Day 67-22 Miles Today from the Sigilo Site of Turk Gap to Pinefield Hut, 4,300 feet high, 4,500 feet down, total 974 to miles
Night train
I put the ear plugs, not for the noises of snoring humans nearby, but for nightclubs. In particular, the whippoorwills that made their noises all night. Yesterday I heard a barking noise in the forest. Earlier this morning, the same bark sound and a feet of animals woke me up. I uploaded a YouTube video from a fox and was identical. It was a fox that was barking.
I found it strange, but I also listened to the squirrels squeak in the trees above last night. I discovered that the flying squirrels that are present in the park are actually nocturnal.
The views
Today I am making a mixture of roads and trails. The road definitely has the views. To the west, the mountains fall quickly in a large valley with a lot of housing and farms, etc. I don’t see mountains in the distance in the west.
In the east, however, the views are wave waves. The views of the east are without developing and I see a lake in the valley.
The long and winding path
I started a little after 7:00 am this morning. At 8:30 only two cars passed me. Also someone flying through a hill on a bicycle.
The walk along the way was fresh for now because the sun had not yet increased high enough above the trees. The road continued bouncing between east views with the beautiful mountains and views to the west with the hills to the Broad Valley.
Ah well
While walking, I saw something interesting crossing the road. Something moved along the way. When I approached, I saw that it was a couple of manure beetles rolling a perfectly rounded shit battery on the other side of the road.
There is a slightly cold breeze that blows. The breeze carries with it a sweet aroma of some flower or flowers that are obviously flourishing at this time.
Rocks
In Horsehead Overlook, I could see lots of rocks through the valley, like rivers that flow through the forest. These were sterile areas that looked like rock batteries on the slopes of Horsehead Mountain.
«These are rock rivers that flow through the mountain at a slow pace. They have astragalus that is formed when the freezing cycle is defrosting breaks pieces of exposed rock bed. These pieces, some as large as the cars, fall into a rock current. (This comes from the park service sign).
Rock walls
There are miles on miles of hand -made rock railings. These were made by the CCC almost a hundred years ago. The amount of work that was destined to build these must have been enormous. A lot of vital energy was used to build these rock structures. Each rock had to be collected by hand and placed as a giant linear puzzle. And here are 100 years later, they still look strong. They are beautiful things.
In Black Rock Gap Trailhead, I met Juice who broke his foot and is now helping his staunch wife (whom I met yesterday on the path) Slackpack while he recovers. He gave me an frozen soda that was very refreshing. I also found good news in that gap.
Silly movement
Leaving the gap, I climbed the path to the summit. The summit was crowned with a large battery of those touches of astragalus. With my herd lit, I climbed the top of the pile of disgusting Black Rock Mountain.
That was silly since I should have left my backpack on the path if I was going to climb this pile of rocks. If this is what Rocksylvania is as I am definitely not looking forward to it.
Seven -year walk
Then I returned to the road and walked to the Loft Mountain Wayside (restaurant). I get a worse brat and onion rings and, of course, the Blackberry shake, everyone gets excited.
They had points of sale abroad so that I could load my devices briefly. There was hot water in the bathroom sink but I didn’t bathe in the bathroom. (Yes, I did it, hikest garbage style)
Outside I met the shoes that wrote the book «End to end in seven section walks». He did the AT in his 70s for seven years.
Final thrust
Back on the path, I wandered along Ivy Creek with a lot of small small waterfalls. This was a good rhythm change from dry hiking to great altitude that we have been doing since we arrived in the park.
The path then went up to a crest that had excellent views to the west and east. The views here were very confusing, I think that perhaps because of the smoke of Canadian forest fires.
After that climbing, it was a very crossed path to the Pinefield cabin. In the Pinefield cabin I met Oldschool, who founded the Hopkins ordinary brewery and also called me Kevin. Mosey, a path of trails for Shenondoah, was also camping here tonight. I opened a beer from the park bell (they are so cheap there) that they had been relaxing in the spring and talked with the others before calling it one night.
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