Date: 2004-05-06
From: Black Rock Shelter

To: Hightop Hut 
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: clear sky

Somedays on the trail, it's raining or i'm hurting and i curse myself for being stupid enough to come out here and do this. Then most days the sun is shining and there's a cool breeze and there is no where else in this world where i would rather be. Today is one of those days. Usually i write in my journal everynight. But i've discovered that by the time my body is ready to go to sleep so is my mind and i find my journal full of useless "I hit the trail at 8, i got to the shelter at 5". today i'm writing at 3 in the afternoon. The sun warms my back and a breeze cools my face as i sit on a rock outcropping overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. During the Civil War my great great grandfather did picket duty on the tops of these ridges. coming from flat south alabama, he described in his journals that he had never seen any place as beautiful as the Shenandoahs. today i look out into the valley and it is sadly mostly covered in urban sprawl. the primevil forest of the 1860s are long gone due to logging, disease and fires. it's hard to imagine this place as it might have been when my ancestor Billy Mizell was here, but i think about him often.today has been one of those days where just every small factor that goes into my mood has worked out in just a way that it has left me with an overall feeling of everything is right in the world. i write in this journal to try and help myself later in life remembe what really happened out here. but i doubt a journal, photos or even memories will ever capture the true sense of it all. a camera captures a visual moment in time. If only i could close my eyes and capture for this one moment everything that fills my senses. i would treasure that moment forever. though even memories fade into the oblivion of time. i'll never be able to recapture in my mind how green the trees really were, how refreshing the breeze was, how sweet the wildflowers made the air smell, how clean the mountain water tasted, how beautiful the birds sang, or how amazingly blue the sky was. I truly love this time right now in my life and i feel so greatful for being able to experience it; i hope i never forget.Later that Day:I'm glad i stopped today and wrote in my journal. sometimes it's good to be swept up in the moment. I hiked to the campstore this morning, yep it was closed until tomorrow. i had to be one day early. Drifter, Ed and i ate lunch at the Wayside Grill. it was super expensive. Quincy Girl showed up a few minutes later. Somehow i had to resupply at the resteraunt and gift shop, so i bought a philly cheese steak to pack in for dinner and enough snacks for breakfast and lunch. Quincy Girl and i also hatched a plan to bring some wine up to the shelter. so she bought the wine and i packed it in. I also bought a Garcia Vega for later and a Wildflower candle for Tracy. i got the gift shop to mail the candle for me. my idea was that now she could smell what i get to smell everyday when i hike through patches of wildflowers. The hike after the wayside was actually pretty tough. the trail was easy but i was bookin it to try and make the 12 miles to the shelter before dark. I made it just in time. also here tonight are captain hook, numbskull, hans, colorado dave, quincy girl, brushy and a section hiker; drifter showed up later. it was a nice evening as we all snacked on some country ham quincy girl pack in and we sipped on spring chilled wine as i smoked my cigar. over all a very enjoyable day.