From:	"Dan Baglione" 
To:	ULTRA@listserv.Dartmouth.EDU
Subject:	Barkley, the old man's view
Date:	Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:46:36 +0000

What kind of day was it? Well, it wasn't a day like any other day at
Barkley, it was even worse; but, then, we wouldn't have gone there if it
were easy. You've already heard from others. There was wind, there was snow,
there was rain, and there was MUD!!! It was also cold. There were many pairs
of frozen hands at Frozen Head. This old man teamed up with Nick Graner,
another newbie. We lost the trail early and often. Most of the time we were
navigating by map and compass. Nick was the expert at this. On one occasion,
we climbed straight up a ridge at about 40% grade to get back to the trail.
Since we knew by that time that we were not going to make it to Rat Jaw or
either of the Hells, this was our simulation of those climbs although it was
shorter than those. A little past Bald Knob but short of SOB Ditch we
concluded that to get to Book 2, we would have to navigate at night. Since
we had lost the trail so often in the daylight, we decided to leave the
trail, climb straight up another ridge and down to a dirt road and return to
camp and the sound of the bugle. We were out for 10 hours, and collected one
page. Don't know how many miles we covered. Barkley was all I expected it to
be and more. It was a miserable day; but I am very glad I was there. Met
some great people. It was an experience I shall long remember.

Dan Baglione, on the road.
Run Long, Run Strong