Date: 2006-10-02
From: stealth camp 1.3 miles past flint mtn shelter

To: bald mtn shelter
Miles today: 17.0

======2003======friday, march21, day 28(a.m.)we were up at 5¢¦.walking in the moonlight by 6¢¦¢¦this has been one of our favorite portions of the trail¢¦.such pretty country!.....good trail¢¦.scenic little farms nestled in ¢mountain-charmed¢ hollows¢¦¢¦beautiful peaks and coves!.....walked UP to the sunshine for breakfast at 8:00 (¢frozen knob¢¢¦..probably a 1500 ft climb)¢¦..looks like it¢s gonna be a good day!.....i made up a little song a while ago as we walked down out of the woods and into the brisk breaking of the dawn (near devil fork gap):               thank you Lord for the sunrise,                  and for the echoing crows               thank you Lord for the springtime                     and for Your Face,                     for Your bright Face               which over all creation shows!(p.m.)we¢re soooooo tired!.......but the journey today was worth the fatigue and sore feet!.....we so wanted to make ¢big bald¢, so we climbed from noon till 4 as the skies began to darken a bit¢¦..as we made our way slowly up through damp, rocky woods, we met some hikers coming down from the bald¢¦.2 young women, one of which had thru-hiked several years prior¢¦..she described to us the incredible overnight she¢d had on big bald sleeping under the stars, but then apologetically broke to us the news that the bald was currently socked in with fog!....¢sorry¢, she said, ¢no views today¢¢¦..we were so disappointed!*¢¦..we had heard so much about the balds of upper east tennessee¢¦.bill and diana had even assigned the ol¢ tell-tale ¢heart¢ to big bald on our schedule¢¦ ¢you¢ll love it!¢ diana had said¢¦¢¦.but the weather so far has generally prevented our enjoyment of many such places¢¦¢¦snowbird mtn¢¦..max patch¢¦..blackstack cliffs¢¦..we are beginning to wonder if we will ever actually get to SEE some of this ol¢ appalachian trail!......as we continued up the mountain this afternoon, getting occasional glimpses of the lower slopes of the bald beneath the gathering rain clouds, i began to pray : ¢Lord¢¦.i know this probably sounds pretty selfish¢¦¢¦and You, of course, are the One in charge of this hike and can do whatever You want¢¦..but¢¦..well¢¦.i sure would love it if You could help us out here concerning a view up there on that bald You¢ve created!....we¢ve walked so far, Lord, to see it!¢¢¦.well¢¦.. we eventually reached the upper slopes of big bald and had made our way out of the misty woods into the opening of a steep, rocky meadow when the wind started to pick up¢¦..i mean, it REALLY started to pick up!....somethin¢ stirred inside me as i looked above and saw clouds rushing overhead as if by command¢¦.i leaned into each step, gripping my firmly planted poles to try and keep my balance in the wind¢¦..i began to cry¢¦.not because i was scared, but because it dawned on me that the Lord was ¢moving¢¢¦He was beginning to answer my little insignificant prayer!*¢¦..as the meadow leveled out and we reached the summit, the clouds suddenly opened up!.....i could see patches of blue sky (through tears that just kept pourin¢ down my face)¢¦we braced ourselves against the powerful wind that felt as if it would carry us right off the mountain¢¦.and then paused to take our first look from the ¢top¢¢¦..it was INCREDIBLE!....i had never seen anything like it my whole life!....the sky was doin¢ wild things!....dark and almost foreboding in some places¢¦.clear blue in others¢¦.billowing clouds towered above us and then bowed and trailed off to an ocean of colorful mountains as far as our eyes could see!....i trembled¢¦.it felt like we were standing on Holy Ground!.......and all the while that ¢Wind¢ kept ROARING!.....SHAKING the foundations it seemed!....hammerin¢ at us¢¦..IN us!......it was kinda scary*¢¦..my tears dried as instantly as they came, leaving my face as raw and burning as my soul seemed to be¢¦.i wasn¢t sure what to ¢do¢ with this type of immediately answered prayer¢¦.i was all to pieces!.....viewing the bald from a distance had been one thing¢¦.(on the way up, i had passed the time by imagining the Lord having ¢painted¢ the whole thing)¢¦.the pale olive slopes that crowned the top of the majestic mountain were dappled with brownish ¢freckles¢¢¦. ¢age spots¢ on the ¢hairless¢ pate of a very old man!...¢big bald¢ we felt had been properly named ¢¦.even from below its ¢oldness¢ and ¢bigness¢ commanded every ounce of our attention and respect!.......but reaching the top?....well¢¦..that was quite another thing!......i¢ll never forget it as long as i live!....if the artful Hand of God had been at work before, down on the lower spine of old big bald, It surpassed all art at the summit!....well¢¦.i could go on forever tryin¢ to describe this place and what was happenin¢ inside of me up there today¢¦¢¦but it¢s really fairly impossible¢¦..i¢m sure my photos won¢t do it justice¢¦.