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| Mountain Tuna - strums some and is fishing the trail |
By all appearances I hike alone. It is true that a videographer who was following me on trail would not see me hiking within a few yards of another hiker except to pass them but only after pausing or pacing with them ... Hi! I'm Buddha. What are your names? How'd you get the name AquaTuna? Where ya headin today? All the while my right brain is doing a quick assessment of their health and safety on trail. How you guys for water?
If we've met before we check in effortlessly, "Pilgrim!! Good to cya my friend. See ya up trail." And, most will. As fast as I am on foot, I am equally as slow. ying-yang. I joke with Bill, “I don’t drive like this, but I hike like this! See ya up trail. And, I will. Like racing to the red light. It’s how my legs like to go.
Case in point. A couple days ago, I reach the Nantahala Outdoor Center and whose sitting there? The Québécois I met my first night on trail. Now, she is Grits, a hiker with a name I’ll remember when I see her up trail, again.
But, I digress. Ah, so it is with the attention span of a gnat. Or, living in the moment, if you’ll have it.
Way above I began saying by all appearances I hike alone. But, I hike with soooo many people - people that nobody can see. Tears well just thinking of all the people I hike with every day. It’s why I am so light on my feet every day, running the soft downs with my pack on my back and soft, squishy leafy mud underfoot.
And, here I save you from another tangent ~ my most natural mental formation ~ I promise to get to all these tangents and more in time. I’ll describe more clearly a day in the life on trail, my gear, why people do this thing, and a day in town. Promise. And gear, and orchids, birds, and bears. Later.
This post is about people. About love. About never being alone.
All the loving people in my charmed life hike with me every day. Let’s start with my teachers.
My 2018 Tramily
Littlefoot, as I mentioned in my first post taught me, by daily example, that you just don’t stop going up hill, recover on the downs.
Just Josh - Don’t carry water to water. At 1 kg per liter you will carry an extra 2.2 pounds (for the Americans) up and down every hill. Harder ups and more painful steep downs.
Ironman - long slow deep breaths always and the benefits of music on the trail!
Fox - quiet confidence
Pony Express - don’t count on Priority Mail to cover faster than you are! He sent his bounce box ahead a 60 miles by highway, but a couple weeks for him on trail. And, he beat the package.
Sweet Tea & Moose - making me want to hike the southern.
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| 2018 Tramily |
Friends & Family
My family at home cheering me on, worrying appropriately and giving me short simple instructions like, “Put your sunscreen on in the morning before you start sweating." Thanks Deb and Lizzie.
I chat with my boys Jake and Jonah every day … If they only knew. It’s like the sound a tree makes when it falls in the forest with nobody to hear it. The sound of one hand clapping as we talk and laugh as I climb Siler Bald. Not a sound beyond my long slow deep breaths. But I hear their voices all the same.
Cousins, friends, my Uncle Ben and Aunt Marion. Oh, the power of love.
Dips, who hiked last year, shook my pack down this year and unburdened me of pounds of fears I had planned to carry. Fear of norovirus on trail. Fear of cold and wet together. Fears of ice. “It happens all the time down here when your high up on the ridges and balds,” I’d defend my heavy gear choices. I’d heard the stories and watched YouTube vids - to excess. Dips calmly reassured me and told me what I needed and what I didn’t want to carry. March 9, one week on trail, the sun is setting and I’ve pitched my tent in a cold downpour at Muskrat Creek. I got in the pleasantly dry tent , switched from wet to dry and slid into my warm sleeping bag … with my fear of the cold and wet. I take my phone out of airplane mode so I can send a message via my Garmin Mini satellite transmitter letting Deb know my location for the night and that I was tucked in. Whoop! I had a bar, and a text appears. It’s Dips checking in on me and reviewing tips for keeping warm and dry. By the way, she’s a wonderful story teller. www.andtheniwalked.com
Strangers
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| Bob and I. Delaware Water Gap, NJ 2018 |
Hike-Man and Lisa who refilled dozens of jugs with cold fresh spring water every couple of days and left them in the shade at several road crossings over a 20 mile dry stretch in New York.
And, the Mom and son restocking a cooler for hikers in Pomfret, Vermont.
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| Kindness in Pomfret, VT with Pony Express |
The folk on Elm Street in Norwich, Vermont who placed cold drinks, food and invitations to use the pool.
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| Elm St, Norwich, VT 2018 |
Kindness of Strangers 2022
Kindness in 2022 is going strong as I’ve been offered rides into town from the trailhead to Hiawasee, Georgia and Franklin, North Carolina.
A trail angel Sunday morning breakfast buffet just north of Neel’s Gap, Georgia came with a prayer for our safety and well being on the trail.
Cold drinks by Bouncer waiting for hot hikers at several crossings in Georgia.
Last night, arriving late at Brown Gap Shelter in the dark after a long arduous 17 mile day, I did not look forward to slipping my way down to the creek to get water. Jerry, who I’d awoken, replied when I asked which direction the water was, said, I’ve got water right here for you. We can get more in the morning.
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| Ranger, Jerry and I Brown Fork Gap, NC |
I’ve decided to stick with love. Hate is to great a burden to bear. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr
That’s my story for much of North Carolina. I’ll be in Tennessee and the Great … and cold … Smoky Mountains of Tennessee tomorrow. High country. And, I’m high on love. Love to all. Be well. Buddha