Date: 2003-05-31
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

¢Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Seven days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.¢ Exodus 20: 5-11.When I first started thinking about thru-hiking I figured I would take Sabbath, or Saturday, off. Hiking is my ¢work¢ while I¢m out here, so why do it on Sabbath? At home I worship and rest from weekly activities on Sabbath; on the trail I will too.And perhaps I have never looked forward to it more! Today will actually be the very first zero day I¢ve taken yet, since the first Sabbath we camped at Bull Gap Campsite and hiked the 1.1 mile aback into Neels Gap; and last Sabbath I hiked nearly four in order to be able to go to church. I have taken other short days in between, but I think both my mind and body need a full day off. And my spirit as well, to have a day to focus on hearing God¢s voice.I slept in later than usual today, not exactly on purpose. It is a damp foggy day, with chance of scattered showers, I understand. I hope it gets sunny at some point; I¢d anticipated lounging in the sun today. Well, I might just be lounging in my sleeping bag in this dungeon-esque structure instead! Either way the rest feels good. I loved waking up knowing I wasn¢t going anywhere today!The other hikers packed up and I saw them off like Mrs. Cleaver, bidding them a good day of hiking. Some I¢ll most likely see again, some most likely not.I will do some reading and studying today, more of this, write some postcards, and just generally lounge.Later¢¦. I alternately read and snoozed until about noon, the chattering of the birds and gusty wind in the background. Then I got up and read for a while in the intermittent sunshine. It was fun to sit there and watch the day-hikers pass through. They¢d be either impressed or concerned at the idea of me thru-hiking¢¦alone.By around four it was getting really chilly. Hal ¢ Big Blue ¢ rolled in (Dad, I camped with another Hal!) and then Anne came soon after, both very nice people, from Maryland. (Dad, another Hal from Maryland!) They shared some food with me ¢ Hal said he had so much he¢d probably be the only one to hike this trail and not lose weight.I¢ve been pleased to notice I have lost weight, primarily in my upper body. My biggest fear though is that I¢ll get real skinny on top and then have enormous gluts and thighs from all the hiking¢¦Anyway, it is feeling good to lose all the stress weight I gained the last few months of school.I¢ve still got to figure out the food thing though. I¢ve been short once, had too much once, and now I may just be short again¢¦. I¢m sure I¢ll get it soon.It is downright cold tonight out there in the wind. Hal said he¢d heard upper 30s. Guess I¢ll be sleeping in my jacket again! Sure glad I didn¢t follow Sarge¢s advice and send home my ¢winter gear.¢ It¢s really relatively warm here in the shelter, 8:30 pm and Anne and Hal and I are writing. A couple from Santa Rosa, CA who flew in from San Francisco last night, took a shuttle from Ashville, and hiked the 13 miles from Fontana Dam today are finishing up dinner.Ah, bedtime.