Reflections on the spiritual in whites

In the moments between the conversation, the top of the Alpine mountain was very silent. There were no birds, no squirrels, insects or wind to fill the void. It was the quieter place I had been in a long time. The woman she had met at the stealthy site at the top of Mount Hight in the Whites was a hiker of the Sobo section: she would never see her again after tonight. But tonight we fill the silence with thoughts about the value of time only in nature, and about what we had learned on ourselves on the road so far.

Most of this path I have been with others. The AT is full of people, and the whites are no exception, every mile that we have passed to the hikers of one day that are chopping and peak in the 48 4000 feet of page. I use us rather Yo In almost all blogs because I am almost always walking with another person. (The last weeks has been with Mountain Dew and Pony). Tonight, the us We are simply me and Lagos, the hiker of the Sobo section that I had never met until tonight. Pony decided to take a shortcut to the city, and Mountain Dew decided to continue pushing the night, since it was supposed to be cold, raining and windy tomorrow, it is not excellent conditions to walk above 4000 feet. I decided to take a place of stealthy camping on the mountain and enjoy a sunset with 360 ° views in the company of a strangle. The original thought was that tonight could be my first night alone in these forests, every night on the path after having been at least in the auditory range of other campers, even if I did not know them. But tonight I chose to sleep in another human once again, my tired knees and my social instinct for the security in the numbers winning for a passing desire to continue trying something new with a solo stealth camp.

They say that the last part of AT is the spiritual section. Perhaps for us nobles is simply surrounded by the impressive greatness of the mountains, where the bare blouses of the alpine areas allow the surrounding mountains in the New Hampshire mountain range and beyond in a seemingly infinite strip of peaks and valleys. A feeling of astonishment certainly attracts experience at the soul level.

Another way in which the path has become more spiritual is that in some of these mountain drinks, there is a true sense of danger for one of the first times in the walk. A large part of AT is close to cities, cities and roads where you can find help: more than a thousand miles have passed since I think I have really felt isolated in nature. In whites, you can still see the roads and cities well below, but they are much lower than the views of other mountain blouses in the south.

The weather is less predictable in the highest summits, with Mount Washington known for its dangerous and sudden climatic changes that catch the hikers not prepared in potentially mortal storms. Mountain Dew and I was lucky to be trapped under a little rain while we crossed the presidential rank the other day: we arrived at a cabin just after they started the rain, so we did not really soak ourselves, and we could work to work, something only allowed to two hikers per night in the tourists of the lodges pay more than $ 100 per night to sleep in bunks and be treated with the summer style of summer.

Hikers are allowed to take refuge in these luxurious huts in exchange for helping crew I’m sorry, ZeroThe tasks after dinner, and we are allowed to dine the leftovers only after the payment guests have finished and the dishes clear. Then, hikers are allowed to sleep on the dining room floor, they are not given an open bunk, since that would probably make the guests who pay feel cheated to share their bunk with stinky hikers who did not have to pay to sleep inside (honestly, just enough). In a hut, they told us that we could not work for the stay, but they offered us to speak for food, where was the entertainment after dinner usSome hikers who talk about our experience along the way. In exchange for making a panel and answering questions from the families and hikers of one day they enjoyed the life of the cabin in the whites, once again we could have left over the leftovers. It was clear that the cabin teacher was doing his best to make us feel welcome and give us the best treatment that was allowed to give us, telling us about his daughter, which is a triple crown through the hiker herself, but it was still a strange experience in a situation in which we were separated from the comforts of the huts. In whites, there are the cabins or free camps, without free shelters or camping that we have enjoyed during 1800 miles. So, although the ATs are route through these beautiful mountains, once again we are understood against society, forced to leave the social bubble of the path that knows and accepts through the culture of hiking as one of the given generosity and the community found in the forest. In the huts it is difficult not to feel that we are lower class vagrants, they are not allowed to mix and eat with guests who pay, and in a way to compete with each other by the coveted 2 works for stays in each cabin every night.

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The path has provided many times, my own experience has echoed many others with which I have spoken: trams that grow, change and separate as the miles advance. Most hikers at this point on the path travel like a duo or alone, having lost friends along the way due to different rhythm or from the home call that grows stronger after 5 months of hikerism. This works well for whites where the options are limited, but I suspect that this tendency towards alone also contributes to the spiritual aspect of the path.

At some point in our lives, we chose to walk only on this path (some began their trip with a willing friend, but most make their friends on the road), and after many iterations of groups that are formed and tracen and collapsed on the path, we all end up alone again. Most of those who get so far have chosen to walk their own walk, and I am finally being forced to learn to make decisions for myself on this path, they are no longer linked to a group where decisions always had comments, setback and second opinions. Now we are only me and my map, me and my own desires as far as I will go in a day, how much I think I can handle.

In whites, the land slows you a lot. The last days have had rocky rocks that remind Pennsylvania again, some sections of the upper mountains on the tree line are simply piles of rock fields that lend to the stolen fingers and twisted ankles.

Instead of being Pennsylvania with all its road crosses and the magic and civilization of trails around the corner, this is New Hampshire, where if you stumble and fall into these rocks, you could stop falling through a mountain, to never see you again. To mitigate this, the walk slows down approximately 1 mile per hour, decreased even more to need and enjoy the views while balancing in rocks for a moment in the sun.

Also in whites is the most steep mile of the path, which is actually quite similar to the previous increases that we have experienced further south, just this time spends much longer, and the hikers of one day that are familiar with the area are jumping through the rocks while fighting. Everything is worth what is at the top, although our knees will thank us for walking shorter miles, reducing our average to about 8 miles per day.

While I walk only today in steep and long mountains (directly up and down, never a change in the AT), I think of another spiritual aspect of this part of the path. Despite being alone, I still think about the ussince there are so many hikers on this path.

As we all approach at the end of this trip and go through one of the most difficult sections so far, once again they present a challenge: continue choosing to stay on the road for several more weeks to finish in Maine. Every step we have taken has led us to this point, it has made us stronger (and more tired), strong enough to walk through these mountains day after day, all to continue north. Every step we take brings us closer to an end where we will say goodbye to all we have met along the way. We will say goodbye to life on the path we have come to know, even if we do not love every minute, it is a life of freedom. We can choose the time we wake up, the time we rest, the distance we walk, the rhythm we establish, with whom we spend our time. Leaving this life and (for some of us) return to the «normality» of a work of type 9-5 will be a total cervical whip. For others, they will try to maintain some aspect of this life looking for seasonal work or jobs that allow the freedom to continue living outdoors as much as possible. Some will keep the way in their lives like Trail Angels, returning 100 times what they received while they were hikers.

Maybe we all return to the way somehow, reminding us that we are strong, that we have in us to move forward when things get difficult, and that we know how to achieve one goal: one step at the same time. We will know how to accept help, and ideally we will leave the way with a feeling of generosity in our daily lives for all those around us.

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Very well, that is enough to wander from me. I hope that the regular readers of my blog had some grace for my publication last week that was a bit viral and received too many comments from pocket of people I do not know (that is the cost of sharing things on the Internet, I suppose). I really believe that everyone here deserves to find a community, and many try to find it starting conversations with other travelers. I am not one of those who openly reject people who try to talk to me, sometimes I don’t have energy every day to be the best listener for strangers who want to talk when I am looking for silence, and mitigate that I will simply avoid people who are conversions. I guess I just wanted to vent on some interactions in which I had witnessed/had been separated, and that ventilation damaged the feelings of strangers online. Anyway, I hope we can all move on, do everything possible to be friendly to strangers, respect others and enjoy nature. ✌️