Lab, Bonnie). Jack invited me to "sit a spell", mostly, I think, because he wanted to pick my brain about my VFW hat. Jack turned out to have served on the USS Richmond during WW2, which ran into a bit of trouble at one point (minor difficulties, as Jack put it). Bob worked in the Norfolk Naval Yard during WW2, "Fighting the war in the Norfolk Theater of Operations." My Grandpa says the same thing about Korea and Chicago. Jack warned me that the final stream crossing was tricky because of the arrangement of the rocks. He's old, so what the Hell does he know?

Well the trail at the third stream crossing kinda peters out, it isn't real clear where you're expected to cross. I picked what I thought was the best arranged rocks, and nearly slip and fell to my death. After I went down to look at the camp I decided to try crossing at another point. I got about halfway across when I determined that it was a worse choice than the other spot. I decided to use my fancy-schmancy GORE-TEX boot and step on a rock that was about an inch underwater.

Damn rock shifted and exposed a 2 foot hole.

Well, now I was up to my knees in water. What the hell, might as well just slog across. My feet were drier than I thought they would be though. Guess GORE-TEX really works. After I made my way back to my car I took the backroads back to Fairfax. I'll definitely be doing this again.

(Blogger seems to be limiting my photos today. I have a bunch more on my FB page)

Papers, Comrade

Unless you've been living under a rock(or not an American, I guess) you've probably heard about Arizona's new law that targets illegal immigration. It's worded in such a way that the cop can walk up to anyone who is "acting suspiciously" and demand proof of citizenship. Defenders claim that (1)It doesn't encourage racial profiling and (2)Doesn't give cops sweeping powers.

Those are bullshit claims.

Everytime I've gotten pulled over, without fail, I've had a exchange that went like this:

Officer: Where are you from?
Me:Virginia.
Officer: Where are you from Originally?
Me:San Diego.
Officer: I mean, where were you born?
Me: San Diego!(thinking: You Fucker!)

All because of a speech impediment. Now, as pasty as I am, it's going to be a million times worse for someone a few shades darker. And if I may indulge in a little stereotyping for a moment, nothing is preventing the cops in Arizona going to Home Depot and harassing Day laborers...or the people who are hiring them. I imagine this is giving the Border Patrol a huge woody. While most Border Patrol officers are, I'm sure, hardworking and honest, my direct interactions with them have been uniformly negative. While local and state cops tend to take into consideration that they are serving the public, and maybe they shouldn't be assholes to everyone they come across, as far as the BP is concerned you are guilty until proven innocent.

My coworker...

...Is pounding down a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew(the regular green kind). Yesterday he was pounding down a different two liter bottle of Mountain Dew(the purple kind). He's a stack of pizza bagels and a game of World of Warcraft away from being pitiable.