Going Down in a Blaze of Glory

It is finished! Today I passed my final white blaze of my "section" hike. The reality has not really set in yet. If you picture your ordinary life and what you do on a regular basis suddenly ending, I don't think you can imagine it. I cannot imagine not hiking. This is not neccesarily because it is my heart and soul, but it has become my reality. This is my life now, this is what I do. Now that life is over and I return home. It doesn't seem right.
When people ask me about my experience I am not sure how to respond. I know that most of them really want a one word answer not a novel but how do you put this into one word? Life altering? Is that sufficient? I think not. Not because it will make me do a 180 degree turn in my life, but because it doesn't cover all the range of emotions.
I have never done something so mentally challenging as this hike. It can be a daily battle to push yourself that extra mile, that extra peak or that extra shelter. The pain has to be ignored and the enjoyment must be maximized. I feel that this hike was a great test of my capacity to deal with misery and push past it. I can take on so much more now that I know I can go furthur than I ever imagined.
I no longer question how tough I am. I am not as tough as everyone out there but I can handle more than I originally suspected. Some peoples capacity to tough things out amazes me while other peoples lack of toughness shocks me. I know I would have regretted quitting, and only twice on the hike was it a serious thought.
When I say that this trip was life altering I truly mean that. I am the same girl that left 2 months ago with perhaps a little more gumption. I voice my opinion easier and am not afraid to take a leadership role. I do not "follow" as much as I used to as well. I can ask people for help without feeling TOO guilty about inconveniencing them. I know I am not as independent as I thought myself to be (i.e. I like having friends around). I can be foreward (rarely) when the need arises. Yet I still avoid conflict just as much as I did two months ago. I can still be quiet in group of people I am unfamiliar with.
My spiritual growth on this trip ha been immense. I never imagined that God's goodness would come upon me as much as it has. He healed my knee, brought me friends EVERY time I needed them, and gave me a chance to be the salt and the light. My prayer life has grown as well and I hope this will continue in the vices of "normal life." I truly know now that God is good, that he has a plan and that I need to submit to His calling. The idea of turning my life completely over to Him is terrifying but it is what Christians are called to do. It really scares me but I do hope he guides me in the upcoming time of decision making. May I do all for His glory and advance of His kingdom.

No longer Northward,
Duckie

Trail Peculiarites

I had a rather interesting experience the other night, one which I still have not quite figured out. I was hiking in the Shenandoah's and arrived at a shelter for the night. There were two people there, one which I had met and another I had not. The man I had not met was a Southbounder (SOBO) headed to Springer who had started in Front Royal. I chatted nicely with him, gave him campsite suggestions and had a rather nice conversation. My group of fellow hikers arrived a bit later at around 6:30pm and we fell into our typical rapport. When my friends arrived the SOBO climbed into his sleeping bag and looked out upon us all not saying anything. This is not unusual behavior for older male hikers on the trail and did not really phase me. At around 7:30 (SOBO had long since gone to bed) while I was cleaning up my dinner pot I started sing. From within the shelter came a voice: "No singing!" A friend of mine thought he was talking to him because he was humming. I corrected my friend and stated: "No he was talking to me because I was singing." From within the shelter again came a voice: "And no humming either!" In my naivete I did not think that the man was serious. I had a nice conversation with him not long ago and thought he was joking. My friend, Honey Do, said "Oh sorry man." And the voice from within said: "Well you haven't shut up since you got here!"
I guess you have to understand that you pretty much hike alone all day long and words are not commonly used. When you get into camp it is your chance to chat and use those words you've saved up all day long. We were not a particularly chatty group so it surprised me that he said this to us.
Around 9:30pm I climbed into my sleeping bag in the shelter and turned to watch the campfire. I could hear Honey Do and a fellow hiker of mine murmuring quietly. At about 9:45 SOBO got up out of his sleeping bag and up to the fire and the following conversation occurred:
SOBO: "Well that's a nice fire you got there."
Honey Do (HD): "Thanks, yeah."
SOBO: Well you either put it out or you stop talking.
HD: Why?
SOBO: Because you haven't shut the F*** up since you got here. So either put out the fire or go back to your tent!
HD: I am not going to do either of those things. I am sitting here talking with my friend. I will sit here as long as I like. It's part of being in a shelter.
SOBO: Well you gotta do one of those things.
HD: I am not going to.
SOBO now picks up a stick and swirls around the fire spreading the coals everywhere. Subsequent language went down the toilet here and I will not regale you with all the bad conversation. Honey Do started the fire back up and sat there chatting, breaking sticks loudly and SOBO went back to bed. During this whole exchange I was laying in bed hoping beyond hope that the conversation would just STOP! I wanted to run out of the shelter and hide.
In the morning SOBO came up to me and apologized for snapping at me. I honestly at the time did not know what for immediately. He never did apologize to Honey Do. We never saw him again but I believe he has real anger issues.

