March 2005

 

March 8, 2005- A snag has developed in my site update plans. I had planned to update the journal by keeping my log on a pda and transmitting updates via phone when I arrived at a town. Well it appears that the pda won't talk to the phone. I'm not a technical genius but it seems that the problem revolves around USB peripherals. Apparently both devices are considered to be USB peripherals and they can't talk to each other directly, they need a computer intermediary. I've considered an infrared or bluetooth modem but no one will guarantee that they will work with the pda in question. Right now the best option is wifi but I can assure you that hotspots will be few and far between.

There is a company that claims to have a solution in production. The original release date was Feb. 22 but that has since been pushed back to March 22 awfully close to my departure date. Oh well, this doesn't interfere with my leaving, it just means that updates may be 3 to 4 weeks apart instead of a week to 10 days.

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March 18, 2005- It's been a while since I've updated but I've been extremely busy. Even though I have retired from my regular 40 hour per week job I still work part time. My hours are flexible and I have the luxury of working at home. This is a two edged sword as I feel that I have to get everything that needs to be done in the next 6 months completed before I leave. This has turned my normal 10 to 12 hour work week into a 50 to 60 hour week

I've also found time to visit my daughter. She is a student at the University of Michigan and spends her summers doing field research in Alaska. She usually visits for a week or 2 after the spring semester ends and before heading to the tundra. Since I, hopefully, won't be here for her visit this year I figured it might be a good idea to go visit her. I've also been in the process of getting the medical stuff together. The dental stuff is nearly complete, (I was informed that I have another tooth that needs to come out but decided to wait on that since the last time I was told an extraction was needed the tooth lasted for 3 additional years before it started annoying me.) I visit my regular doctor next week but I don't expect him to say anything negative. He is has always found me to be in good condition, "for my age", but always cautions me to remember that I am not twenty anymore.

Finally there are the scouting activities. Our District Pinewood Derby is coming up tomorrow and I'm the de facto chair. It's been running me wild. Overall, it's been a very harried and hectic time. I'm really looking forward to moving back into the slow lane.

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March 24, 2005- T minus 4 days and counting. I learned that even though my daughter is still planning to drive me to Springer Mtn. she decided that she was going to skip hiking at this time. She thinks that the temperature is still too cold. My son learned that he is scheduled to work all of next week. It looks as if I will be heading out accompanied by me, myself, and I.

I still have not received the cable connecting my pda to a phone so at least for a while updates will be dependant on my finding WIFI hotspots when I am in town. Consequently future updates may be infrequent.

Journals are sometimes difficult to follow because we live in a 24 hour day and it's not easy to decide where to break off the entries for a day. The separation is somewhat arbitrary. Since I won't have electric lights and can't work late into the evening I've decided to start and end my journaling day at around 7:00pm. This time will get progressively later as daylight hours increase. This means that the entries for the day will start with 7:00pm the previous evening and will close at 7:00 the evening it is being written. Any event after 7:00 will be posted the next day.

Journals may be entertaining but their primary purpose is informational and educational. They may contain comments about water sources, difficulty of climbs, general trail conditions, and temperature. They serve as guides for future hikers and an aid to jog my memory about events. I hope that you find the information contained to be useful.

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March 27, 2005- This may be the final entry for a while as I am heading for Georgia tomorrow and have yet to work out how I can update while I am gone. My packing is just about done. I have to stuff my sleeping bag into its sack and then I'll be ready to go. Still have to complete my taxes and get them in the mail but that will be a job for this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

A question that I have been asked frequently is, "Why?". Why am I attempting to do something like this? Basically, I am over 50 years old and I still don't know what is important to me. I am surrounded by people, each one trying to convince me that their causes or ideas are of such importance that I should invest time and energy and I frequently follow along. I went to high school and college because my parents felt it was important that I do so. They also influenced my career choices leading me to choose a career path that offered a steady, reliable, albeit low income stream rather than a high unstable cash flow. Environmentalists are trying to convince me to save the environment whatever that means. They cannot even seem to agree on what saving the environment means.

For some reason, certain people feel I should worry about national and world political events. True, there are wars, political duplicity, alliances, and betrayals but that has always been the case but the lack of mass, instantaneous communication made allowed most of the world to remain ignorant of what once would be considered local events. Despite our mass ignorance at the time, civilization has somehow muddled through. Does knowing about an event elevate its importance and if so why?

Many around me feel that it is important to make some type of contribution and they are eager to enlist me in helping them make their contribution. I have to wonder who is making a larger contribution; the political activist who goes out everyday trying to persuade people to accept his or her point of view, the gentle hearted person who goes out of his way to help a neighbor, or the cloistered monk who is fervently praying for the world and its people. Each feels that he or she is making the important contribution and each may be unable to recognize or dismiss as irrelevant the contributions made by others. I want time to think, without the influence of other people, about the type of contribution I want to make, if I even want to continue to make one.

