March 30, 1997 (Day 11 – milepoint 110.8 – Siler Bald Shelter)
Great sunrise this morning introduced us to Easter morning 1997. Well rested but not terribly anxious to get moving right away, I relaxed for a while as Void got an early start. We were both keen to go solo today.
A very pleasant morning and my pack was feeling light. At Wallace Gap (mile 104.1) I took my pack off, hid it behind a tree, and took a blue blaze trail off the A.T. seven-tenths of a mile down to the second largest yellow poplar in the world – the Wasilik Poplar (Tulip tree). More than 8 feet in diameter, 26 feet in circumference, and 135 feet tall. That’s a big tree east of the Mississippi.
It was neat to take the opportunity to appreciate something as trivial as a tree, but, while the Wasilik Poplar was my intended reward, I was unexpectedly treated to something else entirely. During the 1.4 mile round trip down to the tree and back, without the weight of my pack, I felt weightless. I was floating…
Back to my walk and eventually made it to the road crossing at Winding Stair Gap. Void, Yard Dog, and Roo were there and a guy from the Nantahala Hiking Club was handing out bags of Easter candy. Yard Dog was waiting for his family to arrive for a quick visit. He invited me to join them and said that I wouldn’t be disappointed. I sat down and relaxed.
Void was anxious to move so he headed on up the next mountain to Siler Bald Shelter. Ten minutes later, Yard Dog’s family showed up: Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Miss Yard Dog, all from South Carolina. Following proper introductions, Ma Yard Dog pulled out two large picnic baskets full of meatloaf, green beans, sausage-cheese balls, corn, fried okra and sweet iced tea. After the first monster helping, she insisted in classic southern drawl “Now y’all git ya some seconds, there’s plenty…” After a second monster helping pushed me beyond my threshold, I modestly declined her third offering. “Well then get ya some dessert,” she said, presenting a third picnic basket, “apple pie and rice krispie treats, there’s plenty.” Hmm, good point. Two pieces of pie and too many rice krispie treats later, they filled a plastic grocery bag with more, “for when you get to camp.”
The three-and-a-half miles to Siler Bald Shelter were very slow. I went the whole way with my hipbelt unfastened. Here at the shelter with Void are Bones, Minstrel, and Marshmallow Dreamer. They were all as happy to help me with my leftovers as I was to share them. As I lay in my sleeping bag prepared to drift off into comfortable numbness, I’m too tired to care much about the tink-tink sound of rain on the tin roof above.
Aquaholic
March 30, 2009
Hey Aquaholic,
Greetings from the year 2009. Thank you for sharing your story. I am enjoying being reminded of your experiences and am gaining a new perspective from the way you lived your life back in 1997.
I remember that during this part of your trip you are spending a lot of your solo time considering your past and pondering your future. I remember you asking the air for insight into both. Well, I have a lot to share with you.
You asked to be challenged and you asked for the opportunity to impact others in positive ways. Each time you asked, you came away feeling safe, secure, and happy. That feeling was the result of what I am getting ready to share with you: my perspective from the next twelve years of your life.
My motive is the same as yours, to add deeper meaning and purpose to what you are doing and to raise your awareness of who you are and what matters. As you share your experience over the next six months, I will share mine.
To begin with, I can tell you that after twelve years, though our circumstances have changed considerably, life continues to be an adventure. Not long after you finished your hike, I left your eternal world and entered one contained by space and time. I have been challenged beyond your expectations and I am certain that I have positively influenced people.
That said, what I will share with you in the coming months will challenge your every emotion. You will feel greatness and you will feel overwhelming pain. I will affirm some of your convictions and completely dispel others. But although your fate is set through 2009, our future beyond is wide open, and that really is the point.
I am a little out of balance at the moment, but from this day forward, harmony and abundance are our future if we make it happen.
You’re going to help me find clarity so that, together, we will float weightless again.
With love and gratitude,
Joe O’
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