Some few years ago, I read Bill Bryson's “A Walk in the Woods.” The book deals with his hike on the Appalachian Trail or AT. It is a comic gem (if a bit preachy in places) and it inspired me to “go thou and do likewise.” I began reading other books, so called classics in the genre, by people who hiked the AT. One, “On the Beaten Path” was written by a whiny egotist who quit his job and told his wife to take care of the house and their geriatric dog while he went to “find himself” on the AT. The shocker: they were still married at the end of the book! Reading his vapid tome was, I think, harder that actually hiking. I read several others but Bryson’s is by far the best. Of course, the AT culture disdains it for its lighthearted approach and because Bill only hiked about 45 percent of the trail.

I also started following other people’s plans and progress re their hikes on an AT site. Many plan but it seems like few do - and they are, er, unusual types. Add to that there is no running water out there (faucets, showers, and flush toilets that is) and it seems like the whole thing is an expensive and pointlessly colossal inconvenience. It takes lots of costly specialized hiking gear when it seems genuine US army surplus would do just fine to me.

So I scaled back my plans to hike just a small section of the Maryland AT. That too, failed to get off the ground. Then I remembered a Boy Scout hike in the early 1960s where we hiked a portion of the AT and ended up in Harper’s Ferry, WV; even spent the night on the trail and everything. We rode the B&O railroad home and debarked in Silver Spring, MD. So, like Bill Bryson who hiked some, but not the entire trail, but proclaimed in his book the he and his buddy “had hiked the AT.” I too, ipso facto, have already done it. So there!

But I have not given up on grueling hikes! I hike the Monocacy Battlefield trails. Yes, I have combined my fascination with this obscure Civil War battle and the CW in general with the need/desire to exercise and enjoy God’s creation. I have already hiked part of it and plan to do some more next week. Some of its trails (e.g., the Worthington Ford trail) are every bit as wild and poorly marked as the AT. They are long too – up to 2 miles! The battlefield is close to my home so I don’t have to stay overnight (indeed the park closes at sundown) and there is a McDonald’s nearby for resupply on the way home.

I have invested less than a $100 in surplus army equipment for my excursions; a new pair of very comfy desert boots, a 2-quart canteen, and a “boony” hat. One of my former reenacting tent poles is being converted into a hiking staff.

Yes, you read correctly. Civil War Reenacting and I have come to the end of the trail. I am just too old. I am going to next’s week reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville but am getting shaky about going to Gettysburg in late June. If I do, I think that will be it.

Not that I do not expect relapses. I have therefore organized my own recreated unit, the 37^th Iowa Infantry. I am the senior member and we have a face book page. The dues are also considerably cheaper than the group in which I am presently a member. I need 18 more “likes” to be able to access the secret face book statics on the page.

Reenacting has had its benefits for me though. Like a lot of great pictures and the inspiration to lose about 50 pounds. My wife has gone from “you need to lose weight” to “you need to gain some weight back.” I have decided to ignore scale readings of 175 or less and use this criteria – as long as I can comfortably wear 34” waist pants and a 42” chest sports coat, I’m good.

Yesterday was “A Day out with Thomas” at the B&O Railroad Museum. A disappointment for me as Thomas was not a real steam engine. In fact he was not an engine at all. It was just, apparently a mock-up incapable of movement under its own power. A 1950s vintage General Motors general purpose diesel (a GP7 or 9, I think) did all the work. Still, for the 4-year old and under crowd (my grandson gave Thomas multiple “wowees”), it was a big hit so I will stop being a curmudgeon.