The storm – The walk

New Jersey

The wind creeps around our tent like a hungry wolf, howling, moaning and pulling at the thin walls.

Then the rain starts. First a light drizzle, then a heavy downpour, which drums on our roof.
Suddenly, a bright flash of lightning splits the sky. Shortly after, the thunder surrounds us, making us feel all its power.
I cover my face with the sleeping bag, turn on my side and close my eyes like a little child.

Everything’s fine. It’s just a storm. Everything’s fine.

three months before

More than three months earlier, I am sitting with “Cliffhanger” at the trailhead of the Appalachian Trail. I confess my concern about getting bored along the way.

The PCT and CDT had that vast expanse, the big sky, spectacular views, deserts, high mountains, glaciers, forests….
The AT runs mainly through the forest and that is why it is also called the «green tunnel».

“Cliffhanger” advises me to focus on the social aspect: the people on the road and in the community.

which is important

And after a week I can feel it:

Here everything feels a little closer, a little more within reach.

It’s about what awaits us: the moss on the forest floor, the flowers along the path, the kindness of strangers, the people who are close to you and who are becoming more and more important.

Vastness becomes less prominent and other things become more central. Here everything is smaller, more intimate, more personal.

We have been in AT for quite some time and I have decided to start writing blogs in English as well.

I’ve had amazing encounters here, from Georgia, to Virginia, to New Jersey.

People with so much warmth and freedom in their hearts, with a fire in their eyes that no one can extinguish.

People who know exactly what they want and others who are just discovering it.

Whether women, men, young or old:

I appreciate each and every one of these encounters.

That’s what makes this trail so special.

looking back

When I look back, sometimes I can’t believe everything that has happened in these 100 days:

initial exhaustion and fewer miles than planned in Georgia and North Carolina, wonderful times at legendary lodges, fairy forests covered in moss and wild onions, the ponies at Grayson Highlands, McAfee Knob and Dragontooth, Trail Days, rain and nothing but rain in Shenandoah, the sadness at the halfway point and the halfway point, and now we have truly arrived in New York.

On the one hand, we have left more than half of this path behind us;

On the other hand, a lot can still happen!

I’m exactly where I need to be

Thunder can only be heard in the distance; It doesn’t rain anymore, it just drips from the trees.

Wearing only my underwear, I step out and slowly become one with the forest: its sounds, its darkness, its smell, its breath.

My arteries are your roads, my veins your rivers.

Everything is clear; The sky is full of stars and below us is the city where tomorrow we will sleep, shower, eat, laugh, drink and celebrate.

What great prospects, I think as I climb back into the tent, cover my face with the sleeping bag and fall asleep almost immediately.

Happy trails!