Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
June 12
Mountain Mama's to Groundhog Creek Shelter.............................................10 miles
We had a good nights sleep and were looking forward to a real cooked breakfast. The sign on the door of Mountain Mama's said "No shoes, No shirt, No service." We walked in and found Mama in her housecoat with no shoes. Oh, well. It's her store.
Beautiful morning. Perfect temperature. Some small clouds. The shuttle service back to the trail that we had heard about was nonexistent. Oh, well, let's walk. We only got 1/2 mile down the road when it started to sprinkle. We stopped and put on the trash that we referred to as rain gear. It was a beautiful walk along side this dancing river. A few simple and attractive houses lined the landscape, with manicured grass all around. The color of the grass and the sound of the river was accentuated by a gentle rain on a windless day.
We hiked on, dreading that my boots, that had just dried out from the last rain, were getting wet again. The rain came harder and harder until we were hoping to get out of it for a while. Just past a bridge we saw an outdoor pavilion. This didn't look like a public park, but it didn't look like private property either. We decided we would wait here until the rain stopped or until somebody asked us to leave.
As we approached the shelter we saw a sign that made us think that this was a recreation facility operated by the electric company. The structure was wide open, no walls, just a concrete slab and a roof. It had a huge fireplace/cooking area, running water, and off to the side a small restroom. As the rain continued it got harder and colder. We pulled out our fleece and long sleeve jackets, and put on everything we had to keep warm. I mean it really got cool and the wind started to blow. Just about the time it appeared that the rain was dissipating, another downpour would occur. This went on all morning. We had hiked only about 1/2 mile or less and it was now 11:00. We were falling behind schedule. We decided that we were going to have to make some miles, come what may. But before we started out, again, we needed something to eat.
The rain let up, so it was back to Mountain Mama's for another hamburger. As we started our hike back, the rain began falling more gently until it finally stopped. Sitting in the store enjoying our last hamburger for a while, a girl enters the store, very excited about this huge snake outside on the front steps. Almost immediately there was pandemonium. Mountain Papa was there and he went berserk. It was a 3 foot long copperhead. Very poisonous and very dangerous. The girls stayed inside the store and I went outside to view the scene.
The snake was doing its best to get away from Mountain Papa, get off of the porch onto the ground and get the heck out of there. Mountain Papa on the other hand was tearing the place down trying to kill the snake. MP had a hoe and was swinging wildly at the copperhead, and missing, and missing, and missing. I have no real love for snakes, but I wish them no harm either. In just the past few years, I have learned to leave them alone, when I see them in the wild and I probably won't get bit. I still have a healthy respect for their ability to do serious damage to me. MP was having no luck and the snake couldn't get away. I volunteered to help if I could, just for the safety of all of the people in the area. The snake had gotten behind a planter on the right side of the porch, where it was difficult to get at it. MP handed the hoe to me, I turned it around where I had hold of the cutting end and used this "long stick" to reach in and lift this deadly snake into the open on the porch. When the snake was in the open, MP took back the hoe and commenced to chop the snake into pieces with a fury that I can hardly describe. It was like a demon took charge, you could see the terror and panic in him. The snake struggled as long as it could until it died. The smell of snake guts is not a pleasant aroma. Seeing the snake lying there dead, I now regretted helping in its demise.
For the second time that day we started on our way. Walked by a wide running river with lots of traffic on the adjacent road. Busses and vans filled with canoes, kayaks, rubber rafts, and people out for an adventure. We finally arrived at the bridge where the AT joins the road we were on.
Yes, we had made a small detour, and missed about a mile of trail. What happened to our perfect record of walking the AT? We had still hiked, we had just made our own trail.
We crossed the bridge, crossed Interstate 40 and began the customary steep climb up from the road. It started raining as we started our way up the hill. It got worse, lightening, thunder, and here we were going uphill, closer to the storm with every step. We hiked faster and faster. We didn't want to be on top when the worst of the storm hit, we wanted to be on the downhill leg toward the shelter. My knee was really hurting, but we went on. Even with my bad knee, Vicki was not able to keep up, so I went back and dumped her half gallon of water, just to lighten her load. I knew that we were not to far from a water source and in the coolness of that day that we would not need our entire water supply. We hiked on, as fast as we could. Soaked, again. My boots got so much water in them that my feet swam with every step I took.
As we hiked, I looked ahead. We were not the only crazy people out that day. There was a tall, heavily laden, solo hiker in an outstanding rain suit, just ahead of us. The rain suit, it was beautiful. Here I was with only the tops of a rain suit, and they were falling apart, I had thrown away the pants at Newfound Gap. Here he was totally dry and warm. I'm jealous. Ray had a huge load and was definately out of shape. He was huffing and puffing and hiking pretty slowly. It made me feel better about what I was doing out there. He asked if we would tell his partner, Noel, that he would be there as soon as he could. We agreed, and hiked on.
We got to the turn-off to the shelter and met Noel. He was setting up his tent in the clearing there. We told him that Ray would be coming in soon. Noel told us that the shelter was full. This looked like a good spot to camp, so we asked if we could share the space. Noel obliged. Not much room here. Ray came in sooner than we expected. The downhill was much easier for him. He was carrying a huge load. I could have never made it up the hill with a load like that. The rain had let up but everything was wet and a little muddy.
Ray and Noel are both school teachers, also. But unlike Vicki and I, they are experienced hikers. Noel has a stove that looks like it is 20 years old. I think he said that this was the first stove that he had ever bought. Ray was packing in enough fuel to light a small town. We asked why so much fuel. Ray liked to be clean. He shared that when he could get clean at night, that he just enjoyed hiking more. So he had brought along a "Sun Shower" and enough fuel to warm his shower water each night. Talk about weight. One of the reasons that we gave up oatmeal, coffee, and tea early in the hike was to conserve our fuel and reduce our weight. We carried one full pint as we used the remainder in the other bottle. Then when we got to a town we filled the empty bottle if we needed it.
One of the nice things about talking to other hikers is that we learned something from everyone we met. We were novices. Everyone else was an expert. We talked, enjoyed, ate and slept. A nice evening. Got our first introduction to stinging nettles. Oh, how I hate those things.
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