Back in the South

I'm in the south...I think.

But Virginia is a strange state that way.  DC and its massive sprawling east-coastness take up so much of the northeastern part of the state it's difficult not to see it as part of the east coast despite being the former capitol of the Confederacy.  Some stay the south starts at Richmond.  But what about Miami aka New York South?  The blue ridge mountains have their own effect on all of this.  The western side is definitely more rural south. We need to borrow Coolio's map of LA going from 'Da Hood' to 'Da Beach' just to help unravel it all.

So while the distinctions and stereotypes may still be there but the boundaries are blurring.  Red and Blue states are a creation of TV electoral maps and don't always reflect the shades and grades in between.  There are liberals and conservatives in all states.  I'm back in the south but I feel at home here.  One of the less heralded goals of the Appalachian Trail was to bring north and south together working on a common project sharing a set of mountains that played significant parts in the history of all the states involved.  I'd have to say that it worked and that ultimately it was a good thing

NoBos and Sobos

What are your basic needs?

Food.  Clothing.  Shelter.  Companionship.  OK.  Irrational Hatred?  YIKES!!  

Somehow a strange thing happens.  A need to feel superior to someone else jumps in seemingly out of nowhere.  A need to put yourself above someone who is probably a lot like you but just different enough to give you a strange need to put yourself above them.

I can just imagine cave dwellers turning up their nose at early agriculturalists (just a fad).  Cattle herders looking with scorn on sheep herders (wussies).  Giant fans and Eagles fans showering each other with abuse.  There's never friction with groups that have no contact with each other.  If someone told me I was superior to a Madagascarian I wouldn't know and wouldn't care.  It only matters when it's someone you know and feel some sense of competition with.  Maybe it served some useful function back in our developmental past preventing us from trying to mate with walruses.  Whatever the reason the trend remains, long outliving its usefulness.

So it is even among the tree hugging hikers of the Appalachian Trail.  You'd think we'd all be in the same boat needing the same services and suffering the same scorn of disbelieving porch dwellers.  But no.  The need for superiority surfaces even here.  The dividing line; northbounders and southbounders (NoBos and SoBos in trail shorthand).  Each complains that the trail is easier in the other direction, signs are pointed in the other direction, relevant landmarks left off of signs, maintainers leave more goodies (trail magic) for the other group, guidebooks are written in the opposite direction etc.

This was the sad and selfish state in which I found myself early in my southbound hike of Virginia.  First it was cold (obviously a northbounders conspiracy), then the hiker hostels weren't open then the shelters got progressively more crowded as I met up with more and more NoBos.  Fortunately a good long walk gives one time to reflect on these matters, slowly come to the error of one's ways and turn things around.  My relationship with the NoBos is certainly fleeting but I've met a much more varied group as a result.  From the rugged obsessed speedsters at the front of the pack, to the stealth hikers staying a step ahead of the larger throng to the larger mass of thru-hikers.  It's been fun to watch and the more of Virginia I reacquaint myself with, the more respect I have for them.  I no longer bristle at the questions of what direction I'm hiking in (although I do make it clear I thru-hiked the trail ten years ago) and I've gotten back to why I chose this itinerary in the first place, working my way to higher and higher mountains further and further into the wilderness.  Nothing like the ups and downs of the trail to even things out among the people who travel there.

The Big Finish

I DID IT!!!  I finished my spring hike almost a week ahead of schedule.  Very encouraging after all the nagging joint issues I've had to deal with the last year or two.  Even better than that was having it really work out right.  Reversing the order helped a lot as far as taking my time with the parts I rushed through on my thru-hike ten years ago.  I remembered enough to know what to look forward to and I'd forgotten enough that there were some wonderful surprises along the way.  And the big finale was as good as I could have hoped for summiting the highest point in Virginia on the next to last day on the trail.

So now it's a couple of days of catching up on things before catching my flight home and then gearing up for another crazy fun summer at Fernwood.