So... get on your way!

After the setback and change in plan described in my last post (which admittedly I let languish up there too long) I am fully excited again!  Here is the message my beautiful wife Anne gave me this morning… it’s a quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel: “Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.  So… get on your way!”

I wanted to acknowledge today some of the key influences that nudged me towards wanting to take this hike.

1)      The Boy Scouts, of course!  And my family’s support of the scouting activities.  I was not one who attained an Eagle rank, but I always loved getting out and going on those campouts.  One of my earliest memories of camping was waking up in a two man “pup tent” at a campout at “Desierto de los Leones” national park in Mexico.  I found out that a two man pup tent sleeps one scout and about half an adult just fine.  Dad had slept with his upper body in the tent and his legs outside… and had been uncomfortably cold all night.  (As an aside, I never could figure out why the park was named “Desert of the Lions” as it was neither a desert, nor to the best of my knowledge were there any lions in it.)

2)      My dear friend Jimmy Bray.  If I had to name a single person who most influenced my love of the outdoors in my adult life it would be Jimmy.  Our families lived in Corpus Christi, Texas at the time, so it wasn’t usually mountain climbing that we did… although there was one trip to the New Mexico Rockies.  We did so many different things together in so many parts of the world that I can’t even begin to list them here.  But key was fishing around the Texas gulf coast.  Jimmy was a master at teaching that even on the days that we didn’t catch anything, being outdoors had a magical healing quality.  (Aside: that same sentiment - that there is a healing value in getting closer to our natural world - is something that Benton MacKaye, the visionary creator of the Appalachian Trail concept, firmly believed.)  Jimmy passed away last year after an incredibly courageous battle with cancer.  I’m dedicating this hike to his memory… and I know he’ll be watching. 

3)      Lane Paschal and the awesome Camp Pike that he directed for so many years near Divide, Colorado.  My wife and I had the privilege of serving as staff with Lane and Carla, his wife for eight years or so.  During that time, we were involved in many, many hikes with Jr. High and Sr. High youth.  With the Sr. High’s that led to the first backpacking trips for me… priceless memories.  Camp Pike is still going strong under the incredibly able leadership of Doug and Kim Heaton.  You can see what this camp is all about on the Camp Pike facebook page. 

4)      My sons, Phil and Kevin, who took to Camp Pike like ducks to water and loved the mountains so much that we started taking our own backpacking trips to the Colorado Rockies, usually with Lane and his sons.  Yup, these pictures come from a couple of those trips way back in their High School days. 

5)      Finally, Greenville, SC… the place where I now live.  It is just a great place with easy access to incredibly beautiful mountain trails.  I have enjoyed many of them already, and there are many more yet to be explored.  The Foothills Trail is a 76 mile gem waiting for a mini thru hike at some point after the Appalachian Trail experience. 

I’m off to my final shakedown hike – this time actually on the Appalachian Trail for the first time.  I’ll spend a couple of nights up there, get a feel for the condition of the trail, and see if my gear list needs any tweaking.  The “real deal” will start sometime soon thereafter, after I have digested any final learnings.