shenandoah with my mom

My mom flew up to see me before I began my trek, and I had the brilliant idea to take her on a short hike on the AT itself. I wanted her to see the trail, a shelter, and maybe even read some hikers' entries in the shelter register to get a sense of trail life. She's nervous about my going, and I thought she might feel better about it all if she experienced it first hand.

You know where this is going. ;-)

So we pack Subway sandwiches into a daypack and head off into the Shenandoah woods. When I hike, I'm usually oblivious to wildlife, but Mommy must have been good luck because three minutes in, we scare up a brood of turkeys. We only heard and saw the mother at first, and I did wonder why she was alone and didn't take off. And then because we hadn't moved, the little ones came out, running in all directions.

That was three minutes. No more than twenty minutes into our hike, I see leaves waving not too far away and... black fur! I can't say I wasn't scared, but that's part of the beauty of seeing a beast in the woods, that something wild can still raise your hairs and get your adrenaline pumping -- and there's really no physical barrier between you and it. I was amazed by my luck, awed, scared, apologetic for intruding.

Needless to say, my mom and I ate our sandwiches in the parking lot, inside the car.

We tried again to get to Pass Hut from the southern end. Literally, eight feet before we reached the trail, the sky bucket tipped and drenched us.

So we drove on, and my mom probably preferred to continue driving, but I must have looked rather crushed because she agreed to give it one more try. This time we managed to not only hike up to Hawksbill, but to Rock Springs Hut. There was a crowd already at the shelter, a group of women doing a section-hike together. I admit I felt a little awkward (who goes to see a shelter on a day hike with her mom?), so I explained myself, and of course, they all asked if I was going alone and started chatting among themselves that they would definitely NOT be doing this alone. I tried to distract Mommy with the shelter register, but I don't think she's a big reader.

I wouldn't quite say my mom feels any better about my going.