Date: 2015-03-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

From early this month -The day was gloomy and cold with 8-10 inches never-ending snow. I had been faithfully hiking most days to train for the AT, but it was so cold outside and so warm inside¢¦ I thought that skipping one day wouldn¢t hurt. I checked Facebook and some woman in my AT Women¢s Group had posted: ¢Ladies - If you aren¢t hiking in the snow and cold, you probably aren¢t ready to hike the AT.¢ That really pissed me off. My departure for the AT was only two months away, and I needed to prove that I was ready. OK, even if I¢m not yet. Wait. To whom am I proving anything? It¢s MY hike!Full of resentment at being bullied into hiking, I drove to the trailhead. When I hit the trail, I could see someone¢s footprints from yesterday, but there had been a new dusting of snow that had softened them. The footsteps were large and spaced with a long stride. I had to make several new footsteps, but I tried to stretch my stride to use as many of their footsteps as I possibly could. I soon realized that I was tiring too soon because I was stretching my legs so much. It seemed like I had gone two miles when MapMyHike announced that I had just gone ONE mile. As the wind bit my exposed face parts, I decided to just slow down and walk my normal stride. I could tell that the temperature was dropping and the sky was getting darker, and it started to spit snow a little. Have you noticed how trails look totally different when they are covered with snow? It¢s beautiful, but it looks like a different place. (Famous last words.)There is a part of the trail that goes through a little grove of close pine trees and the trail winds through the roots. I know that it is about two miles from the start of the trail. After that, the trail winds back and forth through the ridges and valleys before it connects with another trail. I knew the next trail shouldn¢t be far and it became my next mental goal. The snow was coming harder and I noticed that my coat was getting wet. Rut roh. The trail started down into one of many valleys. I just concentrated on following the footsteps of the previous hikers and rarely looked up. They had done the hard part of finding the trail in the snow. In an area where the trail weaves back and forth with a fire access road, I noticed that there were fresh footprints with sharp details that had been made that day. It made me feel good that someone had been out on the trail the same day and I wasn¢t alone in the woods. Several times I thought, ¢That next trail is just around the corner¢ only to find that maybe it was the NEXT corner. I started through a small grove of pine trees when my brain froze. Wait. I thought I was already here! No, it must have been a memory from a previous hike. My mind was getting foggy. I kept walking but had an uneasy feeling. All of a sudden I found myself looking at the tread imprint of the footsteps I was following. I stopped and made an imprint from my shoe right next to it. Identical. Crap! I had somehow gotten off trail and circled around and had started following my own footsteps! I was cold! I was tired! It was snowing and I was getting wet! Help, God!Needless to say, I made it back home, but it was a valuable learning experience, and God gave me plenty to think about. In our Christian walk, we have every intention of following the right path - the path that leads us home to Jesus. But the path isn¢t easy. There are paths that intersect with our path and make it confusing as to which way to go. There are snowstorms in life that make it really hard to see the pathway. There are obstructions that slow us down and make us want to look for a detour. And with all these problems, sometimes it¢s just easier to follow someone else¢s footsteps rather than do the hard work of making sure we stay on the right path. Sometimes blindly following others just sends us in aimless circles.Based on my experience, I need to stop everyday (hiking or not-hiking days), say ¢Help, God!¢, focus on Him, and let Him lead. He will guide me on the long path to my heavenly home.