Amazing news

Jesus was only the first anointed human child of the Mother of the Universe.

Expect six more.

Because, as prophesied in Micah 5:5, there will be seven messiahs before the end. He prophesied "Seven Shepherds", raised up to defend humanity from the enemy: the inanimate, inscrutable, always destructive Chaos that forever assails us.

Each new Shepherd will teach humankind a more direct 'higher bandwidth' connection with the Eternal.

Jesus taught us how to *pray to* the Maker, to finally achieve that first real connection, through him ('dial-up' bandwidth). The Seventh will teach us to *be* the Maker (unlimited bandwidth).

**************

When you write distant future fiction you get to think outside the box - to play with big ideas - to be irreverent if you choose - to shake up the status quo the way the patient passage of time always does. You get to leap through these great chasms of the temporal chain and bring back results that seem shocking only because of our limited context, locked in one small corner of space-time.

Imagine: an evangelist of the distant future (the eighth Prince of Men, as Micah 5:5 would call him - John the Baptist was the first) mounts his soapbox at a popular Appalachian Trail intersection, raises his arms to gain attention, and cries out: "I bear Amazing News, my faithful flock. Heed my words now: for the day we have been awaiting has finally arrived! The Seventh Shepherd has been born - the seventh Immaculate Conception! ... and he comes among us just in time, my dear people ... to stave off the final extinction of our noble species and to lead us beyond eternity..."

*********************

Perhaps that's what an evangelist 'trail angel', set up at a parking area in some far future time, will tell an AT thru-hiker of that era. Well, Richard 'King Tutt' Tuttle, at right, is the kind of 'listen first' evangelist who would indulge me such thoughts. His way of 'witnessing' is all about respect for the individual and their views. Good for him, and Bravo! Not to mention his selection of yummy goodies ...

The parking area is Tesnatee Gap, also my base of operation today (Tuesday, March 27th). I hiked both north and south from there - pretty hefty climbs in both directions, and pretty views from the summits reached. Dueling views in fact. Both Cowrock Mountain to the south and Wildcat Mountain to the north have Stone-Mountain-like surfaces of solid smooth bedrock which look much alike when viewed one from the other. Here's the look from Wildcat:

And here's looking back atcha from Cowrock:

I only got as far as Cowrock to the south. To the north I went on past Hogpen Gap and hiked about five miles of undulating, quite easy trail to Low Gap Shelter. It's up-and-down but on a relaxed scale for the most part - more of Georgia's 'Bunny Trail'.

I didn't count the hikers today - got tired of picking up pebbles. And I failed to ask 'King Tutt' how many he counted (if he counts). It seems I need to focus on my core mission - out-n-back hiking past every white blaze, visiting every shelter, and reporting what I see. The rest is secondary. Life is so full of exciting possibilities, and you just can't do them all. Choices - I've made mine for 2012, and so far it seems a pretty good one. On to Springer!

--------------------------------------------------

Here's the route of today's hike plotted on a map, and a link to more photos:

AT Day 82 - Hogpen Gap at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

A Jekyll and Hyde kinda hike

On the menu today (Monday March 26th) was the 9.6 miles of trail between Unicoi Gap and Low Gap (the one with the Shelter by the same name). Though it was a pristine, clear spring day with temperatures tickling the 80's in the high mountains and clobbering them down in the lowlands, this section of trail didn't offer any clear views, only teases and hints through the trees. The crowds at Blue Mountain Shelter reported a beautiful sunrise. This is the vantage point - once the trees leaf out (which they are starting to do), I fear that even this will disappear.

Okay, now for the Jekyll and Hyde part: I'm going to have to revisit my thoughts about Georgia's AT being a 'Bunny Trail' because the five miles from Unicoi Gap to a little beyond Chattahoochee Gap has some really rugged stuff - mostly rocky areas, sometimes intermingled with roots and mud, big step-ups/downs, etc. - in summary, the kind of footing that slows you down. But then for the last 3.5 miles or so, from Cold Spring Gap to Low Gap the trail follows a well-constructed old forest road, which is very gently graded and has uniformly smooth footing - among the easiest stretches of trail anywhere.

And to top it off, there was this garden spot - a noisy cascade adorned with yellow flowering greenery. It was the kind of spot that invited you to stay, soak up the warm rays of the spring sun, and revel in the newly awakening season.

