Date: 2006-09-28
From: deerpark mountain shelter

To: campsite prior to tanyard gap
Miles today: 8.1

======2003====== tuesday, march 18, day 25(a.m.)lying here at 6:30 ¢¦¢¦trying to write without my glasses¢¦.listening to soft snoring¢¦.studying the names written across the ceiling¢¦.names are so important to folks¢¦..trail names are sometimes difficult to settle on¢¦¢¦regular names so often difficult to remember (for me)¢¦.but people want to be remembered¢¦.want to leave their ¢mark¢¢¦..hmmmmm¢¦.¢logos¢¢¦..the Name¢¦..knowing¢¦.naming¢¦.killeen is sleeping so soundly¢¦there¢s such a good feeling here¢¦.the ¢warmth¢ last night was more than a good fire¢¦.these guys are Believers¢¦.they gathered round their supper last night, doffed their hats and thanked the Lord in unison¢¦..manly voices¢¦.strong voices¢¦humbled before ramen noodles and the Lord¢¦. in thinking back and comparing to another time where loud, arrogant voices cackled out obscenities amid cigarette smoke, and camaraderie diminished to enmity as young hikers tested their ¢ideals¢, i am so grateful to be here ¢¦..the genuine smiles, hospitality, generosity, self-less sacrifice (in the offering of the shelter space), kindness, wholesome talk, goodness¢¦.ahhhh! what a difference the presence of the Creator makes in the creature¢s life!..........we¢re on to hot springs here in just a little while to get our package¢¦.hope it¢s there¢¦.(later, on the ridge above hot springs)¢¦.the mountains are soft this morning¢¦¢¦washes of chalky purple and pale rucksack-green flow down to puddles of chartreuse in the valley¢¦..all is scrubbed fresh from the rain¢¦.the clean, white houses and outbuildings below look out on the gray, french broad through shining, coal-black, amazed and lid-less eyes¢¦.they flaunt their blue and red and tin foil roofs in the growing sunlight like flags at a carnival¢¦..i see a steeple¢¦.killeen recognizes the pink, yellow and white smudges in the landscape as various blooming shrubs and trees heralding spring!....all this we view as angels might, i think, who have flown from the bedsides of sleeping children up to these hills where we walk¢¦..our eyes just can¢t seem to let go the charming spectacle of this quaint little mountain town!....i think we are tempted to watch the day away as those sleeping children rise to board the waiting yellow school busses¢¦.or mount the glimmering slide on the playground¢¦.or return home to wrestle the dog we now hear barking in the holler¢¦.we hurry down the mountain¢¦..a hamburger is calling my name (even though we¢ve just had breakfast!)¢¦..we pick up our maildrop and now here we sit on ¢main street¢¢¦.we are ¢painted in¢ briefly, kindred elements of a picture we have only previously viewed through scant openings in the maple boughs ( flourishing fuzzy, red, calico blossoms across all these ridges!)¢¦.hot springs feels like ¢home¢¢¦..(p.m)our maildrop arrived just fine (only we had too much and had to send some of it back!)¢¦.i was disgusted with myself because i unbelievably FORGOT to thank carli when i talked to her on the phone for her good work in getting our package to us!...AND i also forgot to call mom and dad!...what is happening to my mind?....(it was that darn hamburger!)¢¦.guess that¢s about all i could think of today!(and hurriedly getting¢ our drop)¢¦..but we weren¢t disappointed¢¦.we ate at the smoky mtn. diner!......old guys in overalls and suspenders¢¦.everybody laughing, visiting¢¦..hand-painted scenes on the restroom doors(seemed to be a vista of the french broad river, only with something in the background that resembled new mexico buttes!)¢¦.there was also a collection of clocks on one wall¢¦..and non-matching caf© curtains on the windows¢¦..a renoir print graced another wall¢¦¢¦anyway, we ordered the hamburger steak sandwich (they were out of texas toast and put it on a big ol¢ hoagie bun!)¢¦..it was the best hamburger i¢ve had in a long, long time!....but the feast didn¢t stop there! we had homemade peach cobbler and icecream for dessert!...we literally waddled our way back out to the trail!...a guy who hiked the trail in ¢73, (a fun, chipper fellow we met at the outfitter¢s), came into the restaurant while we were chowing down and teased, ¢eating AGAIN?