Come Valentine’s Day, pending the proverbial heavenly willingness and the containment of the proverbial creek, my sweetheart, Gail, and I will return to the trails at Virginia’s Apple Orchard Falls area for the 20th consecutive February 14, in celebration of what will be 20 years of day-hiking every weekend.
Photo Above: Gail at Apple Orchard Falls overlook for lunch, February 14, 2022.
Photo Courtesy of Kurt Rheinheimer.
“The man with a knapsack is never lost.” —Horace Kephart, in his definitive 1906 book, “Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness.”
To which one could add that the man with a knapsack and his sweetheart along as well might not care if he did get lost.
“There is no anxiety about the morrow or the day after,” Kephart continues. “Somewhere he will come out—and one place is as good as another.”
Come Valentine’s Day, pending the proverbial heavenly willingness and the containment of the proverbial creek, my sweetheart, Gail, and I will return to the trails at Virginia’s Apple Orchard Falls area for the 20th consecutive February 14, in celebration of what will be 20 years of day-hiking every weekend. (Well, less about 14 of those 1,060 weekends.)
Carrying knapsacks of course.
But not containing the things Mr. Kephart talked about that century-plus ago: things like hulled corn and hominy, lime-juice tablets and lentil soup, dried apricots and tea.
No, inside Gail’s knapsack you’ll find a gourmet salad she made that morning, accompanied by also freshly made sweet and sour ginger dressing, plus crackers and dip—all accompanied by ice-chilled chardonnay for me and pinot noir for her. And various kinds of chocolate for dessert!
And inside my pack—instead of a sleeping bag and moccasins—rides the furniture: a set of Helinox chairs weighing two pounds each, along with a folding Helinox table coming in at one pound.
Yes, Mr. Kephart, we have brought a measure of decadence to the traditions of the outdoors. But it is winter! And we are out there honoring your spirit of “[the hiker’s] food and shelter are right there with him, and home is wherever he may choose to stop.”
The story above first appeared in our January / February 2024 issue.
