Date: 2006-09-24
From: tri-corner knob shelter

To: state line branch
Miles today: 17.0

======2003====== friday, march 14, day 21left the smokies today¢¦.what a glorious week!.....couldn¢t ask for better weather!....and stayin¢ in the shelters has been just fine!...no mice¢¦ no bears¢¦ what was i so afraid of?!.....i¢ll always carry the views with me in my heart ¢¦.like this mornin¢!...such a beautiful RED sunrise!...and as we walked along, the morning glow settled onto peaks and ridges washing them in tones as rusty red as the roof of an old appalachian woodshed!....other hollows and ridges cooled down to hues of barnwood grays and blues and even purple!....a few of the peaks came poking up through the clouds¢¦..at one point it reminded me of the first time i was ever carried over the tops of the clouds in an airplane¢¦..there were billows of clouds there beneath us on the mountain!...a ¢floor¢ of sky!.....i LOVE this feelin¢ of bein¢ up so high!.....we were a little sad leavin¢ the firs, but we¢re on to a new section and new sights*¢¦..also, we¢re kind of excited about having no one to rendezvous with, so we can ¢make our own schedule¢¢¦.we don¢t want to be too lazy, though, and get too far behind¢¦.we saw our first spring wildflowers today!....arbutus and hepatica! YEA for spring!...but there¢s rain here tonight¢¦we¢re trying to decide what to do about a ¢town day¢¢¦.we¢ll be meeting tim¢¦.washing clothes¢¦.etc¢¦..but it¢s only 2 12 days to hot springs, so we could do a zero day there¢¦.i think i¢ll be ready¢¦.this is a nice campsite where we¢ve landed tonight¢¦..it¢s an old homestead by a little stream¢¦.it¢s just the two of us again and it feels great to be camping under our good ol¢ tarp in the woods!.....we left the shelter this morning at 20 til 6 (with chris and megan¢¦.we didn¢t see them again, however¢¦they were headed back to maine for some snow skiing)¢¦we hiked over lots of ice the first part of the day¢¦(again, happy for yak trax!)¢¦..hoping we can get killeen¢s ¢digestive problems¢* worked out¢¦he¢s havin¢ a hard time with food during the day¢¦¢¦======2006======saturday, march 4, day 21 (standing bear to brown gap 11 miles)we had the MOST lovely rest at standing bear!....we got all refreshed, clean, etc¢¦.and then timothy drove over , picked us up and took us over to cracker barrel for a wonderful visit and a BIG breakfast!......but we didn¢t get back on the trail till noon, so we had short mileage today¢¦..we are at brown¢s gap (for the second time in our lives)..tenting up the hill from where we camped in ¢03¢¦.a little bit better spot, i think, on an old roadbed¢¦..killeen has started chilling a little (but it¢s not that cold here so i hope he¢s not getting¢ sick)¢¦tomorrow is ¢first sunday¢*¢¦..so paw and i will try to do our usual ¢Communion¢ (though we gotta get in some big miles as well)¢¦..i was thinkin¢ today (in preparation for sharing this important rite with my husband) about my own¢¦well¢¦.sins¢¦¢¦how much of my life is sadly spent in self-centered preoccupation with happiness¢¦.this ¢toiling¢ for happiness unfortunately separates me from the ¢rest¢ i experience on those occasions when the Lord makes me aware of JOY instead¢¦..in ¢striving¢ for happiness i miss the joy of entering into real and honest relationships with others and with God, where i can relax in knowing and being known through service (rather than being served)¢¦.i miss the mark in this¢¦.i fall so short¢¦.i wish with all my heart that my Lord would grow me out of this over the next 6 months¢¦(though i imagine it takes a lifetime)¢¦..i really am trying to pay attention to the teachings of Jesus (as opposed to some human-concocted, ¢stars and stripes¢ cultural idea of ¢Christianity¢ and its ¢dos and don¢ts¢)¢¦.i want to ¢build my ¢house¢ on the ROCK¢¢¦..i¢m tryin¢ to ¢LIVE¢ in that ¢house as well¢¦.tryin¢ to practice His teachings¢¦.He boiled it all down to love¢¦.but love is hard¢¦..i confessed to Him today that i can¢t do it on my own¢¦.(reckon that wasn¢t news to Him!)¢¦..nope¢¦..HE will hafta do it¢¦HE will hafta work that love in me¢¦.i wait for His ¢potter¢s hand¢¢¦..i¢m trying also to meditate on the ¢Broken Body¢ and ¢the Cup of the New Covenant¢¢¦..wanting to understand and receive ALL that that is!...it has been a clear, beautiful day!....i stand in awe of the creation and our Masterful Creator!...killeen read tonight from the sermon on the mount: ¢treat others as you desire to be treated¢¢¦¢¦good words!*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS------*new sights¢¦.it was pure and simple curiosity about what might be around the next bend that often kept our feet movin¢ us on up the trail¢¦.even in ¢06 when we covered the same terrain for a second time, the ¢unknown¢ still magnetized our hopes and dreams and pulled us up those steep climbs, just for what we might see at the top!......we like what naturalist john burrows has to say: ¢ to learn something new, take the path today that you took yesterday!¢¢¦..the appalachian trail is ever the same¢¦. ever changing!...*digestive problems¢¦..we finally learned in ¢03 that paw-ee¢s ¢lunches¢ had to be taken in small doses¢¦.snacks, really, throughout the day ( instead of one main meal)¢¦.it seemed to help as well to ingest food before a DEscent rather than before an Ascent¢¦especially on warm days¢¦¢¦otherwise, diarrhea became a problem and the food would do little good¢¦.we began carrying handy snacks in cargo pockets or front pouches on our packs so that we could hike and nibble¢¦.snacking became a favorite pastime, in fact, especially over easier sections of trail!....we enjoyed our scenic, ¢mobile picnics¢!....*first sunday¢¦¢¦. see note on ¢day 8¢ entry