Date: 2004-04-06
From: Rainbow Springs

To: New York City
Miles today: 0.0

Delta Flight 1616 en route to New York -- 37,000 feetWell, this first section of my adventures on the Appalachian Trail is about over. I was picked up this morning at 7:45am by Terry of Roadrunners, Inc. and driven to the Atlanta airport. Within the hour I¢ll be back in New York.I embarked on this journey having done a considerable amount of planning and preparation but with very few expectations of what the outcome would be ¢ of what I might encounter, see or experience. For this reason, I have absolutely no disappointments to report. The AT experience has been what it is. And, it has been great! I can¢t wait to get back to it!During the past twelve days I have hiked over 100 miles, which sounds (and feels!) like a lot, but in reality is less than 5% of the total length of the Trail. Nevertheless, I¢m told that, statistically, I¢ve come further than 1/3rd of all those who start a Thru Hike ever manage to achieve.One reason I think I¢ve enjoyed the journey so much thus far is because, in many ways, the ¢fellowship of AT hikers¢ is very similar to another ¢fellowship¢ to which I have belonged for over 17 years. What is this fellowship? The way, in which, AT hikers relate to one another feels comfortable to me. Here are some of the similarities I noted:When hikers meet one another on the trail or at the shelters, the conversations tend to focus on the sharing of each individual¢s ¢experiences, strengths and hopes¢ (i.e. what equipment has worked well for them in various circumstances, the condition of the trail in a section when they came through it, how they dealt with a particular physical condition, etc.)Hikers talk a lot about what the journey has been like for them and in giving encouragement and support to others. Few, if any, try to tell someone else ¢how they ought to do something.¢ Everyone is commonly tied to one another by their shared desire to experience the trail. No one is hiking it against his or her own will, that¢s for sure. Clearly, this is a ¢program of attraction, not promotion!¢The bond that forms between hikers occurs almost instantaneously and exists irrespective of gender, age or any other basis for discernment. Everyone is equal and is accepted that way simply because they¢re there. As with my other ¢fellowship,¢ the attrition rate on the Trail is high, yet the numbers of people I¢ve met who are back for a second time (go, ¢Yola¢!), a third time (go, ¢One Leg¢!), a fourth time (go ¢Captain Bob¢!), or even a ninth attempt (go, ¢Pack Rat¢!) is impressive. Interestingly, as ¢Patches¢ pointed out yesterday over lunch, people on the Trail spend very little time talking about their ¢real world¢ jobs or lives if at all, and focus on the challenges at hand. (He had hiked hundreds of miles over the course of two summers with another section hiker before they realized that they both worked in the same industry!)The use of ¢trail names¢ when introducing oneself instead of your full name adds to the familiarity, too. I keep waiting to hear a resounding, ¢Hi, Bumpo!¢ after I introduce myself at a campfire for the first time¢¦ ¢Hi, I¢m Bumpo, I¢m a section hiker¢¦¢But, perhaps the loveliest aspect of these and other such ¢fellowships¢ is the fact that they tend to bring out the basic goodness in people. During the past twelve days I cannot recall an act of ill will or mean-spiritedness on the part of a hiker or by any of the many towns people, volunteers, or Trail Angels I met or about whom I heard stories. Maybe that¢s what makes a ¢fellowship¢ a true fellowship anyway ¢ it brings out the good in people associated with it. That is certainly true of my initial Appalachian Trail experience. I guess that this is what ¢Talk¢s A Lot¢ (who doesn¢t!) meant when he said, ¢Bumpo, you¢ll forget the sights and the places ¢ it¢s the people you¢ll remember.¢ So, for all the time that I¢ve invested in walking through the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Chattahoochee National Forest and the Southern Nantahala Wilderness mostly by myself, it¢s reasonable to ask, ¢What have I learned or reaffirmed for myself that¢s worth taking back into the Big Apple and into my ¢real life¢ with me?¢ Well, based on where my mind would wander as my feet did the same, it is clear to me that the essence of what I hold most dear is found in relationships ¢ relationships with my Higher Power, my family and with my fellows. Inevitably, thoughts of these kinds of relationships are what I¢d find myself thinking about when I wasn¢t just ¢in the moment¢ taking in the day, the surroundings, and the joy of simply being able to do what I was doing at that exact moment (which, surprisingly, was a fair amount of my waking time, thank heaven!) Here are some of my ¢take-aways¢ for what they¢re worth:Without a doubt, my conviction in the existence of a loving God ¢ Higher Power ¢ ¢Great Mystery¢ ¢ whatever you want to call the creative force that made such awesome beauty and wonder as that with which I have been surrounded for the past twelve days, is at an all-time high. I am also very aware of how much ¢family¢ means to me and how deeply I love my children, spouses, my sister and Bill, and my Mother whom I will miss greatly when she is gone. My time with Tom reminded me how much I care for all my nephews and how I admire the job Roberta and Bill did in raising four such strong, capable individuals.Being in such an unfamiliar and isolated environment I realized how present fear can be. But being aware of it doesn¢t make it any more real. This time on the Trail has reaffirmed my belief that the best way to deal with fear is to acknowledge its presence, and face it head on and walk through it. Literally, in this case! Fear is a feeling whether experienced in the woods or in the course of living life wherever you are, and feelings aren¢t facts. There¢s no question that I truly love my work and greatly value and respect the Crenshaw team: Barb, Laura and Natasha and our network of experts. Also, based on the amount of I spent thinking about our clients as I walked along, it is obvious that each of these relationships means much more to me than just ¢some commercial affiliation¢ Over and over I would find myself thinking about each client, wondering what lies ahead for them and trying to anticipate ways in which we might do an even better job helping them to cope with the twists and turns that they might encounter in their respective journeys.And, I think of friends and loves, past and future ¢ of the importance of timing, of patience, of mistakes made, lessons learns, and experiences shared. I recount great joys and numbing pain, and of possibilities¢¦The plane is about to touch down at LaGuardia, and this first phase of my Appalachian Trail journey has come to end. ¢¦But only for now!