Wed, June 8, 2016 Breakfast was cook-your-own pancakes with a huge bag of mix out on the counter; the electric pan was ready to go and butter and syrup were in good supply. I ate and made my way outside where the outfitter had said he’d meet me.  He’d picked up hikers for the 8-mile […]

Tue, June 7, 2016 Oh friends – oh friends. . . .  Hold on to life.  Find that turn of events, that twist in the road, that high point, that silence in the deep that makes your heart skip a beat to shout out to your inner ear, I AM HERE!  I AM HERE!  I […]

Mon, June 6, 2016 It would be a day of gently rising corrugated mounds with the occasional climb of several hundred feet.  A bright sunny day, birthday behind, home state ahead.  I told my family on departure, “Don’t forget, in a few weeks I’ll be in the neighborhood.”  It was nice to know that family would […]

Sun, June 5, 2016 Departure day.  Group-photo day.  Pay-up-and-return day.  One of those sober mornings when things must be gathered together packed up and selves prepared for leave-taking. The group picture with all 16 of us was taken by Innkeeper Becky Reeves.  Husband, George, was not around.  The one or two times I did see […]

Sat, June 4, 2016 My 75th birthday.  It had been on the horizon since I started and very consciously since Grayson Highlands.  It was there that I saw “500″ with the AT symbol pointing at those magic numerals.  Small, light-grey stones laid out in green grass grazed to the nub at the northern edge of […]

Fri, June 3, 2016 I must have been so taken with my wife’s presence and the arrival of family this day that my pictures stopped for 26 hours.  My last was of Theo at 2:30 p.m. in the parking area by US 522, waiting for Bonnie.  My next was of Theo again, at 4:30 p.m. […]

Thu, June 2, 2016 It was an overcast morning.  We were on the trail near 7:00 a.m. and 20 minutes later we ran into Wonder, Portuguese’s hiking partner.  He was sitting on a boulder at the right side of the trail talking on his cell phone to his wife.  We acknowledged each other as I […]

Wed, June 1, 2016 It’s still May as I write – the last day of the month and tomorrow it will be June.  The thought fills me with emotion.  I think it’s the march of time.  Time past and time coming.  The trail has changed my life tremendously.  It is like a thick thread of […]

Tue, May 31, 2016 Echo had said she was going to be up early, around 4:00 a.m.  Perhaps it was the rain but she was still in the process of leaving when I got up.  She had left an envelope under my tent flap with $15.00 in it for her share of the site rental.  […]

Mon, May 30, 2016 I was up at between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m.  There was no sign of my Indian benefactors.  They must have partied, packed and departed.  Here one moment – ever so much here – a large presence – gone the next.  Was it a dream?  Who was that masked man?  You probably […]