David promises that when he gets to a place that has enough power to download his videos and pictures he will do so. Until then we will have to imagine him swinging on a rope and dropping into the cold spring fed pond and precariously placing his tiny feet on what the beavers put up as their home so that he could get across the water. I can’t wait.
While hiking days serve the purpose of working the body and fostering profound contemplation, zero days provide an opportunity to rejuvenate the body and organize those thoughts. So today, I’ll give you six thoughts of varying profundity that have surfaced during this hike. Please forgive the length of this post, and perhaps chalk it up to a doddering, old man stumbling down the trail.
Thought one: I’m soft. No matter how much I learn about hiking, civilization always untrained me how to survive. While hiking helps me to remember how to be comfortable in nature, modern living has tricked me into thinking that I could survive without it. I don’t claim to know whether I would survive or not, but at least I would have some idea what to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prepper. I’m not suggesting the end of the world is nigh, and that we should all become Sarah Connors. But it does concern me that 95% of the population of our country is utterly unprepared to be an environment other than a modern one. The lesson is to reconnect with nature, learn about survival, think about what you would do if power, water, food and transportation went away, even for a short time.
Thought two: Trash. We, as a society, produce huge amounts of garbage, most of it in the name of convenience. Packaging, packaging, packaging. On the trail, we learn to consolidate trash into the smallest volume possible and to waste as little as possible because we don’t want to carry the extra weight. So food is not wasted, but eaten. Whatever wrappings are left over are consolidated into a very small space. I can put a weeks’ worth of trash in a single quart size Ziploc bag. It makes me want to reduce the amount of trash that I make at home. We do recycle, but even so, the amount of trash we produce is quite large. I know we can do better.
Thought three: Silence. Being in a silent environment for 8 to 10 hours a day for days on end transforms one, and you begin to realize just how much we try to fill a minds with noisy bits of distraction; email, music, media, news, entertainment, texts, social media, etc.
When I’m on campus, every student I see between classes has their head buried in their phone, even if they’re walking. In fact, I play a game when I see a student walking toward me with their device in hand. I stand in front of them, stop, and see how long it takes them to realize that somebody is in their way. Many just simply bump into me because they’re so oblivious to what is going on around them. This has become a pet peeve of mine and something that I despise. I think though it’s a case where I despise in others what I most despise in myself. I’m a person who is relatively comfortable in silence, yet I still fill my days with these bits and pieces of distraction. When I’m on the trail, a song gets stuck in my mind and I can’t seem to get rid of it. It is as if I’ve been trained to fill up the silence with stuff. What void is there that we are trying to fill?
Thought four: Hope. Remember the rant I had the other day about the potheads? I really let them get to me and make my mood negative. That affected my whole day. On the flip side, there’s been a couple hiking along with me for the past week or so: trail names-Solar and Latte. Solar could be my brother by another mother. He’s about my age, retired, uses a CPAP machine (on the trail! Hence the name), has high blood pressure, and has many other attributes in common – the whole works. He’s hiking the trail for his health along with his wife.
Although Solar and Latte have a health and fitness level more like me, and by that I mean they struggle to hike the trail, their attitude is overwhelmingly positive.”They are hopeful. Their positive attitude gives them strength for the trail that I sometimes struggle with. They reminded me just how much hope counts.
You’ve gotta ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-between
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Otherwise (otherwise), pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
Bing Crosby
Allyson here: I’m not sure why David didn’t put the song lyrics from Life of Brian.
If life seems jolly rotten
There’s something you’ve forgotten
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing
When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing
And
Always look on the bright side of life
(Come on)
Always look on the right side of life
Thought five: RAIN. I love it & I hate it. It refreshes me & it makes my boots squishy. It raises my spirits & it really brings me down. RAIN ‘nuff said.
Thought six: Providence. I’ve commented before that the further I go, the more I realize the less I need. I eat less food, send more supplies home, giveaway stuff. But what I realized is that this is just the beginning stage of true trust in providence. All of the necessities, food, water shelter, at every turn these have been provided, even when I have been anxious about them. But it’s more than just about providence. What it’s really about is living in the moment. That’s a hard thing to do for a lifelong manager/planner, but perhaps is the most important lesson so far.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? 27 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?[q] 28 Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. 29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. 30 [r]If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ 32 All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness,[s]and all these things will be given you besides. 34 Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
Matthew 6:25
Today’s mileage: 0.0
Total trail miles: 194.2