I wanted to hike Saturday on Monday, I knew I was going to get wet, but I didn’t care. An awesome person and hiker friend posted a great piece on making time for self. Saturday was time for self.
If I have learned anything it’s that life can change quickly and unexpectedly. If you keep waiting for the perfect time to do something you’re going to grow old with regrets.
The first few miles of this hike, going South to North, starts in a grove of mountain laurel and leads into a small, but amazing boulder park. I can’t help but get wrapped up in thinking how far back in time people used those rocks as a place to live. And of course this was where I fell, hard, almost on my face.
It was sort of exciting actually, just walking and then boom, your staring at dirt, 6 inches from your eyes. I had caught a stick on the front of my left boot. As with any other humiliating event in life you take stalk, get up and keep fucking moving. There are people that have it much worse than you so suck it up buttercup.
I guess one odd part of this hike is the fact that the few miles run right through a whole bunch of oil leases. Luckily, all the pump jacks were off when I went through. But after that stretch you walk into the most beautiful valley of moss covered trees and waterfalls. And of course, that’s where I got off trail. There are old white blazes in this section, just remember to stay with blue and you’ll be fine.
There is a brand new lean-to here as well as several beautiful campsites spread all through this valley right along Hammond Run. If I was ever to run away from home, this indeed is where I would be.
An amazing thing happened on my way into this section of trail. I experienced a flashback from when I was a kid living on the Johnny Run in Russell. I remembered exactly why I was there, why I was hiking and exactly why my life has lead me where it did that day in the woods.
Stop and reflect for a minute about that puff of air that carries the scent of someone you love when they walk toward you in a rush, anxious for open arms. That feeling you get when you hug someone you’re in love with. That deep warmth inside you that starts with an embrace and then envelopes your whole body. THAT was what hit me and it happened more than once.
My heart wants to believe it was my Dad, his birthday would have been the next day, but none of that was even on my mind. It was just a coincidence that those few warm puffs of air smelled so sweet, like the steam of boiling sap mixed up with dirt and bark. Earth
I am all in, every single thing around me was alive, IS alive. And that’s why I love being out there, knowing that even what may appear to be dead and lifeless, IS while it lies in nature’s hands, alive and communicating if you listen with more than your ears.
I finished my hike out by making it to Route 321 and Sugar Run. In fact, where the NCT hits Sugar Run is usually my turn around spot when I fish it. And of course what pops in my head but an adventure out fishing Sugar Run with my Dad. A place we hit at least once a year when Dad was up for the Summer.
If you’ve ever heard me speak of Sugar Run before there is one story I love to tell and Dad did too. The biggest rainbow trout I had ever caught came from that stream on a day I’ll never forget out fishing with Dad.
How I wish I could get one more day in the woods with my Dad! Oh that’s right, I just did 🙂
