Keep close to Nature's heart ... break clear away once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. - John Muir
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“How far is the ice cream shop,” the approaching thru hiker asks.
“You mean South Mountain Creamery?” I ask.
“I don’t know –there is supposed to be an ice cream shop at the next town.”
“You mean Boonsboro – It is about a mile to the road and about a mile to Boonsboro.”
I am southbound on the Appalachian Trail and today’s theme is established.
A thru hiker hikes the entire 2,100 trail AT (usually from Georgia to Maine). I am an out-and-backer. I am hiking from my car 5 miles to White Rocks Cliff and back to my car.
At White Rocks Cliff, a thru-hiking couple from Richmond is headed North after a short pause at the cliff. Steve hiking solo and shirtless, has stopped to dry his socks on a cliff rock. He is a thru-hiker - wiry, bearded, fit and hungry.
“Where are you from?,” I ask.
“Maine.”
Oh, you are just hiking home from Georgia?
“Yep.”
Assuming I am local (no backpack), Steve volunteers that he had dinner with his brother-in-law in Harpers Ferry last night.
“Yeah, I had a sub and he got a burger and fries. I finished mine and he looked like he was done. I couldn’t help it, I asked to finish his. Man, I was hungry.”
Steve pulls a pack of Nabs from his backpack. “Want some?”
After his 1,000 miles and my 5 miles I decline the cracker – I am not worthy.
A young couple stops by with their dog. They (the couple and the dog) are thru-hikers. I know - the dog has a backpack.
Steve, without asking, feeds the dog beef jerky. I take a picture.
Heading back north, I catch up with the Richmonders. They have stopped to pick wild raspberries where the power lines slash the AT.
The young woman looks up, “Is the road up there busy, a lot of traffic?”
“No, not too busy.”
“Is it hitchable?”
“Hitchable? “
“Hitchable - can we get a ride to Boonsboro? The guide book says Boonsboro is about a mile down the road.”
“Oh. Yeah. About a mile. Hitchable.”
“You never know with the guidebook, sometimes the roads are deserted. The guidebook say Boonsboro has a really good pizza place.”
I think to myself, “I am sure it is…” Sometimes Taste the Food means figuratively and sometimes literally. And, sometimes…it means both.
Enjoy.
How about you? What was your food adventure? Share a story.
