Date: 2004-04-23
From: Little Bald

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: overcast clouds

2:15 PM Spivey GapAt this moment, I am completely content. I have had my tea, a stew of dandelion greens and flowers, and a frosted orange. I am neither hungry nor thirsty. I¢ve been at this location nearly three hours, so I¢m not tired. I¢m sitting on my mattress in the shade with a friendly zephyr gently passing through. Highway 19 is about 50 yards away, but traffic is light. It is not a truck route, and there is about 1 car every 30 minutes. I have washed my bandanas, etc., in the clear waters of big creek, and I am watching them dry on my line. I am wearing clean and dry socks and underwear. I can ask for nothing more ¢ except a flat place to sleep tonight. I actually managed to sleep last night. I got a lot more hours of sleep than at the noisy place the night before. I just had to haul myself back up to the top of the mattress every time I woke up, but I always went right back to sleep.I thought I was getting an early start today. I was all packed up by 8:00 AM. I looked back at where my tent had been to see if I had left anything. I didn¢t see anything, so I set off down the trail, one foot in front of another, thinking about my plan to stop midday for tea and a cooked meal and to wash my clothes. After a full 30 minutes, I came to a place where I wanted my stick to help me over a water bar. My hands were empty! I had left my stick again! There must be a message here. Is this a metaphor for my life? I can be so forgetful and oblivious unless I have a pressing need at the moment. I then have to expend a lot of effort to mend the results of my neglect. In this case, I immediately dropped my pack and hurried back up the trail ¢ no running ¢ picked up my stick from exactly where I had left it, and completely forgotten about it, the night before. What else am I forgetting, until the next time I need it? I know I forget to think about God, my Father/Creator, and Sustainer, as often as I might.9:50 PM No Business Knob shelterNow that the weather is warm, I think taking a long break around noon is what I should do every day. I made it to the shelter in excellent time, partly because I was relatively fresh from my nearly 4 hour break. I won¢t be able to take that long of a break every day, but I really feel good about how the day went, even with the extra 2 miles I walked to get the stick.The flower of the day was gaywings. I still saw plenty of trilliums, irises and a few spring beauties, but the intense fuchsia of the tiny flowers made a cheerful statement along the trail through the drier pine and hemlock mountainsides. The flower yesterday was definitely the spring beauty. There were acres and acres of them, making the forest floor a carpet of pale pink and greenI got lucky at suppertime. The water for the shelter is 0.2 miles away down a long hill. When I was starting out to get my water, I asked at the shelter if anybody wanted me to get water for them. One man asked me to get water for him. When I got back with the water, he offered me some of his macaroni and cheese with chicken. It was yummy. Not your ordinary Kraft macaroni and cheese. I also had Tang and granola with milk. Tang and granola with milk is also what I will be having for breakfast. I¢m saving the last little bit of alcohol for a tea break halfway Erwin.