A Gift Of Eggs

Someone has been leaving eggs on, The Slow Cook, Ed Bruske's door step. It reminded me of some Pacific Crest Trail magic.

I was walking along the trail minding my own business, and I see my buddy K-Too standing in the middle of a dirt road staring at a carton of eggs, that he is holding in both hands. So, I asked what he had. He looked at me and told me this story.

He said some guy happened to be driving by in a truck pulling a camper. He just stopped and told me he had something for me. The guy went into the trailer and handed me a dozen eggs. Got back in his truck and drove off before he new what happened.

We sat on the side of the road scrambled them up with some cheese. Put them on bagels and served them with hunger sauce. Man were they a nice treat!

Moon Pie

Moon Pie is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail this year. Here is how her journey started from the Chattanooga Times.

I drifted off to sleep … only to be woken up by a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter with searchlights a few hours later, circling overhead looking for illegals. I hoped they wouldn’t land near me, and rolled over to cover my face from the light and the noise. Two hours later, on the train tracks near where I was camped, a U.S. Border Patrol truck drove along with another spotlight, also searching for illegals.

Needless to say, after a fitful first night’s sleep, I woke at 6 a.m. to pack up camp and get a few miles on before the sun came up and began to heat up the day.

I had a helicopter hover over me my first night. No lights though, it probably had heat imaging. I did not move or run. I guess immigration figured I was a hiker and moved on. Although the next day I did see some aliens.

Well the next morning, as I was getting close to Hauser creek, I hear what sounds like a heard of horses coming down the trail fast. Remember the PCT is graded for horses. So I stopped and stepped off the trail to see five illegal aliens running down the trail in heavy work boots, jeans, and flannel shirts. At ten or so it was already ninety degrees or so. The men ran by covered in sweat, smiled and waved. They crossed the dry creek and disappeared into the underbrush like a flock of turkeys.

Welcome to America, I thought as I climbed out of the canyon.

Naughty Trail Stories

It seems they got cut :(

This week’s Play column is about Sarasota’s Bill Walker, who wrote a hiking book: “SKYWALKER: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail.”

Walker told me he had to cut lots of things out of the book, for space, including some naughty bits about life on the trail. There was this fiftysomething guy on the trail who was in the habit of asking female hikers for, um, favors.

Then there was the hiker called Stilts who was more successful in romancing women on the Appalachian Trail. The next day, though, he would hike away at a rapid pace.

“He was known as the most dangerous man on the trail,” Walker said, laughing. “He left behind a trail of tears.”

I guess if I ever write a book about the Appalachian Trail, I will have to write really well about that couple who were having sex in the shelter next to me last year. It was not the first time people having sex woke me up on the Appalachian Trail either.

I googled around and found an article about the hiker and his book. Definitely worth a read. It turns out I met him when I was staying with the Twelve Tribes in Rutland VT in 2006. He was hiking the long trail. I bet it is a good read.

In "SKYWALKER," Walker writes of mock struggles with size-14 boots, extra-long sleeping bags and hostel beds that are way too short. He found it easy to step over trees lying across the trail, but hard to duck under low branches.

Much more serious were his bouts with hypothermia.

At nearly 7 feet tall and barely 200 pounds, Walker didn't carry much insulating fat on his lean frame. He struggled to keep his body warm on mountaintop trails.

On one of his first nights, a cold, driving rain battered his lightweight tarp.

"All the concerns and paranoia of the last few hours morphed into a full-fledged fear for my life," Walker wrote. "As cold as I was, I didn't think I could survive a night exposed to these elements."

This Amazon review gave the book a good review.

The Germanator

In 2004, I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. One of the people I hiked with was Robert from Germany. He was an endless source of fun. He spoke English well. However, he did not know American slang.

We shared a hotel room, with several other people, at Warner Hot Springs down in Southern California. I bought some beer. I know, your shocked, that I would do such a thing. I handed the Germanator a beer. He clinked beer bottles with me.

Now, being a safety man, I looked at the bottles as they clinked. The Germanator was offended. He said in Germany when you bang a man you look him in the eye. Everyone in the room laughed out loud. The Germanator did not know that bang was a euphemism for sex. It would not be the last time slang got the better of him.

Community News

The long distance hiking community is a pretty tight group of people. We look out for each other. You can meet people for a relatively small amount of time and still feel you have developed a close relationship with that person. I got a ride to trail days, in 2001, from a fellow hiker named Freefall. I saw him a few times over the weekend and thought he was a pretty good guy.

When hikers get together we like to tell tales of our adventures. We will trade names and see if we have hiked with the same people. I have only run into Freefall one other time. At the PCT Zero Day party, in 2004. I always ask about Freefall. I have heard stories that he is out hiking and doing well.

Last night, I was looking at blogger profiles that listed backpacker among their interests. I found Freefall's Zero Day blog. He seems to be doing well. He has been to Death Valley and Point Reyes National Parks lately. Check it out.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

A list of things that has woken me up while I was backpacking. I have spent at least 500 nights out in the last six years.

1. Skunk
2. Bear
3. People having sex
4. Dolphins
5. Air conditioner units
6. Raccoons
   
7. Mice
8. Rats
9. Rain
10. Thunder
11. Coon dogs
12. Sunrise
13. Birds chirping
14. Unidentified Animals
15. Wind

I know some of these things might seem a little far fetched but I have been woken up by each of these things. Some of these things deserve a story of there own. Many are not surprising. I have learned over time to filter out certain noises while I am asleep. Your mind figures out that there are things you have to deal with or not.

One night, I was near town and hid behind a large Air Conditioning unit. The first time it started it startled me. Next time, I woke briefly. Then slept through the night. The unit must have kept going on, but my mind did not care to wake me up.

The dolphins will get a story of there own. It was on Cumberland Island. I had a great time there.