Date: 2006-10-09
From: dennis cove, kincora hostel

To: zero at kincora
Miles today: 0.0

======2003======friday, march 28, day 35(a.m.)we will cook ¢biscuits and the works¢ this morning¢....in fact, i may stay behind here after breakfast to work and cook for supper while killeen goes with the guys for volunteer trail work....we¢ll see....been thinkin¢ this a.m. of the psalm: ¢unto YOU, oh Lord, do i lift my life¢....we ALL need this ¢lifting of our lives¢ out here on the trail....anywhere for that matter....and so, that¢s been my prayer in the quiet of these early mornin¢ hours....that all of us would find the joy of lives lifted to Christ.....i would ask one thing of You, Lord, today....would You allow your Light to shine brightly in us?.......i am reminded of what i read yesterday in your Word as i pored over the story once again of how YOU amazingly and humbly loved your disciples by stooping to wash THEIR dirty feet!...and then You said, ¢they will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another¢.....help us to LOVE like You!(p.m.)well....we DID have biscuits, gravy and all that other good stuff this mornin¢...and everybody loved it!....paw asked the sweetest blessing before we ¢dug in¢...... afterward, bob took the boys on up to slack pack and since i had decided i wanted to help out with trail work, too, i hurried around that first hour to see if i could get most of the supper done ahead of time....then when bob came back after droppin¢ off the guys, he picked us up and off we went to ¢earn our patch¢!*......in the meantime , seiko showed up...(he¢s hiked the trail 14 times!)....he and bob were hilarious* together!....like a couple of crazy fraternity brothers or somethin¢!....their teasin¢ and raggin¢ on each other was relentless!....in all the laughter, however, i imagined the tears if one were to be suddenly found without the other....it seems like a pretty tight friendship....and oh the stories they had to tell!...LIVELY, ANIMATED stories!...what a trip it was meeting these guys and hearing all their tales....it was an experience i wouldn¢t have traded for the world!of course, bob always had plenty to say! (he is our hero!... ¢popeye¢ with a boston accent!)....there is the slightest hint of mischief twinkling in his kind and laughing eyes!....he is very knowledgeable concerning trail matters....and always very, very helpful....God bless him!.....it was a special treat for us to hear all the intriguing stories of bob¢s good friend and famous hiker, earl schaffer.....staying here has been so much fun!....we did trail work for about 4 hours on a beautiful river in the gorge (cutting a short portion of a re-route for the trail..........makin¢ ¢history¢!).....seiko helped, too.....says he¢s gonna ¢quit this stuff someday¢ (i doubt it!)....after bob brought us back to the hostel, i got busy and got our little ¢feast¢ on the table (including strawberry shortcake!).....we were all very full and very happy (shaman asked the blessing for us....though he ¢disappeared¢ when dishwashing time rolled around!).....the other guys all pitched in to help do dishes, however (which was almost as fun as cooking and eating!......almost)....there are no female hikers staying here (except for me)...so i feel kinda like ¢wendy¢ with her ¢lost boys¢! ha ha!.....(i guess i needed to do a little ¢mothering¢ anyway)....the ¢neverlanders¢ were crackin¢ us up after supper by squirting the remaining canned whipped cream down their insatiably-hungry-hiker throats! (is this a dream? ...or am i really back home watching the antics of my grandkids?).....well..... we¢ll say goodbye to kincora early tomorrow mornin¢.....there is rain in the forecast....and cold.....maybe even a little snow on sunday they say....it¢s kinda sad to think of leavin¢ this place with all its strange and wonderful people.....and all the pictures of katahdin on the walls....======2006======saturday, march 18, day 35 (15.9 miles from iron mountain shelter to abington gap shelter).....let¢s see if i can compose the ¢psalm¢ i concocted in my mind as i hiked along today.....¢Our God is good!Come let us celebrate His goodness together....He makes a way for us in the wilderness....He prepares a path through the ice and snow andSteadies our feet on the frozen heights.He stills the howling winds....He parts the clouds of darkness and pours forth sunlight toWarm the wintery mountainsides....He cheers the lagging pilgrim with birdsong andRefreshes the weary traveler with teaberry and mint.He opens the springs to bring forth clear waters....Not one of His children shall ever suffer thirst!All of our steps fall under His watchful care....He goes before and behind to guard His own!Halal-yah!....Celebrate GOD!i was contemplating today why people forget God....deuteronomy speaks of this: we forget because we fail to hear Him (in his word).....we¢ve forgotten because we fail to recall the place from which He¢s brought us ....and we forget when we no longer look to our Creator but have grown ¢fat¢ in our own self-sustained and greedy autonomy....considering these shortcomings, how could we NOT forget?.....in an analogy to the trail, i can totally see why i ¢forget¢......i mean.......out here, it¢s sometimes difficult