Jeckles Geek Blog. Why did I start this again. A place to spew my opinions about politics and sports. A place to babble about whatever geeky thing I am interested in at the moment. A place to write about my backpacking. That’s what I thought it would about when I decided to do this.

As it turns out my opinions on sports and politics aren’t as unique as I once thought. And there are many blogs that record technical geek things much better than I do. The backpacking stories are ok, I guess. (Although, I don’t think anyone really reads them.) So what is it I am doing here. A dairy? Not really. I’m hardly insightful enough to inspire people. I’ve never really understood it.

Sometimes, I feel trapped. Like now, for example. I could tell you about my weekend, but let’s face it, that’s not good reading. You really don’t care about my deck and how hard I worked at powerwashing and staining it. I could rail about how the Orioles are first place and all anyone wants to talk about is Yankees and Red Sox. But half of you couldn’t care less about baseball, and the rest of you have no desire to hear about how Baltimore gets slighted by the media. (But they really do!)

Of course there’s always politics. I could tell you about how we almost took a big step towards fascism during the last couple of weeks. Who knows I still might.

The problem is, and always has been, this: When some one says, what is your blog about? I honestly don’t know how to answer. I know what it is not about. It is not about my personal life. Not about my kids or my wife. It is not about my job. What’s left? Just the rubbish swirling between my ears.

This blog needs a theme. But I cannot figure out what it is.

I try to make time to blog. To write. I sit at the computer and look at that white space. I go read another blog. I check sports headlines. I come back and see that white space staring at me. I write, also, for a completely different project. It is easier for me because the subject matter has been predefined. I just need to write about it.

But here, it’s just me against the white space. I can write about anything I want. Well, except for wife and kids. And a lot of things actually. I guess that is the price you pay for thinking about who is reading the blog.

Where am I going with all this? Is this leading up to me announcing that I am done blogging?

No!

But I am thinking hard about what it is that I am trying to do here. I’ll keep thinking. And I’ll keep battling the White Space.

Work. Sleep. Overtime. Powerwash the deck. Stain the deck. Mow the lawn. Weed the garden. Make dinner. Sleep. Work. Do laundry. Spend time with the kids. Spend time with the wife. Play with computers. Read a book. Read a blog. Sleep. Eat. Watch a ballgame. Sleep. Work. Listen to a ballgame. Visit family. Take a trip. Sleep. Work. Take the kid to karate. Sleep. Work. Take the other kid to scouts. Have friends over for dinner. Sleep. Work. Go to a picnic. Play catch. Mow the lawn. Do laundry. Sleep. Work. Get a new Satellite Dish. Set it up to work with the HD and the Dolby 5.1. Pay the bills. Sleep. Go shopping. Work. Read a blog. Read a magazine. Work.

Why do I have the feeling I’ve forgotten something?

I woke up with that special stiff feeling that comes from sleeping on a plywood plank. I got up and peered out of the shelter. It wasn’t exactly raining, but it was close. I thick mist hung in the air. I fired up the campstove for some coffee and eggs. I hate to walk on an empty stomach. Maybe that’s why I like backpacking so much. I can eat as much as I want, knowing that I will burn up more calories than I am eating as I walk.

We walked and the mist hung in the air, muting the colors of spring that were all around us. The trail was lined with these little flowers. By summer they would be nothing more than undergrowth, but this spring day they were flowers. Flowers laid down to mark our way through the woods. As morning moved into afternoon, the mist finally began to burn off. Occasionally, enough sun would break through the clouds to cast shadows briefly. This would bring about a series of shouts to each other. Each of us noticing the sun and predicting more or announcing that it wouldn’t last. Around the halfway point of our walk was a nice shelter.

We stopped in had lunch. Beef jerky and cheese, with a snack bar for a dessert. The sun was nice enough to come out and warm the air while we ate. After eating we refilled our water and headed out.

The walk was uneventful. We walked a mile or two till we came to a significant climb. It was a steep, switch backing climb up the side of a ridge. It might appeal to a mountain goat, but the rest of us just grumble and keep walking. A climb like that can wear you out pretty quick. I decided that I wanted to get to the top as quickly as I could. I was beginning to get tired and I was concerned that if I took my time on the climb, I would wear myself completely. No breaks, I told myself and started walking. And I didn’t take a break until I reached the top. There were times when I might have moved faster had a took a break. But I kept plugging. One foot in front of the other.

Finally, I got to the top. I was hoping for a breath taking panoramic view. There wasn’t one. But there was a meadow sprawling across the top of the ridge. With a lonely tree sitting on the far side of the field from me. Not the kind of view you’d find on a postcard, but perhaps the kind you would find on an artist’s canvas. That is another part of these walks I enjoy. The great vistas everyone can get to. There are parking lots nearby and the tourist take a short hike up to see them. But in the course of walking I find spots of great beauty, places that most people never see. Place that may be ordinary one day. But at the moment I pass them, the light is just right and I know that I am seeing unique beauty.