¢¢¦(he had previously teased us about our lovely ¢fragrance¢ down at the outfitter¢s¢¦.it was all in fun¢¦said he knew ALL about ¢hiker smell¢)¢¦.i lamented to him that we were still pretty self-conscious about this new ¢aura¢ we exuded everywhere we went now¢¦.he said, ¢don¢t worry about it!¢¢¦(HE at least seemed happy enough to be standing within three feet of us!)another couple on the way out of the caf© asked us about thru-hiking, so that was kinda fun chatting with them a bit about our journey so far¢¦.the outfitters here is great, by the way¢¦.SOOOOO much better than the one in gatlinburg!....friendlier¢¦.better equipped to serve the hiker¢¦.our hike out of town was beautiful along the river, as the bank was totally covered in bloodroot and toothwort!...it really felt like spring!....but the hike up the trail, though incredibly breathtaking with views of the river and the town of hot springs, was a little scary, too!...it became gravelly and narrow¢¦steep and difficult with our heavy re-supply on our backs!....kept thinkin¢, ¢just don¢t look down!¢ (at least not without coming to a complete stop first!)¢¦..we also saw our first serviceberry blooming there on that steep slope¢¦..we did only about 5 more miles today and have stopped here at this unusual campsite¢¦.there is a dam and a pond nestled down in the holler below us and some grassy, bald-like fields off to the east¢¦ mtns. slumber in the distance and this pine-y tenting area up here above the pond ( that I MYSELF found, thank you very much!), completes the restful ambiance we need to settle us back into the woods again¢¦. charlie has been busy filtering water from the spring down below¢¦. there are daffodils blooming around the pond and the spring peepers have begun to serenade us¢¦. it feels as if it may rain* (what else is new?)¢¦what¢s been in this ol¢ head of mine today?....LUST!....oh, i¢m not talkin¢ about ¢sex lust¢ or even ¢adventure lust¢¢¦..i¢m talkin¢ about ¢white bread lust¢!....yeah!...and all the other silly things you think you¢ll die if you don¢t get out here!....i¢m tellin¢ you!...you can get a little crazy!....the trail can bring out the best AND the worst in a little ol¢ grand ma¢s brain!......can¢t remember if i mentioned, for instance, my insane ¢jealousy¢ one rainy evening when i heard an airplane overhead and got to thinkin¢ about all those warm, dry, well-fed people relaxing up there in the sky! CRAZY, huh!..... other delirious and irrational thoughts continued to plague my unsuspecting mind¢¦.like, when for a split second i actually considered wrestling a ridge-runner to the ground just to get a little BITE of his very vulnerable white-bread-and-baloney sandwich!....it¢s NUTS!....oh well¢¦.such is trail life and the lust thereof¢¦..i was also thinking again about our very pleasant stay at the shelter last night and the Christian men who were such wonderful ¢hosts¢ to us (deferring to US, can you imagine, because we were thru-hikers!)¢¦it was a blessing to us just to see them gather in prayer before their meal, and to enjoy their wholesome stories and sincere comraderie¢¦..one of the dad¢s was named ¢boone logan¢ (sounds like a trail name or the hero in a faulkner novel!) and they lived in lexington¢¦.we really should write and thank them when we get home, for the ¢gift¢ of cheer we experienced coming down that hard, rainy, cold trail, (exhausted and irritable and forcing a song through chattering teeth) and then looking up across the gully to see the warm, inviting glow of their campfire!....these guys made all the difference!....mr. logan talked about the writings of ¢jesse stuart¢*¢¦.said we might want to look him up as he thought we really enjoy him¢¦.i will try to remember to do this¢¦. annnnd¢¦. for some reason today, i got to thinking about the last person that will ever be born¢¦.i don¢t know why i¢m thinkin¢ of this and don¢t know HOW to think about it¢¦¢¦.is there to be a ¢last¢ person? (or will a change in the way we measure/understand time necessarily alter the way we understand the terms ¢first¢ and ¢last¢?)