Date: 2006-09-11
From: campsite past blue ridge gap

To: campsite at beech gap
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

======2003====== saturday, march 1, day 8camped with others last night¢¦¢¦beautiful site, but not much privacy¢¦¢¦took a sponge bath behind a big tree (instead of a shower)¢¦¢¦.were surprised by two sets of hikers passing thru in the middle of the night¢¦.i¢m not brave enough to do that yet!....although we did get up and out in the dark this morning¢¦(the most ¢fun¢ part about that was trying to ¢fashion a restroom¢ for certain necessary ¢business¢, together, in the dark and the very thick fog that had rolled in!)¢¦.i fortunately left my headlamp burning under the tarp so we could find our way back!*but it really felt good to be out hiking EARLY¢¦..we ran into a group of guys at bly gap (where we also encountered this incredible tree that i drew a picture of in the register¢¦. ¢the ENT at bly gap¢)¢¦.anyway, we ran into these nice fellows off and on all day (think they were out for spring break)¢¦..it was sunny only for a short (but heavenly!) time this AM¢¦¢¦climbed a real, REAL steep mountain right off the bat, but had beautiful views!.....then it turned drizzly and remained so all day (even tonite in camp again)¢¦¢¦but we arrived in camp early as well¢¦4:30!...yea!......we were able to have a freezing shower in the freezing drizzle, but how GOOD it felt to get relatively clean and then warm and full!...it¢s not yet 7:00, but we¢re getting ready to go to sleep (a good night¢s rest is necessary to face albert mtn.* tomorrow¢¦..a little scary¢¦we¢ve heard tales of this rugged climb!)¢¦.tomorrow will mark ¢first sunday¢* at rock creek¢¦.we¢re already missin¢ them¢¦..asked charlie today if we might ¢participate¢ anyway by having communion together up on some mountaintop somewhere¢¦.i think we decided that would be the plan¢¦¢¦..and i¢m prayin¢ the rain will let up for monday when mom and dad will be traveling over to meet us¢¦¢¦so far, one of the things i love so much about bein¢ out here is that i¢m able to get in a lot of uninterrupted prayer¢¦..walk and pray¢¦.walk and pray¢¦..( hope the smiths and the joneses* are doing better)¢¦¢¦..a cool thing i¢m learnin¢ through the long hours is that prayer doesn¢t hafta be just blabbing away into the air¢¦it¢s listening, too¢¦¢¦hearin¢ the voice of a creator who loves me and wants me to know him better¢¦..some deeper thoughts than i could¢ve imagined have subsequently popped into my head (or was it my heart?)¢¦¢¦today i had this on my mind : the PERSONALITIES of each of Father, Son and Spirit¢¦..(does it relate somehow to soul, body and spirit?)¢¦..does each Personality especially express particular attributes of body, soul and spirit, yet divinely, omnipotently interchange as well?....for example : there is the Father¢¦.the passionate ¢soul¢ we see in the old testament¢¦.the ¢jealous lover¢¢¦.the ¢tender mother¢¢¦..the smiling, exhuberent ¢artist¢/creator¢¦..yet, we are told He exists as a Spirit¢¦.the Holy Spirit¢¦..the True ¢Wind¢¢¦ the ¢breath¢ that we cannot see and yet we do see in christ¢s ¢BODY¢, his church¢¦¢¦..and then Jesus¢¦¢¦..the Incarnate Body¢¦..tangible¢¦.human¢¦..living¢¦..dead¢¦and now presently living again in us by his SPIRIT¢¦..whoa! talk about ONENESS!......i dunno¢¦..haven¢t got it all straight in my head yet, but me and the Lord, we¢re talkin¢ about it¢¦.prayin¢¢¦..conversing¢¦.listening¢¦¢¦.it occurred to me today that the Spirit and i actually ¢pray¢ together¢¦..so i¢ll be rearranging my attitude to correspond as thus : ¢ who will we be praying for today, Lord?¢¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦what an incredible thing to spend the entire day ¢walkin¢ in the garden¢ so closely with my Savior!....i put a little ¢cheer¢ (complete with a drawing of a cheerleader) in a shelter register today¢¦.it went like this : ¢hearts for quest and stubborn feet¢¦..we¢re the class of zero three!...YEA! GO HIKERS!¢¢¦well¢¦.my ¢bod¢ is pooped( maybe my soul and spirit,too)¢¦¢¦i¢m gonna read my bible now and go to sleep¢¦¢¦.