Date: 2014-02-23
From: Springer, Here I Come!

To: Hightower, Just Shy of Horse Gap
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The beginning of my hike began in glorious fashion! After a hike to the top of Springer for a view and a couple of photos, I said a tearful goodbye to the folks and began walking. It was such a beautiful day, an absolute celebration of the start of my journey. After turning on some tunes, I couldn't help but to stop here and there to dance my way down the trail. It's a good thing I was only # 91 to begin my through hike because had I been with the hiker bubble with witnesses to see my moves, I may have very well ended up having to change my trail name! The day remained wonderful as I kept a steady pace while still enjoying a nice break by the Long Creek Falls. I made it just over the top of Hightower, before setting up my hammock for the night. After reading myself to sleep with the sun still slipping behind the mountains, I felt sure I was to enjoy a nice night and wake up to an even prettier view. And then 2 AM rolled around and this is what I wrote:Now we are probably all familiar with the phrase "be careful what you wish for." Well let me tell yah, be careful what you ask the Good Lord for too because he will not give you what you're not willing to earn! And even though you'd think I'd already learned my lesson to not pray for things like patience, strength, independence, humility and the like for fear of encountering a situation such as: making the decision to delay going off to college for a semester because the one you originally picked wasn't the one you were meant to attend so instead you work a menial job waiting for a new acceptance letter while watching all your friends go off to start their college careers leaving you wondering if your once-assertive decision to leave the first school was indeed the best choice. You know, those kinds of situations! Well, for some very dumb reason I thought that this little rule of thumb didn't exactly apply when I ventured out onto the trail seeking to build these very same qualities within myself. Surely I could ease into the routine of hiking first and then once I'd mastered that, I could begin work on the character building. It's currently 3 AM, and I just got up to try to re-stake the ends of my tarp because of course my oh-so-wise choice to spend my first night on the trail on the top of a mountain (Past Hightower by about two miles or so) proved to be a very windy lack of judgement. Unfortunately, the wind won this one as my stakes are no where to be found at this dark hour. Instead I looped the ends of the tie outs to sticks and placed several rocks on top of them. This decent enough attempt to quiet the noisy cuben fiber tarp was not, however, enough to keep me from promptly getting back into my hammock and, feeling the tug and rippling of my entire set up, feel certain that a bear had come to see what all the commotion was about. I began yelling "Aye ol' Bear! Aye!," in my deepest and strongest voice possible. Repeatedly. Of course in thinking that a bear friend had stopped by for a visit, I recalled the clumps of matted bear fur/fecal remains containing a shard of bone (no joke) that I'd seen earlier in the day as evidence of Bear's meal a week or so ago. And now I can't help but to be reminded that as we learn life's lessons, it's important to not forget them and to keep applying them to daily life, no matter how perfectly the day seemed to be going. In very few, if any, situations are "all bets off" where the "rules don't apply". The trail is no exception. Don't pray for patience. Or strength, or independence, or humility, unless you're ready to be presented with the situations perfect for cultivating those qualities!