I'm feeling a little guilty, bear with me.
My wife and I hiked the AT yesterday (Sunday, 10/26/03) from Duncannon, PA. south to Route 944. About 12.7 miles. The half closest to Duncannon is rough and rocky, with a few precarious ledges on the side of Cove Mountain. The southern half is lots of field walking through very rural farmland. Lots of big blow downs still left from Hurricane Isabel (one forced us to slog 200' up a small creek). Two character building climbs.
Yesterday was also the first day of standard time and rain was predicted for early evening.
Anyway, by 1:40 P.M. we were at Route 850, over 8 miles away from Duncannon, trudging through a pasture in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, two vans stop and disgorge about 6 teenagers, at least 6 kids who looked to be between 5 and 8 y.o, and two adult women. Summer clothes, sneakers, no packs, no water that I could see. They start walking northbound toward us.
One lady says to me "Where did you come from?" "Duncannnon. Where are you folks headed?" "Duncannon!" she says.
I stupidly keep walking, but it quickly dawns on me that Duncannon is _at least_ 4 hours away for them, meaning no earlier than 5:40 p.m. It'll be getting dark by then, and maybe raining. The last mile and a half will be a fairly steep, rocky descent.
I thought about turning around and telling these two grownups all of the above, but didn't. Mind my own business, etc. I got home and was worrying all night that I'd done the wrong thing. Guess what I found this morning:
http://www.thewgalchannel.com/news/2583978/detail.html
I feel sick. From now on, I'm speaking up.