Date: 2006-10-21
From: the village motel

To: knot maul branch shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

======2003======wednesday, april 9, day 47well....i¢m a little down today.....was nervous about getting out into the cold and rain this morning.....but, as has usually been the case, the rain stopped and we were able to walk relatively dry all day....however, it was still cold and gray and remains that way as i sit here with my nose freezing in this shelter....i¢m remembering last week¢s snow.....thinking how that it feels right now for all the world as if it could snow again!(is this really april?).... i know we¢ll manage whatever sort of weather changes come our way ....i¢m grateful for strength that just seems to keep on coming from above....the worst part is usually just the ¢getting going¢......we have met ¢juniper¢ tonight here (a middle aged section hiker, so named because of his fondness for gin which is made from juniper berries)..... ¢pepper¢ is also here (he is named for the peppermint patty manufactured in york where he is from)...my new shoes are giving me a bit of trouble (it could be the lining) and my pack has of course been extra heavy with our resupply.....i¢m also feelin¢ that certain sort of ¢draggy-ness¢ that occurs before my delightful once-a-month ¢woman-hiker challenge¢...but the weather for the day turned out lovely.....yes, lovely!....these hovering clouds really do make for ¢my kind of day¢ actually....i LIKE the gray days, especially in spring and fall when COLOR is the thing to be noticed.....colors, you know, share no space with shadows on a gray day, so everything is more visible....more brilliant!.....even i (with my fading, no longer 20/20 eyesight) can see small things really well on a cloudy day.....like the bright red new shoots of gaultheria emerging from their wintertime beds along the ground....or the deep purple throats of white violets that line the trail....a gray day not only allows you to see details such as these much better, but it also allows you to see ¢inward¢ better, too....sunny days prevent this....for sunny days are so full of their own glory that they steal your ability to look at the often more important details of the heart.....it¢s easier to get distracted on a sunny day....easier to dream of picnics....easier to listen to birdsong or to indulge in soaking up the feel of the sun on your shoulders......but never on a sunny day does one turn toward the melancholy task of looking inward....searching....thinking....analyzing....i guess that¢s why a gray day feels ¢deep¢ to me....and i like going deeper....i like discovering new things about ¢me¢, even if those things are sometimes not so pretty....not so easy to deal with.....i guess i¢ve always been one of those ¢ gaze-out-the-window-kind-of-melancholy¢ sorts of people anyway....my feelings hit me hard and deep sometimes....and foggy days?....well....to me those are sometimes the best days (when there ARE no views) to get a ¢view¢ beyond the fog, beyond my mind and to really ¢see¢ the vast horizons of Jesus!......anyway.....today was a gray day...but the springtime colors were brilliant over the rolling green meadows.....farmhouses loomed their whitest white....barns their reddest red....oak trees were beginning to tassle with a most ¢shocking¢ lime-green.....the creeks were ¢butterscotch-y¢ from the recent rains....dandelions were popping up lemon yellow....rusty blackhaw leaves were emerging rosy red....ahhhh! these COLORS on this wet, gray spring day!.....it was a blessing to have these views and i tried to allow my little bout with the ¢blues¢ to be bolstered by what i saw.....i spent some time today, too, trying to organize my thoughts for a coming shelter register* entry (composition always helps to keep my thoughts going in a positive direction!).....i suppose the entry will go something like this :some will recognize the next few days as ¢Passion Week¢....i think the nomenclature hits the nail right on the head here...i mean...who in their right mind wants a half-hearted, DISpassionate Hero?....i¢m speaking, of course, about the Man Jesus...(you know....the One who hiked the judaen countryside 2000 years ago?).....strange how we¢re still talkin¢ about him....about his claims (most of which were EXTREME ).......among those claims (ALL worth taking a look at), He claimed to be passionately ¢hungry¢ and ¢thirsty¢ to satisfy our longings!....now...i don¢t know about you, but when Someone is that kind of passionate about ¢little-ol-speck-of-dust-in-the-universe-ME¢, my ears kind of perk up!....i wanna know more!.....it makes me tend toward the ¢passionate¢ side of things ¢cause you know why?....i like what i¢m hearin¢!.....so bear with me please as my own passion, my own joy sort of ¢splashes¢ over onto these pages as i celebrate HIS passion over these easter holidays....(i think i like them even better than christmas!)well, i¢m truly tired ....(what else is new?).....and in need of lots of good rest for tomorrow¢s hike.......signing out.....======2006====== thursday, march 30, day 47 (12 miles from big horse gap to the rendezvous motel in pearisburg, va)NO ENTRY*NOTES/ OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS-------*organizing thoughts for shelter registers......this is a pastime that seems to occupy the minds of a number of hikers....the need to communicate part of oneself to others is basic (remember ¢wilson¢, the volleyball, in the tom hanks movie ¢castaway¢?....don¢t smile!....you or i might hold long conversations with a volleyball, too, if we were marooned on a desert island!).....and ....well....long distance hiking can sometimes feel a bit like being ¢marooned¢.....so hikers often share their ¢passions¢(of every sort) in the registers (better than talking to your backpack!).....in ¢03, another section hiker accused me of ¢proselytizing¢....if she meant sharing my passion about an extraordinary Person who has brought me Life, then i am guilty....but since the word ¢proselyte¢ means to ¢recruit members¢, i will have to plead innocent....(i know amway salesmen who would be judged more guilty!).....i will share more about this incident in a future post.....