Roaring Run Natural Area
Pennsylvania
January 1996
The plan is to do a midnight hike so I can celebrate the turning of my birthday in the wilderness with some friends.
We gather at my house, friends and friends-of. The friends-of don’t quite get it. “You’re going to go out in the woods at night? You can’t see anything.”
“Actually, you can see quite a lot.”
“That’s goofy.” “You’re crazy.” “Call me in six months when it’s dry and warm and maybe I’ll consider it.”
When one of them says, “Hey, at midnight, I’ll be home in my warm, dry bed,” my hiking buddies respond in unison, “Good for you. Sleep tight.” They get it.
It is raining. It rains most of the 55-minute drive to trailhead. Mindy and I ride with Alecia and Ron, Ransom rides with Andi and B J. We enter the woods at the roadside trailhead, B J in the lead. Look at this; as soon as we began to hike, the rain stops. At the fork which descends left down to the Run where we want to go, B J turns right. No one knows where I have in mind for this hike and I don’t notice the wrong turn. We end up adding three quarters of a mile to the hike I planned. It’s great. Heck, it’s eleven o’clock at night. Why wouldn’t it be great!
When we realize that we are not getting to the chosen spot, we turn around and make our way down to the Run and end up at the spot I have in mind. We light the lantern, blackening out the rest of the forest and we sit in a circle eating snacks — Andi brought an apple tart and stuck a candle in it — and we drink various forms of alcoholic refreshment which somehow appear out of the darkness. We hang out by the fire and I bear up under the weight of birthday compliments. Sounds of unknown origin come out of the woods, hooting, tweeting, rasping, tapping, supporting the jovial mood.
For a few moments, we decide to get closer to the night. We douse the lantern and sit quietly in the darkness.
After some time, bundled up, we begin to hike out. The rain starts up again. Best hike ever.
Of course it’s the best hike ever. We are celebrating me!