Into the Woods

So today I ventured forth into the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains.
Good start to an epic story right? Yea, this wasn't particularly epic, but it was definitely a good respite from being trapped in suburbia and the city at all times. I've been itching to get outside and away from it all for a while, so this was a perfect opportunity to do so. For those who're unaware, the Appalachian Trail runs its course from Main to Georgia (or Georgia to Maine, depending on how you look at it) totaling in about 2,178miles in length. It's pretty much a straight-shot too, and considering the hilly-mountains that make up the Appalachians, it's really not all that back-breaking either. Was almost like a nature hike, sans the educational signs. or signs at all really. When we pulled off of the interstate, we had to back-track a couple miles to hit the trail head. Was getting very nervous about the lack of directional signs, but we found the parking area without too much difficulty. on our way out, we did manage to spot a wee-tiny sign saying, "AT parking area-->" gee thanks. the little sign to the left is actually from a marker a mile or so into our hike where it points out the direction of a shelter for overnight camping.
The shelter was actually pretty interesting, other than the gigantic bugs that kept dive-bombing us, it was a decent place set up to make overnight camping a cake-walk. Platform cabin with a tin roof and walls and a fire pit, plus a picnic table and some convenient hooks on a pole 10ft up in the air to hang your food and garbage from so animals won't come rummaging (there was even a pole attached to it you could use to put the food up on the hooks with). People camping overnight in those places aren't really roughing it too much.
Anyway, the really entertaining part was that the trail club that maintains the section of the trail we were on likes to put log-books in the shelters, so that hikers and campers can leave a little note concerning their journey. There were some very amusing things that had been written into the book. "Have had to poop for the last 5 miles..." "Not digging constantly walking through spiderwebs..." Some entries included nice little cartoons or tokens from the travelers who'd passed through. Skimmed through a couple of stories involving sightings of a small black snake that had taken up residence in the roof of the shelter. I think my favorite was the Miss Hannah Montana's contribution to the book (which you can read to the right). I found myself wondering if someone had gone through the effort of hiking the trail and making a log from miss montana at ever shelter or if this is the only evidence of her outdoor-escapades. Either way, it was pretty amusing and rather cool to see all of the different notes. The book had only been replaced in March, but was already about a third of the way filled, so I wonder if they change it out for every year, or what. Anyway, that was entertaining. Now for some pictures along the trail, right?
It was a beautiful day for a hike as well i must admit. It's still early enough in the season that the leaves are still in the midst of changing colors so at points you'll see the lush green of summer and then turn a bend and be confronted by oranges and yellows. Perfect temperature, light breeze. It was wonderful. The path was all cell-phone accessible, which was kind of weird. The further we hiked in the quieter and more peaceful the setting seemed. We saw a couple of deer and smaller animals (no bears, which i hear tell they do have out here). On the way back to the car, we could tell how close we were getting by how much louder the traffic on the interstate was getting. Strange to find a place that's so peaceful and seemingly remote be running through the backyard of a rather heavily populated area.
I'm surprised we didn't see more people out and about, don't know if it just isn't a popular section of trail to hike or if there really aren't that many people heading out into the woods this time of year. Whatever the case, it was a good day. Different pace, different setting. I have no complaints. And no particularly interesting stories to impart. Next weekend i get to go to a Renaissance festival in Maryland. I'm sure that's going to be fairly interesting...