=======2006======Lord¢s Day, february 19, day 8, blueberry patch to plumorchard gap shelter¢¦¢¦4 milesdidn¢t get hiking till 1:00 because we actually did get to go to church* with gary and lenny¢¦¢¦such a sweet little country church! (took us back to our childhoods)¢¦..everyone was very friendly/welcoming¢¦¢¦we were blessed to sit in ms. janice¢s sunday school class¢¦.precious lady!....to me, she embodied ¢old time appalachian christianity¢¢¦..simple wisdom and longsuffering faith!...she spoke to my heart as she related her well-prepared lesson on the prophet jeremiah¢¦..she reminded us that even he had doubts and lots of emotional pain associated with those doubts¢¦.that he suffered greatly because of the message that he brought to the people¢¦..but God put a ¢fire¢ in jeremiah again to preach his word just as the Lord had given it¢¦..some of the verses she read went something like this : ¢the Lord is a valiant warrior¢¦rescuing the lives of the needy!¢¢¦¢¦¢¦we ARE needy¢¦.. we need a hero to fight those battles that are beyond our control¢¦.(is ANYTHING really in OUR control?)¢¦..paw-ee and i are especially needy tonight here in this freezing shelter¢¦¢¦it¢s only 6:00 and we¢re already done with supper and looking to settle in¢¦¢¦ it could be a long, cold night¢¦¢¦.but God wraps us in his arms¢¦¢¦arms fleshed out in human offerings of prayer¢¦¢¦.prayers i¢m sure from new friends, lenny and gary¢¦¢¦carli and michael¢¦.shea and rachel¢¦¢¦.and many others¢¦.my prayer tonight is one of gratitude : ¢thank you, Father, that your gracious and merciful eyes rest on us two old hikers in these, YOUR mountains tonight!¢we walked almost 4 12 miles today beneath the most beautiful hoarfrost i¢ve ever seen!... acres and acres of it! ¢¦on every twig, frond, seed, spore, seed, leaf, stem, and even frozen spider webs!...only our Creator can accomplish such beauty as this!well¢¦we certainly heard the gospel at church this morning¢¦.(rubin rounded out our group ,but batman and robin¢s nest got hiking, i think )¢¦..the preacher talked about ¢building your house on the only FIRM foundation¢ ( matthew 7:24 )¢¦..we thought rubin might be with us here at the shelter tonight¢¦.our prayers go with him for wherever he lights¢¦..forgot to mention the wonderful breakfast at blueberry patch*¢¦.eggs, sausage, pancakes, cheese bisquits and homemade blueberry syrup¢¦..all served in the most incredible attitude of love (do they ever run out, this couple who¢ve been through everything and yet demand nothing?!!)¢¦.instruments of grace they are, in the hands of the Lord of Grace¢¦.we are here with ¢gutsy¢, a nice lady out for the weekend¢¦.also, a teacher from oregon stopped by for a while¢¦..this shelter is very nice¢¦..the construction reminds me of rob vannoy¢s artistry¢¦..12 miles tomorrow to standing indian¢¦.let my heartfelt cry from these quiet woods reach only the ears of the One who gave my soul a voice : ¢i love you!¢*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS-----*finding our way in fog¢¦¢¦.don¢t laugh¢¦¢¦it happens¢¦.even just going to the privy in the middle of the night! (we¢ll have another story for you later about THAT!) *albert mtn¢¦¢¦not nearly so difficult as we had heard¢¦.but could be perhaps in bad weather¢¦..i think ¢big al¢ is quite beautiful, especially on the way up ¢¦..the rocks and plants are lovely¢¦.next time we¢ll definitely slow our ascent to enjoy it more!*¢first sunday¢¢¦¢¦.every first sunday of the month, our church, rock creek fellowship, celebrates the Lord¢s Supper¢¦..after the service we throw open the barn doors and all share together in a brunch¢¦..paw-ee and i always celebrated together on the trail by sharing that same Supper ¢¦.it became a very cherished time for us, though we missed our ¢family¢ back home¢¦¢¦* ¢smiths and joneses¢¢¦.these aren¢t their real names*church¢¦¢¦obviously, we didn¢t get to attend every sunday¢¦..but if we were fortunate enough to land in a town on a weekend we¢d check out churches¢¦¢¦the churches can really be a boon to a weary hiker revitalizing body as well as soul¢¦.we were especially blessed this year by the little church across from the outfitters in damascus, and also the church of the mountain in delaware water gap¢¦..by the way, some of the folks we attended church with there were mr. rogers, tree girl, and¢¦oops!...i forgot the other guy¢s name!.....if you¢re out there we¢d love to hear from you all¢¦..( also blue mound, tent peg, lance, mango, deersong, jubilee, hydrohorse, buree or anybody else that was there that weekend¢¦..thanks!)*blueberry patch¢¦¢¦¢¦.i wouldn¢t pass it up if i were you!