Date: 2006-10-03
From: bald mtn shelter

To: miss janet's erwin,tn
Miles today: 16.9

======2003======saturday, march 22, day 29                                 thank you for the morning mist                                    to soften forest glade                              thank you for the birdsong                                    and for Your Hands                                 (Your nail-scarred Hands)                           by which all nature was tenderly made!======2006======Lord¢s Day, march 12, day 29 (15.2 miles from cherry gap shelter to roan                     high knob shelter )we were entertained by lonewolf¢s* many stories last night, so my journal entry got put on the back burner¢¦..he and max left, though, in the middle of the night (about 2a.m.)¢¦.he had a connection to make this morning in erwin¢¦.i prayed silently for them as they headed out into the moonlight¢¦.i wonder if we¢ll ever see lonewolf again¢¦..we are staying at the roan mtn. shelter and are getting ready to settle in for the night upstairs in the loft¢¦..it¢s actually pretty warm here (unlike ¢03, or probably any other time according to reports!...roan has the reputation of bein' the coldest shelter on the trail!)¢¦..but we had a nice ¢welcome home¢ when we got to this otherwise charming shelter¢¦the loft was heaped with trash!.....not just the usual wrappers and old clothing, but leftover, half-eaten food, too!....i tried to clean it up as best i could, but with half a can of old beans and everything else, i¢m gonna pass this time on carryin¢ it out (shoot!...that means someone else will have to!....what a nasty, vicious cycle these garbage-makers begin!)¢¦..i hope there won¢t be too many mice!we¢ve got the place to ourselves here which i have to admit tonight is nice¢¦..it¢s only ten minutes after 6 and killeen is already snoring!...(i will be ,too, soon)¢¦..it,s so beautiful up here at 6000 ft. in these evergreens¢¦.so still and quiet, especially with this snow and ice¢¦.we¢re prayin¢ we can maneuver alright over the very icy trail in the a.m¢¦¢¦..God has been so, so gracious to us¢¦.especially the last couple of days with the weather¢¦.we had heard it was s¢posed to rain, but instead, we¢ve had warm and only partly cloudy¢¦.very spring-like¢¦.i tried to be mindful this mornin¢ startin¢ about 9:30 or so* of our sunday school and church services back home that would be convening at that time¢¦..the hours and minutes on the face of my watch became a ¢connection¢ to our friends and family whom i prayed for as i thought of their happy faces singing and worshipping in that big ol¢ ¢barn¢¢¦i tried to ¢join in¢ with some songs and worship of my own (though i didn¢t have a ¢sermon¢)¢¦.i did however take the opportunity to ¢study¢ on what killeen had read to me about the centurion who had approached Jesus on behalf of a servant (with such faith that it actually amazed the Lord!)¢¦¢¦it all made for a very lovely Lord¢s Day morning in the woods!....we passed a couple of ladies this afternoon who were having a good bit of trouble getting off this very STEEP mountain¢¦.they had asked about an older fellow and a young man a bit ahead of them, so we assured them they weren¢t far and they should be catching them soon¢¦since they both looked fairly exhausted, we encouraged them to take it easy as they headed down¢¦.we left them resting and then headed on up ourselves with prayers under our breath for their help and comfort¢¦.roan mtn. is harder, i think, than a lot of folks imagine (even going down!)¢¦.i know those people are gonna be sore tonite!.....our prayers before supper included them!.....we had lasagna for dinner!...¢home-made!¢ and it was really tasty!....we¢ll visit the balds* tomorrow¢¦.not sure what the weather will do¢¦.i think it¢s supposed to get really cold again tomorrow night¢¦.we¢ll pass the ¢big red barn¢ shelter at overmountain¢¦might be some ¢magic¢* there¢¦.well¢¦.this is just tired rambling¢¦..i¢m pretty stiff and ready to call it a day¢¦..i echo what killeen prayed before he konked out¢¦¢thank You for Your Presence with us today!¢*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS¢¦..*lonewolf and his dog ¢max¢¢¦¢¦there were a couple other ¢lonewolfs¢ on the trail i think¢¦.but this fellow had a farm in VA somewhere raising cattle¢¦.he had many nice things to say about bob peoples who had been like a ¢father¢ to him¢¦(and don¢t we ALL have many nice things to say about bob!...God bless him!)*9:30 or so¢¦¢¦that¢s the hour our sunday school and church begin at home¢¦.out on the trail is the only time we ever use watches, but find them to be helpful then in ¢dead-reckoning¢ and such¢¦..there are still times you literally forget ¢times¢ out there, not knowing what day or hour it is (or caring!)¢¦.it¢s one of those delightful little blessings of trail life!*the balds¢¦..(have you figured out we love ¢em?)¢¦.we invite you to enjoy them with us!....but if you can¢t actually get out there you can at least see our photos!.....just click on our journal "list" and find "campsite prior to tanyard gap-sep 28"...then click on that photo and then "next" to view the following pictures for a tour of the balds...and, oh yeah....for the full effect be sure to put on some nice celtic music! (ha ha!)....*magic¢¦.(i think i¢ve already discussed this to some degree¢¦..as others on trail journals have as well¢¦.but it bears repeating)¢¦.trail magic isn¢t really ¢magic¢ if you anticipate or expect it¢¦..at overmountain in ¢03 a group had hung their leftovers in the barn, probably because they didn¢t want to pack it out¢¦¢¦but to us it was ¢magic¢!.....(partly because it included our favorite dried fruit¢¦.sour cherries!....yum!)