Date: 2005-03-14
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Gap
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Yahoo! A second "one of the best days of my life" - that makes two in a row. Last night, after going to bed at 8, a cold front moved in and by 10 the thunder and lightening started. At first I thought it was our army friends and they'd finally decided to carry out the ambush they'd promised at 6:30. But then it started to rain, so I figured it was probably Mother Nature instead.In the end, it rained most of the night, torrentially at times, and provided a serious test of the water proofing of my tent. Yea, Big Agnes! You passed. It also got colder, into the low forties, but I was both warm (in my Big Agnes sleeping bag) and dry. I also slept like a baby, and missed out on what my neighbors described as a pack of coyotes attacking something. I gather it didn't last very long. I woke at 6:30, and was thrilled to find that the rain had stopped. I packed up, had breakfast, and then had someone take a picture of me with the two SOBO hikers, hoping some of their success might rub off on me. I started hiking at 8, and made it to Gooch Gap Shelter by 1:30 - about 7 miles. Not a land speed record, but I felt good about how I hiked today. I made it a point stop and talk to people whenever I saw someone - through hikers, section hikers on spring break, a trail crew of the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club that was building check dams using a half dozen college students from New Hampshire - whoever I saw I stopped to at least say "howdy." I am convinced that the people I meet will be one of the best parts of the whole experience, and the first two days have reinforced that proposition.I also went very slowly up hill, but managed to make up some of the time on the downhill side. And I also made sure to take a fair number of breaks and to snack regularly to keep up my energy level.It seems to have worked, as I was less tired tonight than last night, and had at least one decent sized hill.I am also thrilled to report an absence of blisters on my feet, and that my knees are holding up fine so far- Knock wood!Tomorrow will be a twelve mile day, hopefully, to Woods Hole Shelter, so I'm planning on an early night tonight. It's getting cold as I type this, so I'm looking forward to crawling into my bag.Given my concerns about not tripping and injuring myself during the first 20 miles, I'm really trying to concentrate on my hiking. Occasionally, however, I was able to devote a few minutes to reflections on this little walk in the woods. One thread was stimulated by a book I saw at the news shop at Dulles airport. It was a fictional account of some guy who had died but instead of going to heaven, found himself meeting with five people who were going to explain his life to him. What struck me today was that that was kind of what I'm hoping the trail will do for me - if I can manage to hike long enough. The five people in the book were people the dead guy had encountered during his life time, people whose lives he had influenced in one way or another, and according to the book jacket, they would provide insights into connections he might have missed. As my wife will be the first to confirm, it is a standing joke at my house that I have always tended to "miss things." A common refrain, spoken with good humored sarcasm, is " Ya have ta git up pret-ty darn early in the mornin' to put one over on Dad! I suspect that having enough time on my hands to actually reflect on my life, it's almost inevitable that I will manage to make at least a FEW connections - don't you think? I sure hope so. I'm looking forward to that.Today's hike, by the way, is dedicated to my dear departed mother, who's love, and support, and belief in me was so very important to the shaping of the person I am today. Any and all flaws in my character and personality, however, are fully the responsibility of the author. Stay tuned, Longhaul