Date: 2018-09-18
From: Logan Brook Lean-to

To: Antler Campsite
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Little things...woke up and the sky was pink. Not just a few little pink clouds at sunrise but a light red sky. There was a guy that I used to work with that always said, ¢Red skies at night, sailors delight...red sky at morning, sailors take warning.¢ 25 yrs later, his voice was in my head this morning. Laying here tonight with a cold wind blowing rain against the tent, his words certainly rang true again.Funny the little things we associate with people in our lives. Funny the little things we remember. Walking this trail has been an interesting journey. Obviously the physicality of the journey is not to be taken lightly. And it¢s mentally grinding. But frequently it¢s mentally freeing as well. Walking all day without distractions of the modern world. A chance to kick thoughts and ideas around for hours at a time unencumbered. Little things pop in your mind, like watching a copse of trees on a windy morning. And because you are just walking to the next white blaze (& the next, & the next, & the next) you can dwell on what you see. The way the birch trees flex and bend while the spruce hold a little more steady. That is until the rush of the wind in their tops reaches a certain pitch and then those spruce heave just so. And your thoughts meander to little things like say ¢invisibility¢ (given the winds traits on your mind). Then God, Science, and all manner of past rumination flex in your mind, much like the birch did in the wind, and the little topic of a simple noted breeze has kept you riveted for an hour. Just keep walking...This journey has afforded countless opportunities to think thorough and drink deeply from the well of life. All the little things.The picture of the leaf that was posted earlier. I sat and drank a cup of tea and puzzled over that leaf. Then I made another cup and dwelt longer. (Almost didn¢t take that picture. Liked it once taken, but almost didn¢t share it. Wanted to ¢keep it just for me¢.) Little things can give us such immense joy. Yeah, it¢s just a leaf. (Millions n millions of em out here. All different colors and as alike as snowflakes. Whatever) But that leaf spoke volumes to me about the second leg of this journey. Pondering over it, my mind danced and went all those places it¢ll go when let loose. Remembering people along the way. People back home. The smell of the forest. The analogies I found for the oddity, the color change, the chance that it sat right outside my forest door. Little things along the way have been a magic elixir for self examination. As I head toward the ¢finish line¢, it becomes more apparent it never was about the destination, but the journey itself. All the little things along the way. The AT. An amazing walk up through the oldest mountains on Earth. Today we hiked one of the last named peaks before Katahdin, then ran into trail magic (in the most remote part of the AT!) then rolled out a fast 7 miles, Then ran into trail magic again (in the 100 mile wilderness? Twice in one day??) then wound up camped on the western shore of Jo-Mary Lake as a cold storm blew in to herald the coming equinox. Great conversations today, cold beers, yummy taco bar, all the candy bars I could carry, q-tips, a covey of grouse, more frogs than you can imagine, and new friends. ...even had 3bars of LTE in the middle of nowhere to post this and a few pics...Fifty miles to go. Life is Amazing. Keep doing it. Keep moving forward. Never know what¢s around the next corner. Keep walking!