Date: 2016-08-15
To: Reminders from the AT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I¢m sure most of you will think this is odd, but as a 54 year old male, I wish on stars. I¢ve actually done it for a long time. Most of the things I¢ve wished for have come true. I¢ve wished to be in the right place at the right time during deer season, I¢ve wished for safe passage for my kids when they were going far away, especially driving, I always wish for good health, and for the past year, I¢ve wished to successfully hike the Appalachian Trail in 2016. This required a lot of wishing, many nights in a row, and lots of hope for clear weather so I could continue to see the stars. Of course, the North Star is my favorite star to wish on. That was true long before I came up with a plan to hike the AT. You should try this some time. I¢ll be the first to tell you it works! My kids are safe, I am healthy, I did bag a big buck the year I wished for it, and you know the outcome of my thru hike. Lately, with my first star of the evening I have kept it simple¢¦ ¢I wish to thank you¢. I have thanked my lucky stars since I summited Katahdin, every night I see them, and other times too. Will, my nephew, asked me to share some inspirational thoughts from the trail at a recent family reunion I attended. It would be easy to say, make a wish on a star every night and they will come true but I have learned that it is not that simple. A wish may help you dream big and big dreams are the things that adventure are made of. So I¢m here to say first and foremost, dream big! One of my sayings on the trail was ¢Not bad for an old guy!¢ One morning in Pennsylvania, A 20 something year old named King Arthur left camp before me. I was on my own at the time so I took care of business and set out on the days hike. An hour or so later, I came upon him sitting on a log taking a break. ¢Dude¢, he said, ¢Nobody ever catches me or passes me¢(he was a very fast hiker), ¢Not bad for an old guy!¢. Boy, did he make me feel good! It was a little victory and I internalized it. Since I¢ve been home, countless people have asked me about my hike. What I notice is that most of the people my age tell me that they could never do that. The reasons are easy, job, family commitment, too hard. Most of those are real reasons and I get all of them. However, if you let the framework of society box you in, if you create limitations in your own mind, the wish for the big dream adventure will never come true no matter how many stars you wish on. Even an old guy can roll with the kids, keep up, excel, and achieve a lifelong dream.Next inspiration, sometimes things just suck. On the trail that manifests itself as being wet for days in a row, being cold, hungry, tired, with no respite in sight. It is easy to ask yourself questions like ¢Am I stupid?¢ I could be sitting at home watching the Red Sox on TV. ¢Why the hell am I doing this?¢ Everyone thinks I¢m crazy. They have to be right. For all the people that told me that a bad day of hiking is still better than a good day at work, I invite you to hike in the rain all day when the temperature is in the 40s, everything you own is wet, and the best you have to look forward to is a three sided structure that won¢t keep the wet fog or cold out overnight. Sometimes the old office chair can look pretty good! The point is, you have to live through the bad in order to appreciate the good. A sunny warm day on the heels of a long stretch of wet reminds you that things do get better. They always get better. Your tent will dry, you will be warm, and you will get another chance to eat a real meal. Being wet is pretty low stakes. For those who are dealing with more serious issues, the point is, things will always get better, they have to. On the trail in Massachusetts last summer, I stayed at a place called Upper Goose Pond. They had a large cabin with bunks that people could stay in for free. They also offered free coffee and pancakes in the morning. There was pond that was clutch on the very hot day that I was there (I always hate going to bed sticky). When I woke up that morning, I looked across to the young woman in the bunk next to me who was sleeping soundly. Her water bottle was on the floor next to her and there was a small sticker on it facing me that simply said ¢It will be OK¢. As you all know, this became my mantra, and it¢s true.Maine became my favorite state on the hike. After years, decades really, of touting New Hampshire as the best state, the trail through Maine showed me there was much more to see and experience. It has the rugged mountains, the incredible forests, and adds the element of water. Once you¢re north of the Bigelow range, there are lakes, streams, and ponds everywhere. It is beautiful. Perhaps because the end was nearing, I became very sensitized to the beauty that surrounded me. You could see it in vast sweeping views, and in tiny little aspects of ground cover. The first majestic view of Katahdin from Whitecap Mountain, lily pads rising above the surface of the water during an easy rain shower, the bubbles formed by the raindrops adding a dazzle to the scene, or a little red eft making its way slowly across the trail, its bright orange color in stark contrast to the green ferns that surrounded it. Beauty is everywhere if you take a minute to look for it. It is so easy to become consumed by the everydayness of everyday. One thing I have noticed is that I have a lot more stuff in my head since I have returned. It gets in the way of just experiencing what is happening around me. I am finding it annoying and distracting. Remember to take time to enjoy what is around you. A simple point that is often forgotten in daily routine.And on that note, I cannot forget the people. There were people everywhere that were willing to help me out, that took time from their day to do a favor for me. I met a man in Virginia while staying at a really dumpy hotel near the James River. He had just completed a cross country road trip and was waiting to move into a rental place in a nearby town. His take on the trip was that it was his life¢s last hurrah before he became infirm, ill, and his life ended. He was only like 60 years old and this attitude shocked me. He was very generous with his time, bringing me to a grocery to resupply and waiting while I shopped, shuttling Grandma and I to trailheads so we could slackpack a day, and driving us to breakfast and dinner where we shared meals. He was lonely and depressed, seemingly estranged from his family. The morning we parted ways, we thanked each other. We thanked him for his generosity with his time and for helping us out. He thanked us for spending our time with him. He told us that we had given him a fresh perspective on his life, that he had been contemplating suicide and that we had inspired some measure of hope in him. I was again shocked that just being open and friendly to someone could have such an impact. I have never really been one to ask for help of others. That man taught me that in receiving you may well also be giving in ways that just aren¢t obvious. Be open to the possibility of others, of new relationships. This becomes harder as you grow older. Fight hard, stay young at heart!While I am old enough to realize that the stars aren¢t granting me wishes, I¢m young enough to believe that maybe they could. The power is in the people, the beauty, the challenges, and the dreams. The trail gave this all back to me in middle age. While I finally accepted that I am no longer in my 20s, I learned that I can still hang with the kids, I can keep up, that they respect me as an equal and think I¢m cool. I was reminded that I am strong, and that with determination, perseverance, big dreams, and a little luck, anything is possible. Find your trail, your inspiration, your dream, and jump right in. Live life with no regret and remember, it¢s not too late, and it will be OK!