Date: 2012-12-18
From: Whitney Gap Shelter 

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: clear sky

(In which I resupply in Neel Gap and talk about my favorite trail superlatives) -Currently sitting at a picnic table in front of the shelter just before dark-The penultimate day.This morning I got a late start but moved quickly and made it to Neel Gap at almost exactly 9 am. Dante walked into the store about two mintes later and the woman at the counter took our picture for the online southbounder check-in. We took our time resupplying and eating and didn't get started hiking until about 10:40. By that time though, the sky had cleared and the sun was shining. I hiked fast and happy today and smiled at the many day hikers. I was dry, the sky was a brilliant blue, and I could feel Springer Mountain creeping closer with every step. Tomorrow it ends.In order to keep tomorrow's entry short and sweet, I want to write about trail superlatives today. Keep in mind these are just my take on the trail... your mileage may vary. Most valuable thing to be found on the trail: Time to think. And not the kind of time you have while drinking a cup of coffee in the morning. Out here you have an incredible amount of time free from thoughts about deadlines, weekend plans, familial commitments and next month's big presentation. I didn't realize how busy my brain was in the last few years until all I had to do was worry about how much food I needed to carry and how far I was going to walk that day. It took a week or two, but somewhere in Maine I realized that for the first time in a long time I was thinking freely about what I want to do in life, not just what I need to do this week. I wish I could articulate better how useful this is, but all I can say is that it gave me time to think about where I want to go in the next few years. How do you put a value on that?Most valuable skill acquired: Besides being able to hike for an almost endless period of time, there is one life skill that I've improved on out here. It's comfort interacting with complete strangers. On the trail you depend on strangers every day. Hostel owners, other hikers, the person who stopped to give you a ride, the day hiker who's curious about the stinky guy with a long beard. Over the last few months I've found myself increasingly comfortable striking up conversations with waiters and waitresses, random day hikers, the fella standing outside a bar in town and the woman behind the register in the Dollar General. It seems almost a shame that people off the trail spend so much time in crowded places and rarely interact with one another. On the trail, if you happen to pass within 50 feet from someone else you're almost obligated to say hi and maybe asked how their hike is. We live in a big world, but depending on strangers every day makes you realize that our big world is still just another community of people.Favorite trail sentiment: I've heard from many hikers (and read this in a number of registers), that when you hike the Appalachian Trail, you live a lifetime. What they mean is that many life lessons can be, and often are, learned out here. I'll leave you with my favorite lesson: no matter how hard you might try, you can't get through this trail, or this life, by yourself. You may choose to hike this trail on your own, but you can't hike this trail by yourself. I have every friend and family member who ever sent me a package or said anything encouraging to thank. I have everyone who has ever created or maintained a section of this trail to thank. I have every construction worker who paved a piece of the roads I often walked on to thank. I have the tax payer who paid those workers to thank. I hiked most of this trail alone, but I didn't hike it by myself. The notion of the self-made man or self-made woman is one perpertuated by the selfish, or at a bare minimum, the less-than-thoughtful. Whatever success you might achieve in life, it is due in some small part to the social contract that we're all born into - like it or not. I'm proud that I hiked this trail, and I'm thankful to those who helped make it possible. Keep on keepin' on and remember, we're all in this together.Today's post was brought to you by time to think, because I've had a lot of time to think about what I'd say about the importance of time...