In the moment - almost

I've hiked only about 150 miles so far but in that little bit of the AT, I have walked on snow, ice, mud, and swampy muck. I've scrambled up and down knarly boulders on all fours. I've beaten my boot soles over miles of sharp rocks. And, oh yeah, every once in a while I have walked on soft, dry, flat trail. One constant I have learned about the AT - no matter what you are walking on, it will change abruptly and often. So I walk on the steep or rocky or muddy trail happy to know it will end soon. And I speed along the dry, flat trail fretting that it will end around the next bend.

One of the beautiful things about hiking long distances is finding that place in your soul where you live totally in the moment. I'm obviously not there yet. But I'm getting close. Most of the time, my time horizon is down to a few minutes, just around the bend or over the rise. Eventually I expect I will quit thinking about how the trail will change up ahead and learn to just take whatever the trail wants to give me. I can't wait for that to happen. The irony in that statement does not elude me.

Lehigh Gap

At the Pinnacle with Crosby (and Alison)

Random piece of rocky trail above Port Clinton

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