Huckleberry Hill to Calico Rocks; Distance = 15.3 Miles; People Met = 7
Our camp at Huckleberry Hill provided a hauntingly beautiful moment. The peepers were giving an eerie tritonal concert while fireflies made bright exclamations during the night. The whole effect was that of a fairyland. There were also two inexplicable “kerplunks” in the Potomac River, and in the morning Paul was gone before we even got up. Did someone toss him in? Just kidding. We know he’s still hiking towards West Virgiinia.
We had a few nice encounters today. We hiked a good bit with Renaud De Becker from Belgium. He was doing a section of the Appalachian Trail and our paths overlapped for a mile or so. I told him about our journey of kindness and he shared his experience of extravagant kindness when he once bicycled from Belgium to Jerusalem.
Renaud from Belgium
Later on Tom Cronaeur “hiked” with us for a bit, doing so by walking his touring bike. He was going up and back on the towpath and first saw us when we stopped at Mommer’s Diner in Brunswick to get water that did not taste like iodine. He followed up on Renaud’s point by observing that the common thread of many books he reads about long distance hikers is how hospitable the people are. Tom also let us know he saw Paul that morning.
Tom Cronauer
As we were talking to Tom, Phil from the C&O towpath bike patrol stopped to see if everything was OK. Phil is involved in a few altruistic endeavors, one related to wounded warriors and the other to southern poverty. He thanked us for what we were doing and then both he and Tom parted company with us.
Phil of the C&O bike patrol
The Calico Rocks campsite lies adjacent to two rail lines, a commuter track and coal hauling for a nearby power plant. That provided for the noisiest night yet by a railroad, and there have been many. The commuter track was the noisiest, passing by at ten minute intervals and blasting their horn right when they were parallel with the campsite. Fortunately they stopped around 10:00 p.m., and the reverse commute in the morning blew their horns before reaching the campsite.
Other encounters included John and Becky, two other bicyclists form Pittsburgh doing the towpath. Wayne, Lisa and dog Diva also engaged us in conversation for awhile. All in all a pretty nice day along the American Discovery Trail.
John and Becky were bicycling from Pittsburgh to DC
Other Photo
Differing viewpoints