(they certainly will fall way short in depicting the power of that ¢Wind¢¢¦.or the ¢still small voice¢ that grew in my soul to a gale-force crescendo, ¢I love you¢¦..I love you¢¦..I love you!¢¢¦¢¦..(much like when i saw the the blue heron at the henegars*), i still get choked up just thinkin¢ about it!.....God is so good!.....we¢re stayin¢ in the shelter here this evenin¢ with pilgrim, stitch and sugar high¢¦¢¦======2006======saturday, march 11, day 28 (16.4 miles from erwin to cherry gap shelter) a real climbing day!...UP to ¢beauty spot¢¢¦..UP to unaka mtn*¢¦..UP (and down) to this shelter¢¦..have met lonewolf (and his dog ¢max¢) here¢¦..nice guy¢¦.fun¢¦lots of stories¢¦but the funniest thing that happened today was that we met warren doyle*¢¦.we talked to him, but didn¢t get his name¢¦.not until after he left and had written it in the register!...how embarrassing!....well ¢¦.can¢t write too much tonite¢¦.catch up later¢¦.*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS¢¦¢¦*disappointed¢¢¦.what an interesting word!.....dis-appointed!.....if our lives are ¢appointed¢, how can we ever really feel ¢down¢ when things go ¢wrong¢ or disappoint us¢¦..they are never really ¢wrong¢ at all, are they!....hmmmm¢¦..*insignificant prayer¢¦..that was a dumb thing for me to write!....ALL our prayers are significant to our Creator Who, for some unknown reason loves us and delights in hearing us !....i have learned that answers to prayers like this signicantly move me into a deeper relationship with Him as i grow in the ¢grace and knowledge¢ of Who He really is!......i¢m thankful!*kinda scary¢¦..sadly, some of us grow up thinkin¢ of God or Jesus as merely a ¢friend¢¢¦.a ¢bedtime buddy¢ (kinda like a teddy bear or a security blanket or something)¢¦.and, indeed, i do consider Him to be my BEST friend (though He¢s so much more)¢¦¢¦but i think we¢ve unfortunately thought of Him as either a ¢wimpy¢, non-descript, ¢good-feelin-in-the-sky¢ sort of ¢casper-the-friendly-ghost¢ personality or a kind of shy, almost stereotypically feminine or puritanical ¢wallflower¢ type or something¢¦.i think that day on big bald in ¢03 i got a little bit better idea of the actual POWER of our Creator¢¦.not in the ¢higher power¢ sense (He¢s WAY more than just a ¢higher power¢)¢¦.but i think i began to more fully understand His power that day in the PERSONAL sense!....more than ever He became real to ME that day¢¦.He IS real¢¦.and not in ANY way shy about coming toward the humans He has so lovingly created¢¦¢¦.yep¢¦.it really can be ¢scary¢ in a way¢¦.coming that close to true Love¢¦.because then you realize Love is a Person¢¦.you can¢t just walk away¢¦¢¦*blue heron at the henegars¢¦¢¦¢¦the henegars are some dear friends of ours who have ¢¦.well¢¦..good grief!....it¢s impossible to tell ALL the things they¢ve done to influence our lives for the better!.....trust me!¢¦they¢re the best!....anyway¢¦a while back a few of us gathered at their home (which happens to sit on rock creek on lookout mtn) for what they called a ¢sweet hour of prayer¢¢¦..we came together for a few minutes and then each separated, choosing our own private prayer places around the property¢¦.i chose the creek¢¦.as i sat there meditating on what i could ¢DO¢ to experience more of God¢s Love, a great blue heron flew up the creek!!....he was beautiful!....but it wasn¢t the beauty of the heron that took my breath away¢¦¢¦.it was the realization that my Savior ¢met¢ me there on that creek bank to let me know that there was NOTHING i could do at all to ¢win¢ His love!....it was THERE¢¦forever¢¦.eternally!....i just had to receive it¢¦¢¦.someone told me later that the Lord was ¢speaking my love language¢ that day in the flight of the heron¢¦.and indeed, it seems as if these sorts of ¢spectacular¢ natural events occur for me quite often (or perhaps because of my intense love of nature, i¢m just sort of ¢tuned in¢ to recognizing these sorts of things¢¦.i¢m ¢looking¢, so to speak)¢¦..anyway, whether it¢s ¢winds¢ or ¢wings¢, there¢s seemingly always something that finds a special way to win my heart¢¦.*unaka mtn¢¦..i think i remember writing in one of the shelter registers that i supposed ¢unaka¢ must mean ¢magic¢ since that mtn. was one of the most magical places on the AT!*warren doyle¢¦..we met this ¢AT icon¢ up on beauty spot (though we didn¢t catch his name there as we spoke only briefly)¢¦paw-ee and i proceeded down to the spring and stopped for water¢¦.as i sat beside the trail, mr. doyle (who¢s hiked the trail 14 times!) soon appeared walking down the road from beauty spot¢¦ ¢i¢ve done this little section before,¢ he said, ¢so i¢m just gonna walk the road¢¢¦.i chuckled and tried to make a friendly joke: ¢yeah¢, i said, ¢we wouldn¢t want ya t¢ CHEAT or anything!¢¢¦.oooooh!...if only i had realized to whom i was speaking!...no wonder he didn¢t stay very long to chat at the shelter!..... mr. doyle, if you get this message please accept my apologies¢¦..and i have learned my lesson¢¦.ALWAYS make sure introductions are exchanged FIRST!