Hiking from Keys Gap again – Planning for CHC’s first bus hike – Relatively high vaccination rates in the DC metro area – Heresy concerning the Olympic games – Evening statistics
Another hike today from Keys Gap with AD and others, this time going south instead of north to a viewpoint close to the Blackburn Center. It was similar in length and elevation gain to the one we took yesterday, but it felt more challenging on account of the heat. This summer has not been as extreme as the one last year, which had 19 days in succession of temperatures over 90 degrees, but July up to this point has had numerous clusters of very hot days, albeit interspersed with a few days that were less sultry. The views, as before, were shadowed with haze as a result of the wildfires. Parts of the trail were overgrown, due to the decline in the mountain ashes, thereby allowing various grasses and shrubs to grow more profusely and encroach more obviously on trails generally.
Hiking also was very much on my mind this evening, when I attended a virtual meeting with the CHC Board to finalize plans for the first bus hike. RW and AT, who will be leading this hike, also participated, to ensure that the answers to any questions they might have could be settled in advance. For example, what is the rule regarding masks? (Masks are mandated on the bus; this is not only the policy of the bus company but is a regulation for any vehicle used for interstate commerce. They will not be used on the hike itself.) Will leaders provide refreshments, as they did before? (We hope to set up this feature eventually, but for the moment we want the process for resuming the bus hikes to be as streamlined as possible. Leaders will not provide refreshments for the first few hikes; after that, the question as to whether it is feasible will be discussed by the Board again. Leaders may provide bottled water to be on hand for any hikers who may run out of water on their own.) Can people bring their own food for snacking after the hike? (Yes, provided that they do not eat or drink on the bus.) Will leaders be expected to verify whether people boarding the bus are vaccinated? (They are not. I was fairly adamant during the previous Board meeting in my stance that hike leaders should not be burdened with this additional administrative task. I must add that I did not receive much resistance on this point.) And so on. There were a good many issues concerning the mechanisms for Meetup, which CHC uses as the vehicle for hikers to sign up for their hikes. It was reassuring to see that the Board had worked out matters well and that all questions could be answered readily. There are a few details that we will have to verify with the bus company, but in general it appears that the preparations for the first group hike of the season are nearly complete.
It seems strange to make plans of this nature when we are still technically undergoing a pandemic. One hopes that the delta variant, and any other new variants for that matter, does not reverse the healing trend too extensively. There is a hopeful note, as far as this area is concerned at any rate; the DC metro area generally is well above the national average in its rate of vaccination. DC, Maryland, and Virginia have 64.5%, 70.4%, and 64.8% of their respective adult populations fully vaccinated. Maryland in particular has done very well: 72.9% of Maryland adults and 90% of Maryland seniors have received at least one dose.
No doubt readers of a certain mindset will also find it strange that I devote so much space to the concerns and activities of a single hiking club while saying nothing about the Olympic games, the opening ceremonies of which were held four days ago. That is because, as might be inferred from previous entries on the subject, my attitude towards games funded by mega-businesses and especially towards those held at an international level is similar to George Orwell’s, as expressed in his essay “The Sporting Spirit”: “sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will” and “international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred.” “On the village green,” he continues, “where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. . . . Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.” My own experience bears this out. When I see students at a junior high school or a high school playing an informal game of football or baseball, I’m delighted that young people are getting the opportunity for exercising out of doors; when I see universities investing millions of dollars in elaborate stadiums and luring students to teams by means of numerous privileges, regardless of their academic ability, I feel an emotion akin to outrage. In the first case it is perfectly possible for the participants on the opposite teams to party together afterwards; whereas members of an audience cheering the college team of their choice profess an unrelenting hatred of the faction that cheers the other team, and there is every reason to believe that they are thoroughly sincere in their expressions of intense malice and ill-nature. Well, well, woe be to the man who blasphemes against his national gods!
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 194,796,404; # of deaths worldwide: 4,174,644; # of cases U.S.: 35,199,465; # of deaths; U.S.: 626,762.