We are bombarded with competing and conflicting messages. It seems that more people are interested in scoring political points than they are in finding the truth. I read both the Wall Street Journal and the Courier Journal each with its own political bent and I find it difficult to believe that I am reading about the same events. Spin and public relations seem to be the rule. Recently, a police officer was shot and killed on duty. People have used this personal tragedy as and example to support the case for and against gun control, to call for investigations into how the justice works or doesn't work, and to call for in increase in government funding for mental health agencies.

Business adds to the clutter and confusion, spending billions of dollars per year trying to persuade us that we absolutely need their latest offering. I realized that I had to get away when I spent weeks trying to decide a really trivial issue. The issue was whether I should replace my old, unreliable pda with a new one and once having decided to get a new one, deciding which one to get. By the way, I think I made the wrong decision but that's another story.

The list goes on but I've written enough to demonstrate the idea. I need to get away from outside influences so that I can decide for myself what is important to me and decide how I am going to proceed once I make that determination if I do make it. I realized that I don't need to hike for 6 months to do so. I could live in a cave or on a deserted island with my own thoughts just as well but the work part may be missing. Perhaps I have been influenced more than I thought by medieval monasticism. The idea of eating simple food and doing simple work seems to me to be the best way to clear the mind of clutter and improving mental and physical fitness. I may be wrong but I am willing to find out.

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March 28, 2005
Starting Location - Louisville, KY
Ending Location - Dawsonville, GA

My daughter Emily, Justin, and I left Louisville with the intention of driving to Amicalola Falls State Park. The AppalchianTrail ApproachTrail is in the park.

Well things don't always go as planned. Emily overslept and I kept finding more and more loose ends to tie up. As a result we didn't leave Louisville till after 2:00 instead of the 10:30 start we planned.

It rained heavily during most of our drive down I-65. and visibility was poor. Traffic was heavy and slow moving in spots. Consequently we didn't get to the Amicalola area till after 11::00 PM. As a result we decided not to try to camp and are staying at a Best Western in Dawsonville.

There was a bright spot. We did stop for dinner and had great cheap eats. We stopped at Emma's Family Restaurant where the 3 of us had all we wanted to eat for $15.00 including tip. No it wasn't all you can eat but the servings were large, good, and inexpensive. A true welcome to the real South.

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Tuesday -3/29/05
Start - Dawsonvllle GA
End - Stover Creek AT Shelter
Miles traveled 11.3

A bittersweet day. It started great with a Continental breakfast at Best Western. We felt no need to hurry and didn't leave till after 10. Spent a great day hiking at Amicalola. By the way, Amicalola is a Cherokee word meaning tumbling waters. It is the highest falls east of the Mississippi. We, or I should say Emily and Justin climbed to the top. I went about 2/3 up and then went down to pick up the car to meet them at the top.

We then drove around to Forest Road 42 to where it intersects the trail and hiked back to the beginning. From Springer we backtracked back to the car and had a late lunch. I finally picked up my load at 2:30 and we hiked to Stover Creek Shelter (2 1/2 trail miles).

My mood changed at Stover Creek. Emily decided that she and Justin had to leave if they wanted to get back to the car before dark. Even though I knew that the time was coming the announcement still saddened me. I'll miss her greatly.

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Wednesday March 30
Start - Stover Creek Shelter
Stop - Hawk Mtn Shelter
Miles traveled 5.1

Had an enjoyable night last night. A troop of Boy Scouts from Louisiana stopped for the night and we spent a few hours socializing. Had the whole shelter to myself as everyone else decided to tent.

Started out at 8:40 and got here about 2:30. I did take a side trip to Long Creek Falls. The main problem is the heat. The temperature is approaching or in the 80s and the sun just draws the energy right out of everyone. There is no water for another 6 miles. I figure that it would be better to stop and plan for a 6am start to beat the heat.

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Thursday March 31
Start - Hawk Mtn Shelter
Stop - Gooch Gap Shelter
Miles traveled 7.3

Last night I had the shelter to myself. at least till 1.:00am when an approaching thunderstorm drove Red Wing and Hopeful (a couple from Michigan) to the shelter. It was still pouring down rain when I woke up and the classic internal argument started: to go or to stay put in a dry place. The problem with arguing with yourself is that no matter what you decide, you still lose the argument. Well for some reason I determined that valor was the better part of discretion and packed up and headed out to wade up the trail. Wading is the proper word because there were stretches where the water was 4 to 6 inches deep and flowing like a river.

When I packed I forgot to leave my lunch out and it was buried in the bottom of my pack where I couldn't get to it without getting everything soaked. Rather than do that I was resigned to a hungry day.

Things took a turn for the better when I got to Horse Gap and spied a white Eurovan. The owner said, ".There looks like a hiker in need of food." ..It turned out to be Cimmaron. Cimmaron is actually from Florida and he and Bear Bag are helping Brewmaster get started. While in the vicinity he tries to help other hikers through their first few days. There are many people like him found along the trail, especially in the early stages. He gave me some candy bars, not exactly a lunch mom would approve of but they sure hit the spot.

Stopped raining about 3:00 and I took a break and had a second lunch. Sat on a very wet rock to eat but I figured that my behind couldn't get any wetter than it was.

Made it in at 4:30

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