I sat in the meadow and caught my breath and had a snack. After a while, my companions came over the horizon and into my meadow. After a time we continued to walk. We had another small climb to go and then we were there. I could here the rumble of distant thunder. I found new energy in my legs and picked up my pace. I hadn’t managed to dry all day just to get rained on now. As we got to the shelter, thunder rumbled and the rain came down. We sat inside and watched the rain. This shelter was a contrast to the last one. It was big and well kept. We set up our geared and waited for the rain to subside.

Concluded in Part Three

A good walk. Some backpacking. That was just what I needed. I was excited about the trip, like a kid before christmas. I packed my pack. I prepared my food. I checked the maps. I was barely able to get through the half day of work on Friday.

My father picked me up around four o’clock and we: dad, my brother, the dog and me, were off towards the trailhead. When we arrived I had my pack on and was bouncing from one foot to the other with pure energy (besides it was a little chilly.) I opted to wear shorts even though the temperature was in the 50’s and dropping. My legs would warm up as we walked.

We hit the trail and started walking. Before we had walked a quarter mile, the skies opened up and it started to rain. We threw down our packs and scrambled to get our pack covers on before the packs got too wet. The rain did not dampen my enthusiasm. I was out-walking my companions, but I didn’t worry about it. We had a climb a head of us, so I pushed forward. After a while, I burned off the extra energy. It looked like I was at the top, so I took a break and drank some water and ate some jerky while I waited for my brother and dad to catch up.

The rain had slowed to a cool mist. We walked and found that there was some more ‘up’ left in this mountain. If you haven’t hiked much, you may believe that climbing a mountain is simply a matter of setting your sites on the top and going. In reality, you can rarely see the top of the hill, ridge or mountain that you are climbing. Since the trail follows the natural contour of the mountain, you may think that you see the top only to have the trail turn, where you discover more ‘up.’ We often joke with each other as we walk. Saying, “I think it is leveling out” or “Look, I found some more ‘up.’”

This particular mountain is known as Dick’s Dome. I assume that it is called a dome because it levels out and has a broad top, as opposed to a peak. We walk across the top of this dome through open fields that might have been beautiful on another day. But on that night, a thick fog had rolled in, limiting our view and robbing the world of it’s color. As we walked through field atop of Dick’s Dome the sky grew darker and a biting breeze blew across blew with no trees to shelter us from it.

As it started to get very dark we found the blue blazed trail that led to Dick’s Dome Shelter. We walked down the trail to the shelter and the it was a black as midnight even though it was only eight o’clock. We reached the shelter. No one was there. I couldn’t get a good look at in the dark but I could see from the inside that it was pentagon shaped. We stood there for a minute trying to figure out how to arrange ourselves inside, but just then it started to pour. We hopped in and decided we would arrange ourselves from within.

Of course there are no rules for backpacking, there is no one to enforce them. But there are a couple of items we could call backpacking etiquette. One bit of etiquette is this:

Do not eat where you sleep.

We peered out into the rain and the darkness at the picnic table out there and decided that sometimes etiquette is overrated. We fired up the campstoves and soon we had hot coffee and dinner in front of us. For some reason I had packed a small candle. I lit it and provided nice lighting inside the little shelter. We joked abouts the virtues ‘not too damp’ versus the quality of ‘mostly dry.’ Trust me, it’s a more interesting conversation when you are sitting inside an odd pentagon shaped structure during a thunderstorm.

My brother gave the dog the dog a rawhide bone and he settled down to chew on it. We climbed into our sleeping bags. I took some notes and soon I was often to sleep. This trip was off to a good start.

As a matter of fact I’m feeling better.

I did have a cold. And I spent a fair amount of time trying to get Slackware Linux running to my satisfaction. I saw my brother last weekend. I’ve mulched all of my garden beds and planted new flowers. I weeded and feeded. Had a few cook outs.

I may have forgotten to blog.

I thought about it. I sat down and read a few. I’d log in to blogger. I’d start to write about my hiking trip. And then something would distract me. Like a baseball game on the radio or a cook out.

I’d apologize, but I’m not really sorry. I like blogging and I’m glad to have you folks reading what I’m writing. But this time of year goes by to quick. It gets hotter and more humid. Summer lets the bugs in on the fun. We get busy with all of summer plans. But right now. It is beautiful outside and I’m enjoying it.

Just thought I’d touch base. While I’m sitting here. I will finish my post about the backpacking trip. I’ve been working on it. Have a nice day.