¢¦.if there will exist a ¢last¢ person, will this human be male?...female?....created?...biologically born?....twins?(one of each?)¢¦will there ever be a ¢time¢ when human propagation ceases?...i¢m not even sure how important this question really is or why it popped into my head¢¦.i¢m not sure i even want to ever re-visit it seriously¢¦.should i ?....hmmmmmm¢¦i was also meditating a bit on my reading from the gospel of john this a.m¢¦..Jesus said He was the ¢Door¢ to the ¢sheepfold¢ (AND the ¢Shepherd¢)¢¦..He said He would walk BEFORE the sheep and they would follow Him and hear His voice¢¦¢¦.i know the Lord is walking this walk with us, before us¢¦.i pray we¢ll be more attune to his voice and have ears open to His instruction¢¦..ran into pilgrim and sugarhigh, doc and virginia creeper in hot springs¢¦.God bless them in their¢hikes¢¢¦..may we all experience ¢favor¢¢¦.with each other and with You¢¦======2006====== wednesday, march8, day 25 (18.5 miles from the spring 1.7(?) down from camp creek bald to hogback ridge shelter)it¢s mom and dad¢s anniversary today¢¦.i pray they¢ll have a good one¢¦..i think the mountain we stayed on last night was called camp creek bald¢¦.we stayed down about 3* miles, i think, from the fire tower trail at the top¢¦.really the last stop (with a VERY tasty spring!) before climbing up again to ¢white rock cliffs¢¢¦our morning hours today were MAGNIFICENT!....there was a beautiful sunrise and then we headed up to the exposed ridgeline above ¢blackstack cliffs¢ WOW!...we could see everywhere! ¢¦¢¦and the botany was to die for!..there was lots and lots of ¢turkey beard¢ nestled in the rocks among the other treasures like : rockcap fern, galax, arbutus and gaultheria¢¦¢¦there was plenty of ¢bouldering¢, but it was fun, not scary¢¦¢¦¢big butt¢ is still as pretty as we remembered it, but a little overgrown¢¦..the beauty of prayer accompanied the many natural beauties and as always it was a delight to ¢meet¢ my Creator on the mountaintops¢¦¢¦¢¦my prayers were mostly directed toward my sweet ¢silk road¢ friends, ¢the psalters¢* and also (since it was wednesday), carli and michael¢s small group that meets¢¦.the ret of the day was spent in mostly ¢easy¢ hiking until evening¢¦.we didn¢t really intend to come this far, but couldn¢t find water for camp after ¢frozen knob¢¢¦.so here we are at this shelter (hogback ridge, i think¢¦.it¢s a good shelter¢¦we like it here)¢¦tomorrow is ¢big bald¢(woo hoo!) where the Lord surprised and blessed and ¢scared¢ us a little, too, in ¢03 ¢¦.i¢m prayin¢ for good weather again¢¦dealin¢ with the ¢woman thang¢ beginning again today (but i¢m dealin¢ with it)¢¦killeen has been so very sweet and understanding¢¦.i¢m enjoying hikin¢ a ¢longie¢ with him again and i really look forward to our spring and summer together!...*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS------*rain¢¦¢¦it was amazing to us how being ¢out in the elements¢ daily gave our sense a new awakening to changes in weather¢¦we actually became rather ¢expert¢ at predicting the climatological ¢blessings¢ which so influenced our hike¢¦*jesse stuart¢¦. appalachian author/educator and poet laureate from greenup, kentucky (where there is now a nature preserve in his name)¢¦¢¦a quote i like from stuart goes like this : ¢write something to suit yourself and many people will like it¢¦.write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it!¢ *3 miles from the fire tower trail¢¦.it¢s really more like 2miles¢¦.past where it levels out at an old roadbed, but just before you begin to ascend again to ¢white rock cliffs¢¢¦if you make it to white rock cliffs you¢ve gone too far¢¦the spring really did seem delicious here¢¦.don¢t know how it is in drier weather¢¦.this small campsite is barely recognizable as a camp, but that¢s good as it obviously is not overused ¢¦we had a very good rest there and then were able to enjoy the slightly strenuous bouldering of blackstack cliffs the next morning when we were fresh¢¦*the psalters¢¦..hmmmmm¢¦.the best way to get an understanding of this wild and wonderful nomadic group of musicians (who travel around in a signature, black, ¢greasel¢ bus), is to ¢visit¢ them at psalters.com¢¦(hello, my lovely, dirty gypsies!)¢¦