Its 530 pm, and my casual checking of the forecast shows dark masses of greens and yellows and reds moving across the radar. I have procrastinated all day, and like usual miscalculated; missing the 10 previous hours of dry weather.
But occasionally something strikes in my head. And all of a sudden, task in hand, and im in motion for the first time today.
My new backpack is a Millet Ura Lite. It is described as a ultralight one day pack, its even listed under the "small volume" section of my outdoor retailing sites. My theory is that if i am carrying as much stuff as fits in my huge backpacking pack, then i dont want to be there in the first place.
I stuff a tiny sleeping bag, my bivy sack, a half sleeping pad, and some camera gear in the pack. Ill pick up 4 Snickers bars, a liter of water, and some nuts at a gas station later on. Just enough for a bad night out. Any more and the hiking becomes miserable.
Driving out past Frederick the skies just open up.
Sitting in my car at the AT parking lot the rain just beats down. I get some practice with a new panoramic toy.
However one of the redeeming qualities of a rainy afternoon.... if you get lucky and things start to clear, you get a spectacular sunset with just enough clouds to make things pretty. And today i got lucky.
With the sun setting, one may think i had a desire to get going up the trail before getting too dark. But I know the trail well, the hiking is easy, and i have 3 headlamps in my pack. Plus the sun through the clouds is looking great and I cant help sticking around for a few pictures.
The Veggie VW
Some sky
Some more pretty sky
This looks the Jerry Bruckhiemer's Touchstone Pictures logo
The Appalachian Trail bridge as it crosses Route 70
The sun sets and its time to start hiking. I take one last shot of me looking rather grumpy... but i prefer serious.
The hike up to Annapolis Rock is about 2.2 miles, and familiar. My load is pretty light, and the hike is enjoyable, despite being past twilight i refrain from using my headlight. There is as close-ness to the trail you develop when trucking through at night that you miss during the day.
The top of Annapolis Rock is relatively flat, and I find a perch just a few feet from the edge. The weather alternates between a clear night with clouds moving quickly over the ridges with views to the sky and down to the valley, to a fog so think i can barely see my hands.
Took a couple of long exposures between weather breaks and generally just lost myself at the top for an hour or two.
Trees and clouds
Vistas and me and a headlamp
A tree a little light, some clouds and a plane
I lay out my bivy sack and sleeping bag, find a nice spot close to but not on the edge. The frogs sound like a pneumatic hammer, the fog is really encased now, and realize that I already go everything out of this hike that I wanted... a few hours of solitude and self reliance. A calm I can never find in the hectic life of the city.
So I pack up and 40 minutes later, after any equally enjoyable hike down, im back in my car and driving home. Even NPR feels harsh and abrasive on the radio so I turn it off and drive home in silence.