On the Little Devils Stairs Trail – Evening statistics
I led a hike along Little Devils Stairs today, a splendid hike the ends up ascending nearly 1500 feet through a river gorge. The ascent begins gradually but eventually becomes quite steep, on occasion requiring hand-over-hand climbing. The cliffs enclosing the gorge close in towards the top, great walls of rock covered with leafy trees at the top. It was the least difficult of the many times I have used this trail, for the stream was so low that the crossings over Keyser Run were no trouble at all and I was able to complete the hike dry-shod. One might expect a hike such as this would fatigue me, for I had hiked over ten miles before reaching the Little Devils Stairs trailhead, and the trail itself provided an additional two miles, in addition to its elevation gain. But on the contrary, I was in a euphoric mood when I emerged at the fire road at the trail’s end, refreshed, energized, and feeling quite ready to ascend as much again. The weather may have had a share in my enjoyment; it was warm enough to warrant short-sleeves but not oppressively hot and not very humid, even though there were a few sprinkles from time to time.
I can’t bother with political issues today. They seem so insignificant in comparison with such an experience as this. I’m a little more concerned with keeping abreast on our progress in overcoming the pandemic, but there appear to be no new developments worth reporting.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 620,237,082; # of deaths worldwide: 6,540,297; # of cases U.S.: 97,905,743; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,081,715.