At 73, today's NoBo hiker count exceeded even yesterday's, and in a shorter distance. Remember, I hike one way for only half a day. This afternoon as I was returning north, another batch of thru-hikers whom I'll never meet were 'filling in' the trail behind me. It's certainly not like a NY City street where people ignore one another - everybody greets everybody else without exception, and almost always with energy and enthusiasm. And I have to admit that saying 'how are you' and 'I'm doin' well, thanks' seventy-tree times in one morning didn't seem as tedious as it might sound - every face, every gear combination, had a visual story to add variation to the sameness of the verbal exchange.

It's another kind of Jekyll-Hyde story - The AT offers solitude and time to reflect most of the year, but this thru-hiker crazy-time is something well worth experiencing, at least once. Down here near the start, the atmosphere distinctly reminds me of a freshman class in their first week at university. Everybody's a little timid, eager, trying to establish their niche and learn to fit in to their new challenging environment - all in such a beautiful natural setting. I'm glad I'm here.

------------------------------------------

Here's the map tracking today's hike, with a link to more photos:

AT Day 81 - South from Unicoi Gap at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

Three Mountains

Today, Sunday March 25th, I hiked a marathon distance-wise, but at a pace and over terrain that made it a fun twelve hour trail walk. There were three major mountains, each with 1000 feet of climbing on either side, and each with wonderful views from the summit. So the day was not lacking in highlights.

Nor was it lacking in company. I met 27 southbound hikers on my northbound leg, including a Boy Scout group training for a trip to Philmont (a premier Boy Scout destination in New Mexico). Then I met 67 Northbounders, mostly thru-hikers, and probably missed at least a dozen more because they had already settled at Tray Mountain Shelter when I passed the side trail to it at 5PM. Notable among the thru-hikers today was 'Brightflower' who is a fellow Facebook fan of the Rainwater family. She hopes to catch up with them during the coming week. Likely they'll stay at the same shelter at some point and have a chance to really visit.

I'm just fifty miles from Springer now. The fresh 'newbie' attitudes of some of the hikers is charming. I hear debates about how much water to carry up the next mountain. Standing at the summit of Tray mountain overlooking the expansive vista (example at left), one hiker remarked "Now that I'm doing this I'm wondering why everybody doesn't want to." It adds a strange skew to the 'sense' of this part of the trail. Ninety percent of these people won't make it, and yet the enthusiasm (or bravado) is rampant. Yes, I pass a lot of huffing-puffing-struggling hikers (including a few hobbling dogs) climbing mountains with pained looks on their faces, asking how much farther to the top (the dogs just lick my hand to get some salt). Having hiked about 1300 miles of AT trail this year already, I suddenly feel like a hardened veteran by comparison. The people watching should only get ever more entertaining in the coming days.

---------------------------------------------------

Here's the map of today's hike and a link to more photos:

AT Day 80 - Three mountains with views at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

In too Deep

Okay, the road to Deep Gap is still closed - they won't open it until about April 1st. This means I have to wait to hike two sections of trail that are next in my progression southward - the southernmost 18 miles of North Carolina. You see, Deep Gap is about eight miles north of the Georgia/NC border.

So I relocated today (Friday March 23rd). I moved south into Georgia to the next road access point, which is at Dicks Creek Gap (on the highway to Hiawassee). Because I was late getting there after relocating, and because there was a lot of rain around, I only did one leg of the two planned from that trailhead. I didn't hike north back toward Deep Gap today. Instead I hiked south to Deep Gap and back. You see, Deep Gap is about 12.5 miles south of the Georgia/NC border. There's a shelter there, about 0.3 miles down on a side slope.

No, wait. Deep Gap is between Mt. Rogers and Elk Garden in Southwest Virginia. It's a sensitive flat area where they've banned camping due to resource damage. I remember reading the signs.

No, wait. Deep Gap is near Beauty Spot on the TN/NC border. It seemed strange because it was a pretty shallow gap.

No, wait. Deep Gap is the next gap south from Allen Gap, just 12.7 miles north of Hot Springs NC.

No, wait. Deep Gap is between Max Patch and Snowbird Mountain. There's a shelter there beside a creek about a tenth of a mile down an old woods road.

"Okay, funny pants ... Cant get your story straight? Tell me the name of the shelter at Deep Gap?"