Trail Magic

I went (on what some hikers say is a record) of 6 consecutive days of trail magic. For all of you non-hikers out there trail magic could be defined as "assistance from strangers through kind actions, gifts or other forms of encouragment". Usually it's food. For me, beyond the food, it's the blessing of these people doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. They gain nothing with what they give me and I have nothing to offer them. I shouldn't be amazed at the goodness of my fellow Americans but I am. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
It all started on yet another rainy day that was particularly chilling and out of the mist on the trail appeared John Hasty. We chatted on the trail for a bit and then he said the magical words: "I'll make you pancakes, eggs and sausage if you're up for it." Of course! So he finished his day hike and about 1/2 hour after I met him on the trail he made me dinner in my shelter. After such a cold chilly day it tasted wonderful. He even gave me peanut M&M's for dessert.
The next day I ran into a trail maintenance crew who gave me encouragement, a juicy apple and a yummy granola bar flavor I had not tried yet.
Day number 3 I went into town and received a bottle of water from a woman at the post office and lunch from a fisherman at the parking lot. The fisherman gave me salad fresh from his garden, ham and swiss sandwich and tortilla chips. It helped me get back on the trail. I also got two quick hitches into and out of town (which most people say is because I am a girl).
Day #4 I ran into a couple known as Flash and Hot Flash. They thru hiked the trail in '86. They gave me Little Debbie brownies and 4 Apple turnovers.
Day 5 I camped near some car campers who offered me Yuengling, red wine, steak, pasta with Parmesan cheese and fresh broccoli. That was the best trail magic so far.
Day 6 was bacon from weekenders.

The problem is my secret is out and people are calling me "the trail magic stealer" or they are trying to catch up to me so they can catch a little magic themselves.

The Rain in Spain....

..stays mainly in the plain. The rain in Virginia, apparently does not. I spent four long days in the rain. I have had some very rainy days prior to these on the trail with the same consecutive days of rain, but this was different. The weather is warmer and this creates a situation of humidity that was not evident in the colder weather. The warmer weather also creates added problems with rain gear. It's too warm to wear the stuff. It's the old hiker problem: wear gear to stay dry and sweat or keep the gear off and get wet. I chose the latter and got everything wet. This is rather chilling when you get to camp/shelter, so you change into other clothes when you get there and yet they feel wet too....
The damp also infuses everything else you carry no matter how it is packed. You sleep in a damp sleeping bag, your change of clothes is damp, even the bag that holds your stove is damp. It's warm enough that you are hot in your sleeping bag yet you get a chill from "the damp" It is tiresome to be that way for so long. In conclusion: it was a really tough four days. I never thought I would let the weather get to me so much on the trail, but after four days of putting on wet boots and a cold wet shirt in the morning I was sick of it. Luckily I was hitching in to town for a maildrop when the skies cleared for the day. The sun managed to stay out for 36 hours before....more rain.

Where is the Green Tunnel?

We went from snow to 90 degree heat in a very short period of time and it takes some adjusting. It is wonderful to be able to get to camp/shelter at night and stay warm, not needing to add a lot of layers. The biggest downside to our three days of heat was the lack of shade. The leaves had yet to come out on the trees and hiking in that amount of sunlight day in and day out was tough. My water intake almost tripled and I was still dehydrated drinking throughout the night as well. With the heat and the lack of shade a new type of hiking was developed among the group of us who are hiking together this week. We get started hiking by 8:30 am. Hike until a shelter about midway or two thirds of the way through the daily mileage where we take a 2-2 1/2 hour siesta/lunch hour waiting for the world to cool. It worked really well for the heat and it helped me get a lot of reading done in War and Peace (which I am thoroughly enjoying but don't always have the energy to pull out at night).
The weather broke after three days of high heat (88-90 degrees) down to 70 and that day the leaves came out on most of the trees and with that the pollen as well. I don't have allergies so that does not bother me but my boots have turned a bit green and I can see the pieces snowing down in the breeze. I am finding pollen all over my pack, shorts, clothes and anything else exposed to the air. I genuinely feel for these hikers with allergies. With the leaves and pollen also comes the animals. I have seen multiple black snakes all longer than 2 feet, loads of lizards, baby mice all over the A.T. and deer galloping along ridge lines. Quite a few hikers have seen increased bear activity so that means hanging bags in the trees again (SIGH) and I also saw a random animal which may have been a badger.
In other news I am taking my first "zero" (meaning no mileage) on my trip. I have not slept well for over two weeks and have been feeling constantly tired. Perhaps your body is not made to hike 15-20 miles everyday for months on end. I hope the zero will help my blisters heal, give me some feeling to my toes and take away the purply-red color to the poor appendages. Overall i am still healthy and strong. I am hoping to catch up with my "group" of hikers later on this week (they all leave today).
Hopefully if my "bounce" box comes in time I can download some pictures for all these posts. Missing home a bit and seeing rain in the forecast for the next 7 days.
Really seen some spectacular views and sights this week. What a blessing for me to pray in God's creation. Amazing...how could something so beautiful be an accident? How can you not see Someone's hand in all this?

By the way, "The Green Tunnel" is what the A.T. is sometimes called due to the continual tree coverage.