Date: 2004-03-05
To: Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End
Miles today: 0.0

There¢s two kinds of preparation for the trail: mental and physical.For mental, there¢s reading books and articles, and scanning the various trail forums. But there¢s also getting back in touch with the outdoors. Where better way than in a hot tub on the front deck on a still starry night, temp close to zero, water temp 104! Pretty tough. Heard a pair of owls hooting together from the woods nearby,then fifteen minutes later a large pack of coyotes suddenly began chorusing maybe 1/4 mile away. Right in the heart of nature, if you ignore the glare of the Wal-Mart complex blazing over the ridge to the eastLooking up through the branches overhead I see Orion making his way westward across the heavens each night, hounds and hare at his heel, scorpion pursuing him six months behind. He knows why he¢s up there: for his sins (many versions of the tale exist). I know why I¢ll be out there, but it¢s not easy to explain beyond a yearning for life in the woods, living with a simpler set of goals and challenges. There are even some sins involved, something to do with chamber music camps.But there¢s physical conditioning too. Doing laps in the local pool has rehabbed a creaky knee and a rotator-cuff problem. I wear my boots to work and walk several miles daily, sometimes with pack. A few calluses already. But it¢s still not enough for when the real walk begins, and the flat road is no great ankle-conditioner. At least I won¢t be starting from a ¢zero¢ base, just a rather low level one. Blister city, dead ahead.Good Omens:1) On the road at dusk last week I passed beneath a large barred owl sitting on the lines overhead. It¢s the one I¢ve heard at night and seen in the woods various seasons past. He must have been scanning the snowy fields around him for foolish voles skipping over the surface. His head swiveled around as he regarded me without alarm. I felt welcomed by nature and more ready to start than ever.2) Our local chamber orchestra is programming Copland¢s ¢Appalachian Spring¢ Suite two weeks before I start. As we played the first haunting strains of that piece in rehearsal a few weeks back, I could hear, see, and smell the woods waking up around me at the beginning of each day. What a rush! Those large tonal intervals so evocative of vast distances, wide-open spaces, and quiet beauty are like ones I¢ve also heard in Borodin, Hovahness and Hansen, and plenty of wild-west movies. Sure, we¢ll see rain, snow and storms as well. ¢No rain, no pain, no Maine!¢Bad Omens:None yet thank goodness. Just an ever-mounting pile of details to settle in my personal and professional existence, no more or less than any other hiker faces. And always the worry some unexpected family crisis or personal mishap will intevene. I was planning to ¢do the walk¢ in 2003 until a hitch occurred in my medical practice. I escaped the wettest hiking season yet! So there¢s a purpose in anything that befalls us. So no whining, whatever happens!Time to step out of the tub into the winter chill, two steps to the front door and the warmth and delights within. Still some time to do more gear-sorting, then turn in. Only 1 month till Show Time. So many have already begun! G¢night.