ENCOUNTERS THAT MATTER: BUGS
2 encounters with notable creatures in chronological and toilet paper usage order
eastern rattlesnake: Fortunately, on this particular stretch, I was the last in the line of three of us walking down the trail and a young computer science student was leading the way (this young woman has rockets attached to her shoes) and she saw an Easter rattlesnake sunbathing on the trail, they both saw each other at the same time and the snake coiled up into a defensive position. Of course, we all backed away, and after a moment of contemplation, I “bravely” took charge with a rock-throwing tirade. In true marine artillery style, I threw 4 large rocks that missed, but now I had this beast bracketed to kill. My next rock hit him squarely and unfortunately it only made him angrier and he curled up tighter and the rattle became loud and loud. Still unfazed (both of us), he wasn’t giving up his sunny spot and I was close to my smoke break and needed to move on; I threw an even larger rock that hit him squarely and he quickly slid five feet out of the way and prepared to attack again. After 30 seconds of pondering a safe excursion beyond the site, the three of us figured 5 feet was enough to run and headed through the danger zone.
THE LARGEST BEAR IN GEORGIA: Meandering only downhill, very close to a parking lot. I was turning left and 100 feet below me, in the middle of the trail, was a bear doing what bears do. She didn’t see me, so I backed up the hill to the bend and hid behind a tree where I could see her but she couldn’t see me. She proceeded to walk down the path towards me. Shit, now what do I do? Right now I would like to tell you to believe that this is how the following sequence of events unfolded. The bear saw me, we looked into each other’s eyes. I pulled out my killer 2-inch blade Leatherman knife and she stood up on her leather legs. We looked each other in the eyes and I yelled at the bear: «NOT BEAR TODAY.» She curiously bowed her head, paused, got on all fours, and lumbered away. SUCCESS. Now, I was actually still very nervous and I backed up a little further and stood on the path waiting for her to continue climbing towards me. She hadn’t seen me yet, so all the bears recommended bear encounter actions (make noise, get bigger, etc., etc.) that I couldn’t implement yet. It was still there after 20 minutes and there was no sign of the bear. A friend followed me down the trail, so I figured even if the bear is gone, I’ll wait for him so he at least knows there’s one in the area. Great excuse too because I didn’t really want to go ahead and see if she was still there. My friend shows up, I whisper to him what was going on and he says, OK, let’s go down the road and see… WHAT? but I can’t stay there forever and 2 is better than 1, at least someone can press the SOS button. We continued along the trail and at the bend where I first saw the bear were 2 little children and their grandmother happily walking up the trail toward us. Before I could warn them about the bear, one of the kids started warning us about a bear and her cubs they had just seen about 20 yards back. HEY? ACTUALLY? And you are happily walking forward. I guess they saw the bear and her cubs about 20 meters from the road and kept moving. Grandma was a very experienced hiker and casually mentioned, «awww, they won’t bother you.» That could be the case, but I still carried my open knife to the parking lot and took a break.
MEETINGS THAT MATTER: PEOPLE
DAMN BEAST: I had just finished a challenging climb up a mountain called Sassafrass (and it will kick your butt, as the saying goes) and when I reached the top, I shouted with self-motivation, “YOU’RE A DAMN BEAST.” Lucky for me, there was a hiker sitting at his campsite a few feet away watching me. I felt a little embarrassed, but hey, that’s my thing at the time. Anyway, we exchanged the usual pleasantries and as I walked away he yelled at me «Hey», I turned and looked at him and he continued: «Remember buddy, you’re a damn beast.«. Great feeling
LUCKY: The owner of the first hostel I stayed at, Above the Clouds. Extremely direct individual. You ask him a question, he answers and that’s it. I wish it could be like that, as most of you know, you ask me a question and I answer and then I say, «well, I have a story about that answer.» Anyway, he was quite the gentleman, but at the same time a very direct and direct individual and I was mentioning that I wish I were a little further down the road now and he looks at me and says. “At the end of the day you are where you should be.” In this environment I thought it was a very profound statement and since then, regardless of my plan and goals every day, I remind myself of it. It simply encompasses that plans can change for any reason (weather, body, mind) and is what it’s supposed to be regardless.
YOGI: Not the bear. I didn’t know this, but the Appalachian Trail has patrol officers who patrol the trails and camp for a few days along the trail. Well, I ran into Yogi, all dressed up in his official uniform as I headed towards Blood Mountain. A very difficult descent that had sections that I would call Khumbu Falls (look it up) of rocks. It was so bad that the trail literally went up around and over the rock field. Anyway, I met up with Yogi and we stopped to talk, as I started to leave I looked at the trail, pointed to a place and asked «is that the trail that goes up and over all those rocks?» (Remember I was going down the mountain) and Yogi says so eloquently «sometimes you have to go up as you go down.» Thank you for that intellectual statement Mr. Patrol Officer.
BOUNCE: Lodge employee training for what I remember was a 2-day 75 mile trail run/walk race. Are you kidding? I added it because it still never ceases to amaze me at the people I’ve met in 9 short days and all the different goals and challenges they’re taking on.
MOTIVATOR: The name says it all. She helped me through my 11+ mile days and motivated others to reach or exceed their goals through a very calm, cool, and passionate voice of reasoning. And he walked 27 miles in 2 days with huge blisters and sore legs to achieve his own goals. Motivate
LAST THOUGHTS:
What is “difficult or challenging” from one person’s perspective does not mean it is difficult or challenging for others. I spent countless nights worrying about the next day’s hike when people started pontificating about how hard it’s going to be because they just got from there, etc., etc. Different challenges and days are different for each individual. Thinking this way has really helped me mentally before each day.
MOVING FORWARD: I continue to advance step by step. Set a goal each day, usually from shelter to shelter. I’m doing it now because the mileage between each (7-9) fits where I’m comfortable right now. And obviously it is better to have a shelter to take into account the weather of the last 9 days. 6 days of rain and 9 days of overcast skies/fog in the afternoons.
Another useful quote: “Whether you quit or continue, both hurt.”
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