2/24/08 - Crampton Gap to Turner's Gap

The day started pretty much as it did yesterday only we met Kathleen and Wally at a thier camper and picked up Kathleen. We're leaving Wendy's car at Crampton Gap and Wally will pick us up at Turner's Gap later. We got to Crampton Gap and started hiking north. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We had sunshine right from the start. This Gathland Park is a historic site and we read quite a few of the markers as we hiked by them. There was about an inch of snow on the ground but as we gained elevation, all the trees and bushes were covered with a layer of ice. Up at White Rock, near the top of Lambs Knoll, the trees and bushes were just beginning to drop thier ice covering. The ice was dropping all around and on us, like a crystal shower. We took a lunch break at Rocky Run Shelter. Trail maintainers are repairing the old shelter and adding a new one at this location. Kathleen and I were ready to move on just before Wendy and Denny (changing his trail name to Geezer from Katahdin Kid) so we did. Shortly after rejoining the AT from the blue blazed shelter trail, we met Wally. He decided to hike in from the Turner's Gap end to meet us. A nice surprise. His ankle (damaged severely on the CDT last year) is mending nicely and felt well enough for a bit of a hike today. We're only about 1.5 miles from the gap and Wally decided to hike ahead. Even with a bad ankle, Wally can out hike us all and got to the car well ahead of us. The trail took us past a civil war location, Fox Gap, and the monument there to General Reno (the Reno Monument). I took a minute to read the plaques there. By now we were all hiking at our own pace and Wendy and Denny, who normally hike faster than me, had not yet caught up. By 2:10pm, I was at the car before everyone but Wally. By 2:30pm, everyone else was back and we were headed home. Again today, the trail was pretty easy and as it was a nice Sunday, there were lots of people on the trail. We did 8 miles today, a good day of hiking.