to recall where we stayed, what we saw, people we talked to, etc......why is that?....i think it¢s more than the simple fact that exhaustion often wreaks havoc on my memory...i think it has more to do with where my truest devotion lies.....in this ¢thru-hiker wilderness¢, i see that i am often no different than the ancient Hebrews who forgot their ¢Pillar of Fire¢ in the sinai wilderness....i sometimes just ¢wander¢, too, failing to receive the ¢communication¢ of the trail.....sometimes i see the ¢hindquarters of Yahweh out here on these mountaintops and i fail to be as alert or aware or mindful as i should be of the words He¢s chiseled all over creation.... i get to my¢ promised land¢, settle in warmly with some dry socks and a relatively full tummy, and immediately, thanklessly, forget the pain or effort it took to get there....the struggles seem far away when you¢re safe in your sleeping bag at the end of a ¢don¢t-know-if-i-can-do-this¢ day......and sometimes, having ¢gotten there¢(i¢m ashamed to admit), i even get a bit smug about ¢MY abilities¢!.....i forget that it was with the help of some good gear, some supportive folks back home AND on the trail, some hard-working maintainers who make sure this incredible footpath actually REMAINS a useable footpath, and a helpful husband who encourages me along the way (and actually lets me drink from HIS water bottle!)......this analogy got me thinkin¢.......so i told the Lord today.....i do NOT want to be guilty of forgetting HIM!....on this hike or ever!.....i can see now that this will require my REMAINING in communication with Him......reading His words to me in the pages of both the old and new testaments.....depending ultimately on Him and not solely on myself or others.....and recalling on a regular basis that He has ¢freed me from slavery in egypt¢.....i must never forget who i was and where He brought me from by His grace.....well...today has been VERY cold!...we could see our breath all day!...it was a beautiful day....clear and bright....with good views from the gently rolling ridges....a new re-route (¢new¢ since ¢03) took us over some open pastureland that was really neat...and we had a nice lunch-break overlooking a farm community in the valley....we were hunkered down on the warmer east side of this little bank on the side of the trail, which helped to block the wind....the sunshine felt soooo good!   but now, thank heaven, here at the abbington shelter, the wind is much calmer.....we are here with some very nice scouts from bristol, tn...they seem unaffected by the cold and are having fun despite pleas from the adults to ¢please put on hats!¢.....one of the couples has a shire¢s tent which they invited us to have a look at....it¢s pretty neat but we think we like our ol¢ ¢jardine home-made¢ better....we¢re settling in now on this nice, cushy grass*...(remembering that it was covered in deep snow here in¢03!).....hope to get an early start tomorrow to head in to damascus...(that¢s right!...VIRGINIA!)....rest!...food!....woo hoo!.....sounds like next week might be a bit of a weather challenge, though......but so far, the Lord has blessed us miraculously in this respect...sometimes sending rain while we slept at night....clearing it away for good hiking the next day.....sometimes stilling the brutal winds....sometimes just providing the extra strength we needed to make it through a drizzle or a chilly day.....i hope i¢m learning to trust Him more....to hear with ears of faith instead of ears of fear.....well, it¢s getting cold......better put in my ¢bun warmers¢ and get ready to dream those crazy hiker dreams!....don¢t think i¢ll have any trouble getting to sleep....even though it¢s still light and there are boy scouts scurrying everywhere!**NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*off we went to ¢earn our patch¢.....bob sees to it that every hiker that participates in any volunteer work with him out there on the trail gets a special tennessee-eastman sew-on patch to commemorate their efforts (as well as all the FUN!)....the time spent with other hikers and bob, however, is the greatest ¢reward¢! *seiko and bob were hilarious.......see photos.....click on journal ¢list¢ above....scroll down to ¢dennis cove, kincora hostel¢....click on that photo (¢don¢t jump, paw-ee¢) and go forward 5 photos (by clicking on ¢next¢)*nice, cushy grass....we always preferred to seek out a spot away from the shelters....soft leaves or grass made for much better sleeping than the hard shelter floors....we were careful not to disturb the existing vegetation if possible and always made sure when breaking camp to return our little ¢imprint¢ to its original state....by ¢fluffing¢ leaves or strewing a few fallen branches around, it prevented others from choosing the same spot too soon (if at all), and thereby reduced hiker impact, minimizing erosion of the woods and compacting of the soil....*boy scouts scurrying everywhere....this really was a VERY nice group....respectful, clean, courteous, and relatively quiet!....that¢s good news for hikers who often zonk out BEFORE it gets dark, and always appreciate other campers who love and respect the beauty and solitude of the woods (and those with whom they¢re shared!)