Date: 2006-01-02
To: Clay's intro
Miles today: 0.0

New Page 1Clay: Yesterday was New Years Day. We have 75 more days untilwe begin our thru-hike attempt on March 18. New Years Day is typified by people,all over the world, making New Years 'resolutions'. That is, on New Years Day,people tend to want to better themselves. People want freedom from theirburdens. People want a new beginning in their life. There are few better placesin the world than Appalachian Trail ("A.T." hereafter) to reflect onone's life, feel a sense of freedom, and hope for new beginnings.Most persons that we have met on the A.T. are going through a major lifechange such as graduation from college or retirement. Because lifechange can be stressful, our friends of the A.T. opt to ease into the new stageof their life via the 'simplicity' of the A.T. instead of jumping immediatelyinto the next facet of their life. Instead of making major decisions about thenext phase of their lives, all the hikers have to do (including us) isessentially follow the white blazes, stay hydrated, ration their food and money,and hike to the next shelter. During the six-month trek, thru-hikers can reflecton themselves and their lives without the distractions of the world. We willcertainly be doing some reflecting as well!Last September, we hiked 170 miles of the Long Trail. It was tough. They should name that trail the "Long and Hard Trail". Aswith here any long distance hiking trek, is a physical, emotional, and even a spiritualquest on the A.T. The physical challenge is obvious. Unfortunately,blisters and muscle soreness will cause nearly 20% of our friends to leave thetrail in the first 30.7 miles at Neel's Gap. Arguably, after this point, theemotional challenges will start. Our Long Trail hike led to a myriad ofemotional states! As we continue North on the trail, the emotional challenge maychange into a spiritual challenge for some hikers. Although it is not alwaysobvious from the start, this spiritual challenge may become one of the primaryquests for some.For example, in his book, Ten Million Steps, M.J. Eberhart echoes thissentiment. He states that, on the trail, there are three aspects to the journey.He calls these the "ThreeWise Men". These include the Physical Journey, the Mental Journey, andthe Spiritual Journey. Eberhart, known as ¢Nimblewill Nomad¢ on the trail,states that the Physical Journey is the easy part. It does not take long to getin shape on the A.T. Instead, the Mental and Spiritual Journeys are difficult.Eberhart states,On the trail, mile after day after month, where these diversions do not exist,eventually all the masks, all the facades, all the little games we play getstripped away and we come face to face with ourselves¢¦. I lugged a pack ofincredible burdens. There were the burdens of anger, bitterness, contempt,despair, envy, fear, greed, hatred, jealousy, resentment and vain pride.There¢s a word for most every letter in the alphabet to describe some formof burden. And I carried them all! But as I journeyed north with the second ofthe Three Wise Men a change began to occur, a very subtle change, but a changenonetheless. For as I struggled along on my Mental Journey, lugging thisincredible load, it became painfully evident to me that I had missed the markon living, truly living, in my near sixty years on this earth¢not a verycomforting revelation! And as I began to unravel all of this it was then I metthe last of the Three Wise Men and it was then that I set forth on mySpiritual Journey.Himself a former thru-hiker, in his dissertation research proposal, Steve Spykerconcurs about the spiritual quest on the A.T. Spyker states, Personally I have to believe that the vast majority of thru hikers aredriven by a deep spiritual desire to explore the inner landscape of their ownsoul as they traverse the landscape of these ancient mountaintops and ridges.The written accounts of thru-hikers certainly seem to support this thesis (seeEmblidge, 1996, for several examples, also Fletcher, 1984, and just about anyissue of Appalachian Trailway News, Rubin, 2001). One need only peruse thetitles of the many books that have been published by thru-hikers chroniclingtheir walks to see the religious and spiritual overtones the authors ascribeto their experience, such as Blind Courage: Journey of Faith by Bill Irwin orOn the Beaten Path: An Appalachian Pilgrimage by Robert Alden Rubin.There are two types of people on the trail. Those who seek and reflect while onthe trail and those who talk about seeking. In the forward of J.I. Packer's bookKnowing God, Packer quotes from John Mackay's Preface to ChristianTheology. He talks about persons sitting on the high front balcony of aSpanish house watching travelers go by on the road below. He says, The 'balconeers' can overhear the travelers' talk, and chat with them; theymay comment critically on the way that the travelers walk; or they may discussquestions about the road, how it can exist at all, or lead anywhere, whatmight be seen from different points along it, and so forth; but they areonlookers, and their problems are theoretical only. The travelers, bycontrast, face problems which, though they have their theoretical angle, areessentially practical --problems of the 'which-way-to-go' and 'how-to-make-it'type, problems which call not only for comprehension, but for decision andaction too. Balconeers and travelers may think over the same area, yet theirproblems differ...It is our hope that we can be hikers and spiritual 'travelers' and we hope thatwe can encourage other 'travelers' during this six-month journey.