September 22 What a difference a day makes as well as the benefits of a good night’s sleep! Last night was a very restful night. After a relatively short but extremely difficult hike yesterday we were both exhausted when we arrived at the Reese Hollow Shelter. Johnny B sacked out right after supper and I tried to stay awake until hikers midnight. We were so tired that we even skipped our normal card game, although we did mix up the last of our trail wine and drank it with our evening meal. We were up an making our breakfast by 6:30 a.m. and after a quick trip to the privy we started packing up to get on the trail as soon as possible. As we were packing up a lone hiker came up the trail from the Reese Hollow Cabin. He was one of the scout leaders of the group that I had briefly heard last night. The scouts were on a survival merit badge outing and had built shelters with natural materials and spent the night in the woods. We found out that our guest, “Happy Hiker”, a retired army officer, had thru-hiked about 20 years ago between his junior and senior year at VMI. He had made his thru-hike in 92-days. We talked about the changes in the AT since his hike and we talked a lot about the Tuscarora Trail, and he seemed interested in coming back and hiking the T-T sometime. We finally got back on the trail leading to the top of the ridge by about 8:30 a.m. We were now concerned that we might not make our meeting on-time with our wives at the pickup point. As we crested the top of the ridge we continued down the trail anticipating more of the same terrain as we had experienced previously. There were a few briars between the Reese Hollow Trail and the Alice Trail, although they weren’t bad, and then things changed significantly! All of the sudden the trail became an actual trail! We were anticipating more rocks especially once we arrived at the rock ledges beyond the Hunter Trail. But, what we found was a beautifully cleared trail. You could see where the trail maintenance crews had come in and cut back the briars and cleared the trail. The trail followed the top of the ridge and as the ridge widened out the trail. We had expected more rock scrambles for an extended distance once we crossed the State Game land boundary marker, but what we found, instead, was a well groomed trail that followed along the base of the rocks. By this point we were probably making 2-2 ½ miles an hour which is a remarkable pace for two ORFs (Old Retired Farts) like ourselves. As we approached PA-16 we found that the trail had become an old forest road that skirted the top of the ridge and finally dropped off to the highway. The final 100’ of trail was tricky since it went down a very steep embankment to the road below. I could envision someone building a set of steps there to aid hikers in the slick descent to the road. Once we reached the road we took a break. After a 20-min. break we loaded up and headed down the trail towards US-30 and our final destination for this section of the Tuscarora Trail. Once again the trail followed a broad woods road it wound over hill and dale as we headed northward. The trail made a sharp turn to the right and we passed a dilapidated old canvas wall-tent that was jokingly marked as Simonson’s Shelter. We crested the ridge and found ourselves on an overlook with a beautiful vista to the west and in front of us there was a plaque dedicated to the memory of Richard Simonson 1915-1998. After passing the Simonson monument we crossed a gravel road that led to a hang-glider launch site. There were large bleacher –like structures and we saw a number of people there observing raptors. We didn’t see any hang-gliders. After crossing the road the trail opened into a large clearing under power lines. It took a left turn and began a long descent to US-30. I had read in someone’s journal that the trail drops steeply for about 0.3 miles before crossing the highway, but within a 100-feet of this drop off you can exit onto a parking lot for the Mountain House Bar and Grill. Rather than hike all the way down the mountain and then road march all the way back up to the top, we elected to take the easy way into the Bar and Grill! We’ll re-start here next time! As we walked across the parking lot I noticed that there was a MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) station across the street from the Mountain House. I explained to Johnny B how valuable this system had been to those of us serving in Vietnam before e-mail, cell phones and instant messaging. This was one of the few voice communications systems that we had with “the world”. I could get on my teams wire-radio system and contact a MARS station in Vietnam and my call would be forwarded through these amateur radio operators and their stations to the nearest switchboard system that would then dial the number I was calling in the States. The biggest problem that I had in calling home this way was trying to get the answering party to understand military radio jargon. For example when I would end a statement I’d have to say OVER. This told the operator that I was done and that the other party could now talk. However, my then fiancé had a hard time understand this quirk and it took us a while, and some hefty phone bills, to finally make this work. But, this was the only way in the 1970s to make this type of phone call without going through an international operator. How things have changed. Today a soldier in Afghanistan or a sailor or Marine onboard a ship can use digital systems and even see the person they are talking to. In my combat-days it took about 21-days to get a letter from home and a phone call home (except for MARS) was usually an emergency notification that was very expensive. Enough ancient history back to the hike! About 11:00 a.m. we dropped our packs and walked up on the Mountain Hose deck and dropped our packs. We walked into the bar and sat down on a stool and ordered a Guinness. It went down nicely. Afterwards we ordered another beer and sandwiches and waited for our wives. We spent a lot of time talking to people, mostly motorcyclists, about hiking the Tuscarora Trail. Most had no idea that the trail came through this area. By 12:30 our wives arrived. We ordered lunch with them and changed into our clean clothes that they had brought with them. This is a part of our hiking ritual. They hand us a bag with clean clothes, usually a package of baby-wipes, and a plastic bag to put our hiking clothes and boots into and then seal it up. Once we’ve “freshened up” in a bathroom (and we’ve done this in the woods in places) we are (1) allowed to give them a kiss, and (2) then get into their vehicle! I think they think that we smell or something! After lunch we loaded up the van and made the drive back to Clarksburg, West Virginia. We will now try to schedule our last two sections of the Tuscarora Trail that will eventually take us to Darlington Shelter and then down into Duncannon, Pennsylvania for pickup. This section of the Tuscarora Trail from Hancock, Maryland to US-30, outside of McConnelsburg, Pennsylvania is a contrasting hike. The first two days were very easy “road-walks”. While water can be a significant issue on the second day we were able to overcome this problem through the kind help of a wonderful trail angel. The third day of this trip, along Tuscarora Mountain, is difficult and slow hiking but the Reese Hollow Shelter makes it well worth the effort. The shelter and spring at Reese Hollow, even if it is one mile off the trail is worthy of the exertion. From Reese Hollow Shelter to US-30 is a relatively easy hike and the Mountain House Bar and Grill is a great destination with great food, and good cheer. It will be a superb place to restart our hike. Today’s mileage: 6.2 miles
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 15:15:16 +0000
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