TRAIL DAY 79
Mon, May 9, 2016 It would be a level, dooown, uuuup, level, blip, blip, dooown, corrugate, blip, camp day and camp would be rather interesting but I’ll wait till we get there – it won’t be long.
Another day of pleasure amidst the cycle of growth and decay while walking on the earth to which all life belongs. It is hers. We are hers. She nurtures us and reclaims us for her own purposes and there is nothing we can do to alter her eternal plan but there is something about life that begins anew when we fully – I mean fully – accept her ways, her timing, the gift of life we have been given. The sun is freer; the wind is freer; the rain and sleet and snow – the hail and heat are freer – and so are we – to sing the song of our hearts to earth and sky – free to let go of why.
It would be a 137-photographs day.
We’d see a freshly refurbished footbridge thanks to the persistent hard work of maintainers and soon after come to an area consumed by a wildfire. We took a break soon after that and Theo got a little shut-eye. He can get comfortable almost anywhere.
Back on the trail, we’d pass two hikers we met at the lunch-stop shelter yesterday with Highlander and then, after a 1700′ climb in 2.5 miles, we’d hike another 1.2 miles to Kelly Knob for the view and a late lunch at 2:15 p.m.
In another 1.4 miles we crossed a stream where I sat and filled up my 2-liter gravity bag and waited for that force of nature to do its work to purify my water.
It wasn’t long after that we came upon beautiful, lush green, open fields. A young couple passed us southbound just before we came to a gate into another field where the view bid me sit and rest and take in the magnificence all around me.
While Theo lay in the grass taking in the scene, I tried to reach Christopher by phone but the signal was too weak. We soon moved on as Theo surveyed the trail ahead over hill and dale down to a marshy area.
At a footbridge, Theo would not “HOLD” until I released him. It was imperative that he understand this command for his safety and mine. He had already rushed past me at a stream knocking me in.
Panic is the one word that explains much of his behavior. At home he would rush through the door as if he panicked at the thought of being left outside. Perhaps it was the same crossing the stream. Was I going to cross and leave him on the other side? For good?
I crossed the footbridge first with a firm “HOLD” when we reached midway. I enforced a “STAY” when I saw that he had sneaked up behind me. I crossed again and again reworking the commands until I felt satisfied that he understood them well enough for me to release him. “OK” were two syllables he had no trouble following. Think starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
We were off. . .to the edge of the field where we crossed VA 42 and continued another mile over rolling green hills which made me think of the movie How Green Was My Valley – for its romantic title and all the life that went on there. In my sights were barns and houses and farms on the distant hills evoking an encyclopedia of stories about life here: birthing, crops doing well or not, storms coming and weather beneficent, good yields and poor, life and death in and outside the houses in the valley. Loves and hates and we’ll-get-by and maybe-we-won’t. Life. In my veins – and in theirs. Theo and I paused. . .and moved on.
We came upon the first slender-pedaled crimson red flowers as we headed in north.
I was aware of other firsts as we pushed deeper and deeper into the land of my birth: The first squirrels. The first white birches. The first family and friends who lived along the way. These would all come to pass in time. . . .
We came to VA 630 and a lone-standing chimney whose house had long since vanished and noted in AWOL. Hikers had set up camp nearby and it was tempting – but I’d caught up with PB and Justice and they were heading on to the Keefer Oak “the largest oak tree on AT in south; over 18′ around, over 300 yrs old. Dover oak along AT in NY is slightly larger” (AWOL).
I decided to trek onward for another 45 minutes.
PB and Justice were there setting up their tents. I set up farther from the oak than they and ate against a log nearby then turned in.
Day #79 Wind Rock campsite > Keefer Oak 14.4 miles