It's Deep Gap Shelter, of course ... duhhhhhhh! Didn't you read what I wrote above? I was just there today. There's a sign right over the shelter entrance with a real official looking USFS shield on one side and an AT diamond shaped logo on the other. And in the middle it says ... "Deep Gap Shelter". You wanna see my photo?

No wait. It's called Groundhog Creek Shelter. I was there on March 6th. I distinctly remember it.

"Are you serious? What are you smoking? They removed the shelter at Deep Gap due to overuse and abuse, and it now sits in the Town Park in Damascus, VA. Everybody knows that."


*****************

Enough fooling around. Yes, all of the above statements are true. 'Deep Gap" is the "Mr. Smith" of the gap world. Today I did hike to the one that has a Shelter named after it. I tried to hike through a short 'window' between rounds of tropical downpours. I didn't quite make it - it was pouring rain when I got back.

There was one vista point - on Powell Mountain. I even took the new blue-blazed side trail (not mentioned in the guide book) about 0.1 mile east to check it out. But of course I could only see a vague outline of the next ridge through the mist and fog. Hiker count was pretty high again, given that I only was on the trail for a few hours. Notable among those I passed were the Rainwaters - all four headed to Maine as a family. Fresh news from them is that Forest has acquired his trail name: 'beats'. I'll let them report the story behind that. They were headed to Hiawassee for a couple of days off the trail.

Otherwise there really isn't much to show for my seven miles of hiking, except damp clothes.

Weather looks a little better for tomorrow. So I'll hike toward Deep Gap.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Here's a map of the hike and a link to more photos:

AT Day 79 - Dicks Creek Gap to Deep Gap at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best hikes in California and beyond

Bunny Trail

I've come to call the AT in Georgia the 'Bunny Trail' because it's so well maintained and relatively easy walking (although today - Saturday March 24th - there were quite a few semi-steep ups and downs). Novice thru-hikers start on this relatively easy walk, and build up unreasonable expectations. Then come the Smokies! I had this opinion reinforced today from none other than the official AT Conservancy paid Ridgerunner for the state of Georgia. He said that the maintaining club has good financial support and some really dedicated workers.

This is Rhea Patrick. He's actually the second Ridgerunner I've met and spoken with on this adventure - the other was in Smoky Mtn National Park.

Ridgerunners are always a delight to talk with, and they enjoy sharing their extensive knowledge of the trail. When you run into one, be sure to thank them for their service.

Today's 16 mile hike took me from the very crowded Dicks Creek Gap parking area north to the North Carolina border and back. It offered not one decent vista, so for me the non-human highlight of the day was this tree, which doubles as a natural planter. I'd love to stick some pansies in there and then watch the reaction of passing hikers.

In the people arena, other than the distinguished Ridgerunner, I counted 44 NoBo hikers. I tried a new method to keep count today: picked up a small pebble each time I passed someone. At Plumorchard Shelter I met a couple of young guys getting ready to head out for the day, then I met them again at the state line on the way back. They are Anthony and Tomás, both from Blacksburg, VA. Tomás took my photo, but I failed to get one of them - too caught up in the conversation. Again, I need to become a better reporter. He's carrying a full sized good quality camera. Tomás is of Brazilian ancestry. He has dark hair and those unique Brazilian light hazel eyes. Anthony, on the other hand, has light brown curly hair and looks to be out of the all-American melting pot. He likes to carry a bit of whiskey with him for evening sipping - prefers that to beer.

Tomás and Anthony are 'waiting for trail names to pick them' rather than the other way around. I like that approach - its the true thru-hiker way. Hope to see them up the trail and learn their monikers and hear the stories behind them.

--------------------------------------

Here's the route of today's hike plotted on a map, and a link to more photos:

AT Day 78 - Into North Georgia at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find trail maps for California and beyond

From Standing Indian to Seated Squaw

Stop. If you believe the word 'Squaw' is a demeaning term, then you've been brainwashed. A vocal, perhaps well-meaning 'politically correct' movement spearheaded largely by Caucasian, western-(European)-oriented activists, wasted their lives through the '70's and '80's trying to censor words from languages and cultures of which they had *zero* understanding.

"Squaw" is a proud Algonquin word for the 'totality of womanhood'. Check here and here for some comprehensive discussion.

