.April 18, 2006
I was going to do this section from north to south but last night when I read 'Runtrails' journal entry for that day, I decided to flip from south to north. I was glad I heeded her advice. I started at the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain on the east side of the bridge. It was a very steep rocky climb with lots of loose rocks. At first it looked intimidating and I thought it would take a long time to climb, but after 20 minutes or so I could look far, far below to the parking lot. I could barely make out my car. (The car was still there because Lynn and Snoopy were in the area checking out a side trail.) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~
I was on the lookout for an American flag that I knew was painted on a boulder up here. I almost missed it, but caught it out of the corner of my eye. If you are going south you can't miss it, but if you are going north it is quite possible to miss. I had to turn around and face the trail I had just hiked to get this shot. I would guess the flag is about 3 ft x 5 ft. It had all the stripes but only 35 stars. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~
About 10 minutes later I reached the summit. This mountain is known for it's devastation. The mountain was mined for zinc and was just left destroyed. It was ugly but you couldn't look away, sort of like a car accident or fire. As I walked through it and thought of the zinc mine it reminded me of the book by Bill Bryson named 'A Walk in the Woods'.
When he hiked this section, he asked someone at the base of the mountain, "Is that the old zinc factory over there?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I'm out of zinc."
Bill Bryson has a great style and brings a lot of humor into the book.
The mountain has been compared to the area around Mount St Helens after it errupted in the early '80's. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~
There were a couple of miles of trail at the top that were very easy walking. It looked like an old jeep road. There were definitely signs of nature trying to recover what man had destroyed. There were some evergreen trees, other trees beginning to bud, and the sound of birds singing. The trail offered continuous views to the north.
The trail then goes down to Little Gap where it begins a steep but short climb. There was a flat rock near the top and it looked comfortable at least for a rock. There was another great view so I decided it was time for a break. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ After a brief rest I got up and continued to go up. I came to some type of station where there was a lot of electrical equipment and antennas. I didn't see any white blazes. On a large wooden pole I saw a couple grey blazes. I looked close and it looked like white blazes underneath. It must have been the trail once upon I time. I retraced my steps and found the trail. I only lost about 5 to 10 minutes.
Further down the trail I took a slight detour on one of the blue blazed trails to get a nice view. I watched a large bird (hawk, falcon???) I watched him carelessly fly about for a while. I took a picture of him but he came out too small in the picture.
I made my way to Smith Gap. I'm not sure why this is considered a gap. There is a dirt road that comes up and over the mountain, but the trail doesn't gain or lose any elevation here. It was 4 more miles to the next landmark: a sign pointing to the Leroy Smith Shelter. I was running a little late on my estimated time for Lynn to pick me up but decided to quickly check it out. There was 1 hiker there. The first and only hiker I would see for the day. I was in a hurry so I only talked a couple of minutes. He is hoping to start a north to south thru hike starting in May. I went to take a picture of the shelter. I was about to ask him if he minded being in the photo, but he had already run out of the picture as if he were a fugitive who did not wish to be photographed. I crossed a powerline and then a pipeline. The pipeline was a nice change from the rocks but it was very short lived. There is about 2.5 miles left. About a mile into it I saw Lynn and Snoopy coming from the other way to meet me. We stopped to enoy the view from Hahn's Lookout. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ It's about a mile down to Wind Gap. There were many switchbacks in the trail making the descent fairly gradual. At the bottom of the mountain we crossed under Route 33 and crossed the street to our car. It was a beautiful day, but with lots of sun and no leaves on the trees, I got a pretty bad sunburn. I am officially a lobster. I realized it about halfway through the hike. I would have picked up suncreen but couldn't find a 7-eleven on top of the mountain. I will have some for tomorrow.
| 
