Date: 2013-05-12
From: Little Laurel Shelter 

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up early this morning after spending the night in the chilly, hard, shelter. I picked up the zip lock bag containing my bathroom articles, put on my crocs, and started down the muddy trail to the smelly privy. After attending to business, I washed my hands and then brushed my teeth with baking soda. Then I started back up the muddy slope. I stopped halfway up to look around. The woods were a marvelous shade of green in the early morning light, and alive with birdsong. The view of the horizon was breathtaking--layers upon layers of mountains in varying shades of blue, indigo, and purple, with the sun coming up behind them all in a brilliant display of pink and orange. There were no roads or cars to be seen, no electric lights, no power lines. No people, except for the congenial group of hikers just beginning to stir up at the shelter. And I knew that in that moment, I was the luckiest girl in the world.THAT'S thru-hiking. It's not always (or even not usually) comfortable or pleasant. But it is magnificent. Many people that I know were rushing through a hurried morning routine so they wouldn't be late to a job they despise. But I was surrounded by God's glory, and at peace.The rest of the day, though long and hard, was interesting. The terrain was varied, and that always helps keep things interesting. There was a grassy bald called Bald Ridge, a rock scramble that required some climbing, and a mountain called Big Butt Mountain! But we (Nightingale and myself) finally made our way to this little shelter.A big milestone today--300 miles! I can't believe I have walked that far, it just doesn't seem real. Numbers don't seem to reflect the actual journey. But it's still just cool!Oh, I wanted to tell you about the people at last night's shelter, Little Laurel. I tried to make a fire and failed, because everything is so wet. There is no dry wood to be found. A nice fellow there, No Rush, had also tried, to the same result. Then a group of 6 Boy Scout leaders came in, they are section hiking. We bemoaned the lack of fire on this chilly night, and one of them, George, got to work. His trail name should be fireman. His Boy Scout skills were amazing. He took his big old knife and started shaving the wet wood off, leaving the dry middles of the pieces he had. When he had a pile, he started the fire, and very patiently kept adding more and more twigs to the smoky baby fire. He stayed with it, and soon had a very hot, very roaring fire, all made from wet wood. It was warm and so lovely. The entire group of guys were smart, funny, and made great shelter mates. I am so glad that men of this caliber give of their time to young boys. What great role models!Another interesting character at the shelter last night was Ringmaster. An older hiker, with all ultralight, homemade gear, and he did magic tricks for us! I tried hard to keep my eyes on the tricky parts and not get distracted by the sleight of hand, but I couldn't see the trick. He was good.And finally, we got to this little shelter in a lovely area, and I found I surprisingly had some cell service. I turned my phone on, and when it found its satellite, it printed the first line of every text message I had received on the top of the screen, one at a time. Over and over, it said "Happy Mother's Day", one from each of my three daughters! It made me cry, to be so far away, in such a sometimes brutal environment, and get messages of love from those who mean the most to me. To know they thought of me. My needs are simple, basic, and vital, here on the trail--food, water, shelter. Those messages seemed to come from a whole different world, and to know I was loved and thought about--well, it meant the world to me.Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there, and especially to my own, and happy 90th birthday to her also!