Odd woman on the AT.

cabin-231-1.jpgIt was a rainy day on the AT (Appalachian Trail.) It was where the AT comes closest to New York City. Not far from this shelter there was a train stop right on the trail that would take you in to NYC.

I stopped at the shelter to get out of the rain and take a break. There was a thin middle aged women in the shelter and she screamed and jumped out of her thin blanket- bag and ran around the shelter in her underwear, grabbing at her clothes she had hung up to dry. I said, “No need to dress on my account�. So she got back into her bag. She was cold and had this thin blanket bag that she assured me was what all the “campers� were using, now. She had a metal bowl full of flaming wax in her lap that she was using to try and warm herself up with. I offered to make her a hot cup of coffee but the only thing she had for a cup was a really big plastic Big Gulp cup that was apparently holding her entire water supply.

She told me that the people in Kent, Connecticut don’t like campers and that if I tried to resupply there “I wouldn’t be servedâ€?; she was English. I told her that I was going to resupply there anyway but she kept saying, “you won’t be served. So, now where will you resupply?â€? Then she told me that there was a place on the trail where the air would sometimes turn bad and you could suffocate. And that emergency service will not respond to cell phone calls. She also told me that right up ahead there was a hot dog stand. “Well, that’s a good one,” I thought; Wingfoot, in his Thru Hikers Handbook, lists every possible source of calories on the trail from pop machines to fine dining; I don’t think he would leave out a hot dog stand that was right on the trail.

My break finished I walked on and in a few miles, right off the trail, there it was: the hot dog stand.

Light

cabin-229.jpg One of the joys of living with out electric lights is just laying back and enjoying the world getting darker and lighter. Lights are nice to  have if I want to read a book or cook somthing but it’s not mandatory that everytime it starts to get dark I have to have light.

Though I have a small solar system, the only thing it runs is my laptop. For light I use a L.E.D. headlamp. With it I can read, cook, clean up, bring in wood, ect. This one has a really super bright spot light for when you need a lot of light and three not so bright L.E.D.s for other times. It takes 3 AAA batteries. I also bought this one at Wal-mart for 13 dollars that has 2 white LED’s and one red one; you can switch between the white and red. I wanted a red one so that I could look at a star chart without losing my night vision. I’ve been happy with that headlamp as well and it’s nice to have in case of company or when I need to change my batteries in my other headlamp.

I just got this battery charger so that I don’t have to buy so many batteries. It is dual voltage for international travel and comes with an ac cord, a dc cord and a USB cord so that you can recharge your batteries through your computer. It says that it will charge 4 AAA’s in 22 minutes.cabin-119.jpg

If I have company or I just want some nice light to hang out with, I use oil lamps or tealights. I use Ultra-pure lamp oil in my lamps; anything else will stink up my cabin. It’s expensive, Wal-mart sells it for 4.49 for 64 ounces which is much cheaper than anywhere else.