Date: 2006-11-01
From: niday shelter

To: a dogwood meadow above VA 624
Miles today: 17.5

======2003====== EASTER! april 20, day 58whew!.....we¢re soooo exhausted!.....(how many times have i written THAT over the last 58 days!)....i¢m not sure if i can even pick up my pen to write! (much less remember WHAT to write!)......i skipped yesterday¢s writing, so i will try to be doing a little ¢catching up¢ here.....this has actually been 2 of our most beautiful and enjoyable days so far (though very tiring).....on saturday morning we left out ( ¢last¢, as usual!) and came through sinking creek* valley......we couldn¢t believe what our eyes were actually taking in as we came out of the woods into the open, wet-green fields (patch-y sometimes with winter¢s leftover golden andropogon).....the skies were a bit cloudy which made the colors pop out brightly against the gray morning.....i could see a tiny little ¢village¢ on a distant hill....it appeared to be a farmhouse with several outbuildings, white as a barnyard hen with roofs as red as a cockscomb!....of course, the rolling hills definitely put us right ¢at home¢.....there was an ¢ancient¢ ford pickup truck rusting in a little vale dotted with flowering dogwoods (the vale, not the truck....although i wouldn¢t have been surprised if trees were actually germinating in the rotting front seat!)....redbud and cedar...LOTS of cedar....were among other trees that stippled the hillsides...we began to see cattle as we approached the valley....we crossed a stile* that went right past an ¢ominous¢ looking herd....killeen laughs at me on these occasions because of my nervous ¢bovine-a-phobia¢.....but hey....you know?....that big ol¢ bull actually SNORTED at me!....yeah!anyway....we were soon past the ¢horrible hoofers¢ and i could relax enough to enjoy this lovely little community with the spring-flooded little branch that meandered through its heart....what a charming place with its barns and fences.....there was even a little country church......i splurged and took a lot of pictures....then, as we crossed the road and walked on up the hill where we could stop for a little ¢pack-on¢ snack break, we scanned the hills for one last look at this quaint little virginia hamlet.....to our surprise we saw our first groundhog!....he was emerging out of what we assumed to be his ¢den¢, a little ledge of rocks nestled into the open hillside.....i think groundhogs hibernate, so i guess spring really is here afterall!it really boosted our spirits, too, to finally be seeing all the redbud trees (our little tastes of spring had so far been void of these bright harbingers of warmer days).....how their ¢fuschia¢ blooms cheered our two old mountain hearts!we finally began to ascend the mountain.....straight up!....a long haul, and, of course, again, very rocky at the top.....the very summit actually turned into a bit of boulder hopping!..it was a teensy bit scary for this ol¢ clutsy grandma.....these were big, slanting, somewhat slippery boulders.....but the tradeoff was plenty of varied plant life!....there was phacelia, sedum, clethra, sarvice, and lots more....it was tricky going over the rocks but we were rewarded with sightings of boocoodles of botanical treasures! (and it was a good thing, ¢cause the fog prevented any other kinds of views at the top!)we reached niday shelter after coming down a charming ¢table mountain pine path¢ lined with fragrant pink azaleas and purple iris verna!....oh my my!but we were glad to be ¢home¢ for the night....¢gapper¢ stayed with us (a pleasant older fellow whose little bit of deafness rivaled mine....he was unaware i¢m sure of how loud his sighs and moanings were!...totally cute! ha ha)....and....there was another fellow leading a ymca ¢class¢ (of 2!) about backpacking.....they asked us lots of questions (as if we know what we¢re doing!) and then they told bear stories into the night.....i was busy trying to illustrate my easter musings in the shelter register, so i forgot to make an entry in my own journal....we got up pretty early this morning and received one of the best ¢easter sermons¢ i think i¢ve ever heard!....killeen had gone up to the john and i was talkin¢ to mr.ymca teacher....whining, really, is what i was doin¢.....i began to complain that i wasn¢t in town for easter sunday mornin¢....no church service....no singing, etc.....and you know what he said?....he said : ¢God looks on the heart, y¢ know (which can sometimes be a little scary in itself)....but He¢s probably not that focused on calendars....or what holiday this is.....or our church attendance....the woods, y¢ know, are a GREAT place to worship!¢......well...i began to think about what he said and quit feelin¢ sorry for myself (even though i knew he was headed out of there on his way to an 11:00 service)...still his words kept ringin¢ in my ears : ¢the woods are a great place to worship!¢.......as we walked along i remembered the 23rd psalm : ¢and i shall DWELL in the HOUSE (the Presence) of the Lord forever!¢....i told killeen, ¢you know....there¢s only one thing i really need today....and it¢s not a church....it¢s not a choir....it¢s not a celebration with my family (or easter dinner at the homeplace buffet at catawba which we were gonna miss)....no....i need only One Thing....Jesus!.....His LIVING presence!¢......and for the rest of the day my malcontent just faded away!......peace descended like the fragrance of sweet azaleas in the woods....and i realized....it had been a very GOOD easter!we hiked up ¢blueberry hills¢ to the dragon¢s tooth.....viewed incredible flora.....pieris (i think)*....polygala...carolina hemlock...birdsfoot violet (some 2-toned with leaves a bit more ruffled than back home)....iris...azalea......reindeer moss and a wonderful shrubby oak (quercus prinoides?....i dunno)....we were so excited about the diversity of all the plants that we barely noticed that clouds were preventing any views....we got to dragon¢s tooth near the end of the day.....had sort of begun to think on the way up that it wasn¢t gonna be that big of a challenge.....but it was on the way DOWN that we encountered the really SERIOUS rock climbing!(for me and my short legs anyway!)