Date: 2004-04-30
From: Elmer's Sunnybank Inn - Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

After nearly getting sucked into a zero day at Elmer's, I got hoofing on the trail at 11:00. It rained overnight, some this morning, and I kept vascillating between going or not going. Finally, I saw the sun peek through. I tested the air temperature (pretty warm) and decided to make my move. And I'm ever so glad I did. It seems I keep having "my best day ever". Why it is I'm so filled with trepidation when I leave a town stop I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because I'm leaving the security of shelter, supplies, people, telephone, and not truly convinced of my hiking and camping skills yet. Very few ventured out of Hot Springs today. I believe there was a grand birthday party for T in the cabins last evening. That might have something to do with it. In addition, there is a mineral hot water spa calling out to all. I'd have gotten caught up in one of Elmer's many books in his extensive library if I'd lingered much longer. Then I'd be there for a couple more days also.Today was a day of solitude and contemplation. Traveling alone, leaving the gang behind, I wasn't pressuring myself to hike someone else's tempo. I've determined my favorite hiking path is the one which skirts around a mountain. Looking one direction I gaze up at a never-ending hillside of green forest floor and tall trees stretching for the sun. Turning the other direction is a valley as far as I can see, filled with the fresh growth of spring. The deciduous canopy is filling out giving a continuous flow of greens of every hue. I could walk forever in this environment; 95% of today was just like that! Many thoughts in many flavors today. #1) peppermint: In 1998 I traveled I-40 to my daughter's high school graduation in Winston-Salem, NC. Two days ago I passed under I-40 via the Appalachian Trail. Little did I know then that I had crossed over the very path I'd be hiking in a few years! The AT continues from that point up some rock steps. To the right of the steps is a huge plot of poison ivy. April Showers was telling me last night there will be many more patches of the stuff. Made me ponder...#2) when I've stepped off the path for a pee-break ~ never thought to check the foliage around. "When stepping to pee, if you see leaves of three, just leave them be, go elsewhere to pee." That was licorice .. sorry folks!#3) Friends and fellow hikers talk about a thru-hike as being a life-long dream of mine or theirs. But for me it's never really been a dream. Sometimes things simply happen in my life, perhaps because I put out the intent. Usually I forget about it until I look backwards and see the intent having come to fruition. For instance: I was 11 when my parents visited my cousin in the Mayo Clinic. They made a stop at Silver Lake and took pictures of all the Canadian geese. Dad used to call us outdoors on the farm in Iowa when he'd hear and see the geese way way up in the sky migrating south or north. So seeing pictures of these geese so tame and so close made a huge impression on me. I remember thinking "some day I'm going to go to Rochester, MN and see them for myself." Once again - little did I know I'd be spending the majority of my life in that lovely city. Ah ~ banana cream! A second 'for instance': upon my acceptance into conservatory in Chicago, the school sent me a copy of the program of that year's honor or commencement concert. It included concerto/aria performances of the top students in the school. I recall thinking very naievely and flippantly "some day my name is going to be on this program." And it was. hmm - sweet honey. And now the AT.Out of the clear blue someone sent me an article about the AT. I had done no backpacking ever but upon reading that I simply said "I've found something I want to do when the kids are grown." Over the last 7-8 years I've read, studied and drooled over pictures of the AT. In particular, I've seen pix of AT hikers on an overpass of a main highway/freeway waving at the traffic traveling below. Today I crossed over Hwy 25 - no traffic, no problem; I certainly wasn't going to stand there and wait just to get a wave. But halfway across a pickup passed underneath. His/her arm came out of the window and waved. Naturally I gave an enthusiastic MN Nice wave in return. And then it hit me: I'm that AT hiker! I'm actually here traversing 2174.1 miles; I'm that individual in those pictures. This hasn't been a life-long dream, not a multi-year plan ~ simply an intent set 7-8 years ago. And today it's my reality. Oooh - double fudge mint chocolate!That thought and reminiscent thoughts of the love and support, generosity and prayers bestowed upon me prior to and during this adventure kept my eyes misty for a good while. Every day I'm realizing something new; every day I'm feeling more and more in tune with the routine, the physical exertion, nature; every day I'm trusting God more; every day I'm counting my blessings and loving life. Of all the opportunities in this world, this one fits me like a glove. As my dear friend says (paraphrased) "Life is a banquet and too many people are starving to death!" Not me, folks, not me!!