Date- Wednesday 6/8/05
Start- Old Orchard Shelter
Stop- Fox Creek Trailhead @ VA603
Miles Travelled- 1.7
Spent a quiet and contemplative night last night. I knew it was going to be my last night on the trail for a while.
For the past few weeks I have been receiving reports telling me that things are not running as smoothly for Mary Rose as we had hoped. Things are falling apart at home and she really needs me there for a while. I have to get with Herman Wyssbrod and Jeremy Whitmer and get the Boy Scout Roundtable Calendar prepared and I have to find out and prepare for my role in Scouting for the coming year.
Its not just these responsibilities that bringing me home. I admit that I miss Mary Rose and my sons and daughters and I am looking forward to seeng them and being with them for a while. I am definately not looking forward to the mountain of work facing me but being with the people will be great.
I intend to return and finish this hike, it's a wonderful experience; I just don't know exactly when. If I can get everything wrapped up at home and with Scouts in the next 2 weeks or so I may go back even though hiking will become more difficult and dangerous. If not, I will be returning next spring.
The increased danger revolves around the change in the season to hot weather. Bears and snakes are already starting to become more active and visible and the seasonal springs are already drying up making water harder to find. The heat and scarcity of water make dehydration and heat stroke nore likely to occur. I will be far behind the groups of fellow experienced hikers who have learned to count on each other to help in case trouble arises. We have already faced a lot together and helped each other through the difficult times: frostbite, hypothermia, broken bones, blown knees, numerous sprains, aches, and pains are all things that have come up from time to time with one or an other of us and as a hiking family we've overcome these obsticals. This family will be far ahead of me and I will only have relatively green, inexperienced day hikers and weekend hikers wh don't have this sense of family and camaraderie that my hiking family has. I would really rather not have to depend on the Commandos should I run into some type of difficulty.
Despite these increased risks, I still want to return. It's wonderful to fall asleep within 5 minutes of laying down because the mind is free from worry and the body is physicaly exhausted. Everyone should try it sometime. Waking up to the song of birds is so much better than the buzzing of an alarm or th silence of a still sleeping house. Feeling and gaining energy from the power of a storm, even while hiding from it, makes me feel almost invincible. It's also a great weight loss program and less expensive than Jenny Craig (I've already lost 55 pounds). I find that I have more energy, more confidence in my decision making, more assertive, and am more alert than I have been in decades. I like the new me better than the old one and I don't want to slip back into old patterns and habits.
Yes, I will surely return.
Posted by at June 8, 2005 08:34 AM