Journal Entries

The experience of hiking eight hours a day immersed in my own thoughts is overwhelming. I’m not sure where to start writing. There are two major topics I want to write about: trail tips and personal observations. My personal observations might not be of interest to many of you. Some of them might be specific to my own life experiences but I encourage you to spend time on the trail contemplating your own life—experiences, issues, and memories. It is the life of the old time philosophers who just spent the day in contemplation. Modern life is so full of distractions and so we seldom do this. I made a promise to myself—no earbuds on the trail!

Personal observations: What to do with your memories? One thing that has been heavy on my mind is my memories, especially of those who are no longer with us. Reliving these memories have led me to cry sometimes and to laugh sometimes as I travel down the trail. I never felt my own mortality—even now. My career led me to work in several conflict areas voluntarily, to jump out of airplanes for fun, to walk down Hotel St in Honolulu at four in the morning. Never gave much thought to my mortality. What is heavy on my mind is what happens to the memories of those close to me when I pass? Who will remember what my brother was like in high school, if I am gone. Is that a strange thing to worry about? I feel like the keeper of so many memories-my mother, my brother, my sister, my high school sweetheart... who knew them like me? These are thoughts that may surface as you walk the trail immersed in thought.

Things to do while walking down the trail: are you getting bored walking long trail miles that look too similar? If you are like me, you are watching the trail and looking down a lot to be sure you don’t trip over some sneaky rock or root. It might break up the monotony to learn some of the native plants. Some of them are wee gems and you need to be alert to catch sight of them. So the photo here is of the Wild Violet (Viola Odorata). Wild violets are predominately purple but you will see yellow and white also. The flowers and the leaves are edible and high in vitamin C. So pretty to dress up a salad or garnish on a plate. At home, they are probably common in your lawn. Sadly, many internet resources label them as a “weed” to be eradicated.

One of the conflict areas where I worked was Liberia-a country largely modeled after the USA. Rural areas suffer from a lack of clean water. As hikers we know how much work it is to collect our liter bottles of water—but imagine that you have to provide water for all uses for your extended family, elders, littles, the disabled and all. This arduous task usually falls to the women of the family.

So I am supporting this project in Liberia. I know the groups involved and have met them personally in Liberia. Please read about the project for its interest when you have time. Donating is appreciated but not required. None of the funds go to my hike. Only to help the project get on its feet with an ultimate goal of self-suffficiency.

GoFundMe.com/cleanwaterforliberia

Today I am on my second zero at the Aquone Lodge, having come off the trail at Burningtown Gap mile 123.8 because of impending cold weather. With a mix of rain and snow and high gusts of wind— it seemed the prudent thing to do. This is straight up deep winter in the mid-teens for temps and most of us are packed for three-seasons. I can do cold weather with my gear but too many days out in the wet conditions makes staying warm difficult.

I have been trying my best to stay off of social media on the trail with the exception of posting a photo to my FB story about once a day to stay in touch. I am very pleased with the new lightweight inexpensive keyboard that I purchased to pair with my IPhone. This has made it feasible to update my trail journal while at hostels off the trail.

On the trail is where I do all my contemplation and when you walk all day without distractions like podcasts, audiobooks, social media, etc.—thinking is your main activity. Living inside your own head and being aware of your thoughts takes more discipline than you might think. It is very much like meditation only with walking added. The struggle of the trail tends to push negative thoughts and emotions out of the way as you concentrate on staying upright with your pack and hiking poles.

Something that I thought a lot about in recent miles on the trail is my ability to listen to others. While I am aware of active listening and have been to various management course; this is an area that bears further development. My passion for certain topics and my sincere desire to help others with my expertise in those topics makes me vulnerable to jumping into a discussion and adding too much to the conversation. So on the trail I have thought about this a lot and hope to try harder when I come across other hikers. In my next post, I want to talk about functional fitness and low carb high fat fueling on the trail. Maybe it is best to write about my ideas here rather than talking so much. One of the hardest things for me to remember is that no matter how much you want to help others—you can help those who don’t want your help! So more listening and more writing for those who are interested.

Ass for actual on the trail stuff—let me explain the photo. Trail magic is this amazing thing that members of the trail community do for those of us out here on the trail. We call them “trail angels” and we are truly blessed by their generosity both in time and kindness . At Rock Gap, a former thru hiker “Circus” and several of his friends brought us many goodies and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on a grill! They had to carry all the food, the grill, coolers and all sorts of things up the trail to us. Then they even brought tents and spent the night with us. One of us had to return to Franklin to pick up gear and then even drove her to town the next day. The trail community is really a karma-based community. It reminds me so much of my mother who used to say, “ you never miss anything you give away; it comes back to you double.” On the trail, we say “the Trail provides” and we have found that to be true. We share food, gear and support and somehow it all works out.

Signing off for now. In case you are interested, go over to my GoFundMe where I am raising funds for a project to filter water in Liberia. We hikers know how hard it is to carry all your water everyday! It’s a daily reality for many families in rural Liberia. Even if you don’t donate I would be so pleased to have you just read about the project for its interest. GoFundMe.com/cleanwaterforliberia

Pleased to announce that I passed the 100 mile mark a few days ago. Then I headed into the trail town of Franklin, NC. This is a little like walking home as our mountain home in WNC is only one hour’s drive away.

One of the thoughts that occurred to me on the trail was the contemplation of transformation. Many hikers find the thru hike to be transformative. I’m sure that physically that will be true. Also , you will certainly acclimate to much tougher external conditions.

For me, it seems different. Instead of feeling a process of transformation, I feel that the culture and environment of the trail has simply made it possible to be the self I have always been. The trail culture is accepting of your external differences. We are creating direct bonds of interdependence that our small towns and rural communities used to have. We share food, clothing and advice freely -helping each other to succeed. We are working on dropping the chains of competivieness and picking up the habits of collaboration.