Standing Indian is the prominent peak whose profile, rimmed by sunlight, greeted me as I headed south out of Deep Gap on this beautiful summer-like morning (Tuesday April 3rd):

'Seated Squaw' is my name for the distinctive trail tree (with white blazes on both sides) at Bly Gap, at the other end of today's fourteen mile hike:

This is Manigebeskwa, Algonquin for 'woman of the woods'. She seems to be holding a child (yes, I have a rich image-ination), and at the same time her other hand is grinding grain using a naturally rounded mano-stone. Her tool was gleaned from the glacial till in far-off 'New England' and passed southward through many generations, by barter and trade, to regions where no glaciers ever existed and where hard quartz rounded stones that perfectly fit in the palm of the hand are items of rarity and value. Manigebesquaw sits nursing her baby and busily grinding the day's gathering of wild grains into flour while the men are off hunting. This is an image I've held in my mind ever since I found such a stone, bearing clear indications of long use as a grinding implement, far from its glacial origin, on property I owned and gardened in central Maryland.

In between the Seated Squaw and the Standing Indian are some tough short climbs that greet the northbounder fresh from Georgia. I had heard multiple accounts of the toughness of this "welcome to North Carolina" gauntlet; and I have to agree with these thru-hikers. The double-step ascent up to Courthouse Bald from Bly Gap is a tough challenge. It starts with a cardio-challenging steep climb, has a 'false summit' at Sharp Top, which leads the hiker to believe the worst is over, but then offers an even tougher climb to this nice vista, and then on to the not-at-all-bald summit of Courthouse Bald.

Once this challenge has been surmounted, the trail eases up some. You drop down to Sassafras Gap and then negotiate a more gradual climb up to a pretty ridge walk with winter views of Ravenrock to your left. There is a half-mile side trail going west to the top of this impressive cliff, which I didn't take - I should have.

Then you reach Muskrat Creek Shelter. I arrived there to find it empty - a rarity in this season of thru-hiker frenzy. I had a few minutes to read the log book, and found a typical cryptic entry from long-ago friend 'Lasher' (WV-GA), whom I met twice near Blacksburg, VA back in January. He had passed through here on February 28th, almost to his goal. Good for you, Lasher!

Then a young woman arrived to take a break, on a NoBo thru-hike. She had red curly locks tucked back into a pony-tail - 'Fire Fox' is her trail name - and we had a nice chat before I moved on. (And as I walked away I began composing imaginary humorous second-meetings with Fire Fox: "Hey, Mo!" "Mo?" "Sorry, I just assumed your first name was Mozilla").

You pass White Oak Stamp (cattle herding locus), Chunky Gal Trail (which may be named for another Squaw, or may be just a distortion of a Cherokee place name), and Wateroak Gap before making the gradual climb and descent to Deep Gap - this two mile section is frequently rocky but not steep. On the descent to Deep Gap I passed this dense concentration of 'Rampant Ramps' - virtually non-existent everywhere else I've hiked this spring. Both slopes rising from Deep Gap seem to be favored locations for this choice edible relative of the leek.

The final story for today is the weather story. I had studied the weather forecast models and expected a strong chance of showers this afternoon, so started my hike early in hopes of beating the rain. Well, somehow, for at least the second time in 2012, luck (my Dad says there's no such thing as 'luck', but ...) seemed to be on my side. Thunder began soon after noon. It sprinkled intermittently as the storms grew and multiplied. All around me heavy rain began shrouding the mountains. Thunder became frequent, lightning scary. Finally, in the last 100 yards before I reached my vehicle, the skies opened up. If I had been five minutes later I would have been soaked to the bone. But I hurtled into my vehicle only superficially wet - my socks, for example were still completely dry. Exactly the same scenario happened to me as I returned to Davenport Gap in the dark after my first 32 mile Smoky Mountain Park hike a few weeks ago. This time the rain was a true deluge, a gully-washer, a blinding downpour that didn't let up for a couple of hours.

It's days like this that I'm ever-so-grateful for my 'two-ton steel tent'. And I don't even have to set it up.

