Hiking in the South Massanuttens and Fridley Gap – Adventure with a rattlesnake – Freeway traffic – Dust from the Sahara – David McKinley – Mexican earthquake – Evening statistics
It was a good day to be away from home. Temperatures in the DC metro area were in the 90s and the air was extremely humid. But three of us from the Vigorous Hikers group were hiking in the Southern Massanuttens over 100 miles away, where the temperatures were lower and where several breezes mitigated the humidity. At one part of the hike, along Morgan Run, we felt cool air emanating from below, possibly from a network of caves. It was a frustrating hike in some ways; several parts were either muddy – the sort of mud that goes down several inches and nearly pulls your shoe off after you step in it and lift your foot out – or strewn with wet rocks that were extremely slippery. But it was a varied hike, alternating between the scenery of the ridgeline and the scenery of the river valley, and it ended with our taking a dip in a swimming hole, which was certainly cold (mountain streams hardly ever get above 70 degrees in this area, even during the hottest seasons) but fresh and invigorating, and deep enough to enable one to swim a few strokes at least. It was a fairly secluded hike. Only three of us attended, as I mentioned, the others probably being deterred by the length of the drive to get to the trailhead – it takes over two hours. We saw only three other people during the entirety of the hike, although it was 16½ miles long: one hiker with her dog whom we saw in the distance (but she went one way and we went another before we could actually meet) and two people pulling up in their car to park near the swimming hole just as we were returning to our cars. We ascended about 3350 feet in all, but the slopes were moderate and in the shade for the most part.
We had an adventure during the last part of the hike. On the Fridley Gap Trail we saw a rattlesnake. I caught a glimpse of It stretched out for its full length on the trail – but only for a moment. As we approached it, it instantly wrapped itself into a coil, and hissed and rattled at us. It was, as I remarked to the others, best for us to be friends at a distance. We bushwhacked a bit to go around the area in the trail that it occupied but the undergrowth was not very dense and we managed it without difficulty. There are not many venomous snakes in our area and for most of the time they are as little desirous of encounters with us as we are for encounters with them. I have come across snakes in the trails on a number of occasions but I have never felt seriously threatened by them. I will admit, however, that I did have a rather alarming encounter with a venomous reptile once. The one in the Armani suit with the fluorescent-lamp suntan.
Traffic is becoming denser. When I drove west to the trailhead in the morning I saw a traffic jam on I-66 going in the opposite direction, towards Washington. Similarly, on the way back I saw a second traffic jam of commuters returning from DC to their homes. These were relatively small compared to the amount of backed-up traffic I would see while I was still commuting to Herndon (in the opposite direction of rush-hour traffic both in the morning and the evening) but it is an indication that the days of easy driving in the area during rush hour are over. Restrictions are easing throughout the area, and the number of commuters has greatly increased on the past two or three weeks.
We shall be getting a plume of dust from the Sahara Desert this weekend. These plumes occur every year but the concentration of dust particles is said to be the highest observed in the past 50-60 years. It will lower the air quality – whether only slightly or severely depends on which experts one consults. However, the resultant haze will actually intensify the colors of dawns and sunsets.
David McKinley, a Republican Representative from West Virginia, tried to embarrass Dr. Fauci by asking whether he regretted discouraging people from using face masks during the early stages of the pandemic. Dr. Fauci immediately responded that he had no regrets whatever, because in the early stages of the virus face masks were at a premium and the main priority was to ensure that health-care professionals had access to them. Fauci and his colleagues are doing their utmost to help the country confront and tame the pandemic. It is difficult to say whether the efforts of Trump’s catspaws to disparage the medical experts make them and their patron appear immoral or merely fatuous. Dr. Fauci did not mention whose blunders made face masks so difficult to obtain at that stage; in his place I don’t believe that I would have been as tactful.
There has been an earthquake in southern Mexico, 7.4 on the Richter scale. Five people have been killed, but the total number of casualties will probably be localized and not exceed 100. But it is going to be an additional strain on the resources of the Mexican government, especially since a number of hospitals have been damaged by the quake.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 9,342,588; # of deaths worldwide: 478,904; # of cases U.S.: 2,424,074; # of deaths U.S.: 123,472. Our country, which contains a little over 4% of the world’s population, accounts for over one-quarter both of virus cases and of deaths from the pandemic.