....i was pretty scared of the whole thing, but killeen helped and encouraged me and we made it safely down together......it was a good feeling.....working my way through that kind of physical challenge .....i¢ve never done anything like that before!....it was definitely HARD!.....i¢m thankful for all our Creator¢s help to us all along this journey so far.....what Security!....what Comfort!but i¢m tired....and that¢s about all i can think of right now....we¢re camped in a dogwood meadow.....fitting for Easter.....======2006====== monday, april 10, day 58 (17.2 miles from camp above bryant ridge to the camp at marble spring) (a.m.)i think i forgot to write about the ¢peaks of otter¢ yesterday.....what does that name mean?.....well... it¢s up for discussion, but i¢ve heard it might be cherokee for ¢high places¢, (i.e. ¢ottari¢ in the native tongue)...OR....maybe they are named after a similar mtn. in scotland called ¢ben otter¢ mtn....i dunno...your guess is as good as mine!(p.m.) whew!...had a few climbs today!...i¢m pretty pooped....but not too pooped to eat, of course!.....i¢ve plopped down here on the ground (no log...no rock) just spread out here in the leaves on an old roadbed in a gap called marble spring and i¢m happily cooking supper!...(oh no!...NEVER too tired to cook up some grub!).....except for the fact that we have MORE than enough to eat, i feel kinda like a caveman or a 2/3 world tribesman of some sort sitting here in the dirt cooking our evening meal out of our one and only pot!...it¢s very warm....paw is propped against a tree filtering water he¢s collected.....there¢s a little bit of a wind kickin¢ up.....can¢t tell exactly which direction it¢s comin¢ from though, so i can¢t predict what the weather might do....all i know is it¢s clear and beautiful right now as it has been all day....we climbed first today up to apple orchard mtn....the highest point between chestnut knob and mt. mahoosuc in maine.....it really wasn¢t too hard....pretty good trail.....i guess up on apple orchard you¢d have to say the ¢sightseeing¢ is all about ¢form¢.....yes....shapes and forms........it¢s like a sculpture garden.....you start off, of course, with that big ol¢ round radar thing... then the gnarly chestnut oak trees turning and twisting every which way....and then the rhododendrons with their twisted old trunks.....(some of them are quite mature, their roots and branches twisting the breadth of their years over and under many large rocks)....and oh!...the rocks!....one of them forms the famous ¢guillotine¢, a large round boulder wedged in a crevice directly overhanging the trail! (okay.....YOU don¢t know that it¢s not gonna fall!)...................ahhh! yes!... the wonderful shapes of mountains!.......we stopped at the cornelius shelter to give me a little break...(my back was hurting a little for some reason).....i was anxious to see if ¢margaret¢* (peg?) was there....no margaret this time , however.....i¢m trying to work up the courage to spend time with her again....to understand her ¢varied faces¢ a little better....to ¢connect¢ somehow like we seemed to in our first few minutes together in ¢03 (before everything got ¢weird¢ that night!)....she seems self-sufficient enough.....still, an AT shelter doesn¢t make for the best ¢home¢ for anyone......perhaps it is ¢more¢ than a physical home she needs.....my heart (though still a bit wobbly with fear ) goes out to margaret (wherever she is...).....anyway, we reached the thunder ridge shelter around lunchtime....it had a really neat spring box full of water right in front of it! (thank you, Lord!....even with all these dry days, the springs still run fresh!)...we saw lots of bloodroot today....and butterflies!.....what an incredibly delightful spring this is!the last climb and descent of our day today was a ¢doozy¢ (but pretty....all rocky and knobby with lots of serviceberry blooming)....it was called high cock knob...i was thinkin¢ this a.m. about ways to help yourself get over these challenging hills....one way i discovered is that if you ask yourself a provocative question, and debate the answer with yourself as you hike along, you hardly notice the climb at all! ....today, my question was, ¢does God get hungry?¢....answer: ¢yes¢....since Christ was incarnate Creator, i think you could say that in that his incarnation he most certainly experienced hunger as we do.... (amazing!.....that the Omnipotent One would CHOOSE to submit to human weakness!....to ¢connect¢ with the hungering....the homeless....the suffering......like margaret......like me).......BUT.......not only did He hunger physically....He ¢hungered¢ for ¢US¢! ..... though we normally think of the reverse (OUR hungering for the Divine....partaking of His sacramental ¢bread and wine¢.... ¢choosing¢ to dine at His table)....it is really HE who ¢consumes¢ us....embraces us!....takes us in to his very heart!......the Divine Desire!....wow!.......i¢m prayin¢ that my words (written and otherwise) will match the passion of this hungering during these days of new life.....i miss everyone at home.....wondering how everybody is doing.....i dreamed about dear, sweet little noah duble last night....i realized when i awoke this mornin¢ that i miss seein¢ that little guy (how much more his parents must!)....my prayers for them in those dark hours were pretty intense, but not nearly so intense i¢m sure as the pain of losing a child.....Lord...would you especially undergird them through this pain?....you, too, know what it¢s like to see a beloved Son pass through death..... *NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*sinking creek........see our photo album for a ¢walk¢ through this beautiful valley*stile........a ¢ladder¢ or steps erected over fenceline to get you in and out of cow pastures.....this one put us right into the middle of a rather ominous looking herd...........you know, i read the other day that the wildflower ¢loosestrife¢ would protect you from an angry bull...(uh huh....)....yes....that¢s where the plant gets its name......if you wave it in front of a charging bull, it will ¢loose him from his strife¢ and he will calm down...(uh huh....)....problem. i¢ve never seen any loosestrife in a cow pasture......(they probably eat it all!)*pieris (i think).....this was only wishful thinking....(mtn. pieris is rare)....the shrub turned out to be lyonia...*margaret.....you can read more about margaret (if you have never heard of her) on ¢day 63¢ of our journal.....(be patient!....it¢s coming!)