[at-l] My First Gathering

[Eddy]

very nice report. I look forward to going to my 1st Gathering (hopefully next yr)
   
  Eddy

Logan Park <park at vt.edu> wrote:
  or, "how I learned to stop worrying and love the hiker funk"

The drive from Blacksburg to Pipestem was an introspective one. I 
couldn't help but be reminded of when I piled into my car on my way to 
the 2004 PA Ruck, oddly nervous about what I was getting myself into. I 
chronicled that weekend here: 
http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=52654 . A major factor in the 
amazing-ness of that weekend was Starlyte's kindness to me from the very 
outset. 

How fitting, then, that it was Starlyte's gentle tap on the shoulder and 
great big hug at Gathering Registration that switched my weekend from 
introvert-flying-solo mode to reuniting-with-great-people mode. Soon 
after, I'd found Mara, Skeeter, Rockdancer, eArThworm, and JB. 
Bag-o-Tricks later laid the smack down in the Trail Magic session. I 
thought that was pretty cool given that he'd given me a bit of 
wonderfully unexpected TM in Pennsylvania on my thru. 

[ tense change =) ]

So I step out of the Folk Life Center building on Friday afternoon on 
cloud nine. Already several dozen tents are lined up against the edge 
of the field/lawn. Temporarily out of extravert-fuel from meeting 
people at registration, I retreat into silence and start setting up my 
tent. The air is cool and getting colder; tonight's upcoming bonfire 
will be a welcome source of camaraderie as well as heat. 

But before then, I have to get to Concord. From there, it's a bearded 
synthetic fabric blur. There's a Speer hammock in there at some point 
too. At one point, I'm meeting Hot Dog and having lunch with him and 
George "Tin Man" Andrews, whose face simply ignites with a smile when 
describing his recent JMT hike. I come away from lunch understanding 
why for the first time why everyone seems to like Hot Dog. I shake Ron 
Moak's hand.

I catch the second half of Yogi's PCT workshop and end up buying her 
guidebook to the PCT. I leave it with a sense of happy dread, because 
at the 2004 Ruck, I saw Spur and Ready's PCT slideshow and knew I had to 
hike it someday. The dread comes from the sense of the inevitability-- 
I joined the PCT-L just now to begin researching it. 

JB remarks with a happy surprise Saturday night that his date with 
Springer is fast approaching. I get so excited for him I can barely 
stand still, which is fortunate since it it is pretty stinkin cold at 
the folk life center and moving makes some warmth. 

The lightweight gear session is a boost when the demonstrators talk 
through gear and techniques that I'm pretty familiar with. It seems 
after all this time that the tips and advice from AT-L has actually done 
me a lot of good.

There's hiker Jeopardy, in which Rockdancer and I get pretty well 
thrashed, until Baltimore Jack torpedoes his team. 
Several times throughout the weekend I cannot help but observe that life 
is, in fact, good.

Rockdancer cathes a lift with me back home for a shower and mid-hike 
repacking, and by Monday morning, he's on his way to the farm from which 
he'll be back on the trail.

Whatta weekend.

Hop
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Conquest: It is not the Mountain we conquer but Ourselves 
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