You never know what you are going to see when you enter the backcountry. There are always some surprises. Last week I told you about the rattlesnake. This week it isn’t wildlife that we found, but old derelict things.
I’ll admit that I expected there to be more people on the hiking trails. We saw one lady who was on her way to Georgia from Maine on the Appalachian Trail, and on our second day, we saw a few people out for morning hikes, but that was it. From about 11am on, we didn’t see a soul. Which of course is part of the idea of going out into the wilderness, to bask in a little solitude.
On our drive home from Virginia, we talked about our favorite and least favorite parts of the camping trip. For all of us, the campsite by the river and the waterfall topped our list of favorites. We ate well, with biscuits and gravy, a grits-eggs-bacon mash-up, and un-spilled Chicken and Dumplings. (Click here to read about my dinner disaster last year. This year there was no Rocky Mountain black pepper, a.k.a. dirt and pine needles, in the dumplings.) And so, our hearty meals after a long day of hiking were also on the favorites list.
When the girls asked me what my least favorite part was, I had to stop and think a bit. We had so much fun, and even though we had to dodge a rattlesnake and weather a thunderstorm in our tent, it was a very successful camping trip. And then it hit me what my least favorite part was. At some point on the trail, we left the national park and had to hike across private land for a mile or two. There were some stern signs about trespassing on the land off the road, but otherwise, it was just a continuation of our previous trail.
As we plodded along, we came upon this derelict old bus.
Surrounded by lots of old detritus, it looked shabby and unused, but also a little frightening. I don’t know how many of you have ever read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It’s a book about a young man who had just graduated from college and decided to live differently. He gave away most of his money and possessions and started tramping across the country. Eventually his desire to get away led him to attempt to live off the land in Alaska. He had more trouble than expected finding food, and when he tried to hike back out, he found his exit path cut off by a river swollen with snow melt. He ended up starving to death in a bus that looked eerily similar to the bus we hiked past.
Even more eerie is that the book Into the Wild was in my backpack at that moment, as reading for my evenings at camp. Seeing that bus just made me feel a little spooky. It didn’t help that the words “Run Will Come” were painted on the bus steps. Various permutations of those words can give you the heebee-jeebees for sure. Suddenly the solitude closed in a bit and made me really aware that we were out in the wilderness all by ourselves.
So when the girls asked what my least favorite part of the trip was, it was that bus. It just felt a little scary. Fortunately, as we hiked on and rejoined the river and the national park, the feeling passed, and we continued enjoying the beauty of the river and the woods. Supposedly the old road that we were walking, along the Moorman River, may have been used to get workers to manganese mines and tourists to Blackrock Mountain resort. I haven’t been able to find any good information on its history, but we did come across a few other remnants of the area’s past in the form of a fireplace and chimney, as well as a partial bridge.
All’s well that ends well. We didn’t run and nobody came, we just had a great adventure of our own in the Virginia woods.
Speaking of adventures, we hope you’ll enjoy some of your own at our 2nd Annual Plants and Pets event on August 26. Bring your furry/scaly/feathered/hairy pets and learn about Pet-Friendly Plants as well as How to Keep Your Pets Away From Your Plants (10 am in the Greenhouse); indulge in the Pet Photo Booth for a family portrait; play on the Pet Obstacle Course, sponsored by Brutus Bone Broth; meet 3 organizations that are working diligently for animal welfare; spoil your pets (and yourselves) with treats and giveaways from Brutus Bone Broth, MIX 100.7, and Kerby’s; and relax to Lightning Jack’s beachy vibes on the steel drums while you sip on a refreshing shaved ice treat from Tikiz Shaved Ice Truck (available for purchase). We’re going to beat the Dog Days of Summer with a memorable day together! Even if you don’t have a pet to bring, you are welcome to join in the fun!