----------------------------------------------

Below is a map of today's hike and a link to more photos:

AT Day 77 - Courthouse Bald at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Friends and connections

Some of the easiest trail in the southern half of the AT is located in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness, through which I hiked today (Monday April 2nd). It was easy even though it hit me immediately with a long climb from Deep Gap up more than 1000 feet to Standing Indian Mountain - easy because the climb was accomplished on an old woods road with very gradual grade. Then it was an even more gradual descent on the north side. Finally you reach Ridgepole and Little Ridgepole mountains with an interesting tunnel-walk through Mountain Laurel along a knife-edge ridge. The one and only break from the woods walking all day was 'the light at the end of the tunnel' this vista at my turn-around point.

There really wasn't much else to photograph. When the trail gets ordinary, sometimes I like to spice it up. The 'AT Logo Phantom' made another appearance this afternoon. This only took me 30 seconds to construct:

At the end of the day, I also found a southern delicacy that I've been hoping to try - wild leeks, called Ramps. I picked and cleaned a few and hope to incorporate them in a dip or other recipe when I get home for a break in a couple of days. The flavor is a distinctive combination of wild garlic and water cress - a strong clear flavor worthy of its reputation as a spring treat.

But the headline story of the day wasn't about the trail directly, but about the people I met. Here's that tale, transferred from my personal journal:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

First of all, at Standing Indian Shelter, just a mile in from the start, I barely stopped to photograph the shelter before resuming the gradual climb on an old road up Standing Indian Mountain. A couple came out of the shelter soon after I passed and were following me up the mountain at almost exactly my pace. I picked up my pace a little and they were out of sight, but caught up with me again on the way down the other side. It was a funny situation because they didn’t talk to me (and, stupidly, I didn't initiate a conversation) and they didn't seem fast enough or interested in passing me. So eventually, preferring to hike out of earshot of them, I increased my pace on the totally smooth trail.

I didn’t see them again until the next shelter – Carter Gap. And the story at that shelter only added to the interest. I was taking my usual photos of this shelter – one of the less easily photographed because it faces a tangle of woods – when someone from the deep shade inside asked if I was ‘Seeks It’. It turns out it was ‘Gutsy’, who I met much farther north as she was hiking with ‘Patches’ and two guys they had just met. Patches has the ‘WatchBethHike’ blogger blog, which I may have mentioned.

Gutsy decided to get off the trail after a heart-wrenching phone conversation with her young granddaughter who missed her terribly. Apparently she’s very much of a hands-on grandma. She said she ‘has them’ two days a week, referring to grandkids, I assume. So what was she doing on this section of trail that she had already done this year? She was with two friends who began their thru-hike March 18th, just offering them her hands-on support and advice and encouragement. Gutsy, it turns out, did a thru-hike back in the late 90’s (if I got my facts straight). Now she was hiking with ‘Navigator and JK,’ who were working their way into shape doing just about 8 miles a day.

Navigator, it turns out, is Sandra Friend, who is a published author of fifteen guidebooks about Florida, half of which are hiking books. She has a good web site at ‘FloridaHikes.com’. JK is her husband. It turns out that ‘Gutsy’ is Sandra’s ‘idol’ regarding hiking, at least AT hiking. They met hiking around Lake Okeechobee.

Gutsy seems like the kind of person who has other accomplishments that would be interesting to know about, but she's too modest to volunteer the information. She has a son who lives in Fairbanks, AK, so I mentioned Kris Capps to her – my friend from grad school days. This is sort of an oblique connection since Kris wrote the definitive book on hiking around Denali, and Gutsy seems to gravitate toward such authors.

While we were talking at Carter Gap Shelter in comes the couple who had been tailing me. Turns out they had met Gutsy, Navigator and JK previously, staying at the same shelter at some point. More connections. So soon I was talking with them also, and got a photo of them with Gutsy. They are obviously in seriously good shape – doing a 20 mile day today to get to Franklin (started the trail on March 25th). Their trail names are Smoke Hawk and Snake Runner. Snake Runner does marathons, and Smoke Hawk didn't admit to any pre-hike training, but it's clear he's pretty physically active, and a mentally tough guy.

Some of this information I learned at the vista on Little Ridgepole where we all met again. It was bittersweet letting my five new trail friends go on north while I had to backtrack to Deep Gap. But I have a feeling I may run into them again. Even Gutsy suggested she may get back on the trail farther north later in the year. I hope she does.

------------------------------------------------------

Here's the route of my hike plotted on a map. Click the link for more photos.

AT Day 76 - Standing Indian Mountain at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park