All's Quiet on the Long Path

All’s Quiet on the Long Path

We’ve been having gorgeous weather, milder than usual for this late in October.  Having a big project nearly wrapped up, I got an OK to go camping on Thursday, Oct. 29, after attending to some spiritual business on the other side of the Hudson.

I drove to the hikers’ parking lot off Long Mountain Parkway (Rte 6) and at 2:45 p.m. headed south on the Long Path.  The most hazardous part of my 2 days hiking and 1 nite of camping was just crossing the highway twice.

My destination was the Stockbridge Shelter, which I last visited 3 years ago.  I’d forgotten how much elevation one gains hiking thither from Rte 6—about 300 feet, spread over 2¼ miles.  I thought I’d handle that in an hour.  Ha!  It took me an hour and a half, including a couple of short breathers and some swigs of water.

There were signs in the parking lot and at the start of the Long Path on the opposite side of the highway warning about hunting—presumably for deer.  Hikers were advised to wear bright clothing and to stick to the trail.  I stuck to it, but I went with the white outer shirt I was already wearing.  (On the return trip, I wore my bright orange (Univ. of Illinois) windbreaker.

In any case, after leaving the parking lot I didn’t see a soul, either going to the shelter or returning.  Nor did I see a deer, or anything larger than a chipmunk.  I did spot a woodpecker and lots of small birds.  The only sounds were rustling leaves.

We haven’t had a good rain for over week, and the spots on the trail that normally would be crossed by little creeks or mushy weren’t so.  The foliage had a good mix of orange and yellow, and still a good bit of green.

I reached the shelter at 4:15

and found it empty—except for a lot of stuff previous visitors had left behind, including a pretty clean, heavy blanket, some empty liquor bottles, one not quite empty, a large Trump 2024 banner, a bagged roll of TP, and assorted other stuff.  

After emailing my confreres at home to let them know where I was (later I also sent a beautiful photo),

I gathered firewood.  It was surprisingly easy to find, both small pieces and larger ones that I sawed up into manageable chunks.

I’d worked up an appetite from the hike and the firewood.  I prepared supper:  chili mac with beef and Crystal Lite, followed by some trail mix and dried apricots.  

Then Evening Prayer and hanging my bear bag from a tree. 

There was a sign right outside the shelter advising use of the cables “behind the shelter” to hang your food, but I couldn’t see anything anywhere in back.

By then the sun had set, and I got a fine fire going in one of the 2 fireplaces in the shelter.  (At this time of year, I always want a shelter with a fireplace.) 

I was enjoying the quiet and the solitude.

The wind had risen and was blowing strong, from the west I think.  So it was chilly outside.  I decided to hunt for the elusive cable apparatus, and by descending from the shelter and walking toward the front of the shelter, I found them indeed—not quite in front of the shelter, more to the east side, but definitely not “behind” it, and definitely below it.  I didn’t relocate my bag, leaving it hanging from a tree limb, like so many other times.

I sat on the shelter platform with my book (Dagger John, a biography of Abp. John Hughes), getting up as needed to feed the fire till about 8:30, when I left it to subside gradually.  I plowed thru maybe 30 pages of the book before deciding to turn in.  I’d laid the Trump banner under my groundcloth, and I used the orphaned blanket for part of my pillowing, under my backpacker’s pillow stuffed with some clothing.

Many shelters have logbooks in them.  I signed into the one here.

After Nite Prayer, I changed into sleepwear (long johns and one more top layer) and snuggled into my sleeping bag.  Very comfortable.  My REI air mattress provided a good pad underneath.  Sleeping, tho, was another story; I tossed and turned most of the nite, dozing now and then, and a troublesome shoulder aching persistently.

The nite was quiet—“not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”  Just the constant wind, but the shelter interior was warm enuf even after the fire died out.  My phone informed me the temperature was in the low 60s.

The nite looked foggy, but I’m not sure it was.  I waited till dawn to get up, which was about 6:30 a.m. on Friday.  It was 52° with a stiff wind still blowing—and no fog.  I visited Mother Nature, then took up the Liturgy of the Hours (iBreviary).  When it got light enuf, I celebrated Mass on one of the ledges alongside the fireplace opposite the one I’d used for my fire.

I retrieved my bag of food from the tree where I’d hung it and made breakfast:  hot granola, coffee, mixed nuts, and dried apricots—delicious, filling, and nutritious.

Packing up is always a chore, seemingly harder than packing before a trip.  At least this time I didn’t have to deal with a tent.  I take my time, trying to be methodical and, of course, not overlook anything.  Between yesterday and today, I picked up some of the litter left by my predecessors—an empty water bottle, small glass booze bottle, various tea candle remnants, etc.  I wasn’t tempted to take the Trump banner or the heavy blanket.

It didn’t get much warmer with the sun up; the wind continued strong.  Leaves carpeted the trail, occasionally obscuring the footpath.  But the trail conference has done an excellent job blazing it, so it wasn’t hard to follow at all.  Today’s earworm was “when autumn leaves start to fall.”  That was a contrast to yesterday’s snatch of a tune from The Mikado, which I’d just listened to at home:  “A is happy – B is not.”  Why that snatch?  Who knows?  It catchier than “Behold, the Lord High Executioner,” anyway.

I left the shelter with my pack feeling a little bit lighter than on the way in; after all, I’d used a lot of the 4 liters of water I’d brought.  The trail was mostly downhill, requiring care in spots and made a little treacherous here and there by the leaves’ hiding rocks, depressions, or bits of wood.  It took just about the same time, an hour and a half, to return to the car (at 10:30).

I emailed home that I was back at the car after doing a little litter removal in the parking lot—cans, bottles, cups, Burger King detritus.  Then homeward before 11:00.

All photos: https://linkit.shutterfly.com/PyaY0_