Connecticut.
Massachusetts.
Vermont.
New Hampshire.
Maine.
That's it.
When I look at a map, I can hardly believe how far we have come.
How far we have walked.
I remember looking at a map in Georgia only a week or two in, and it was such a minimal distance of ground covered.
Now we are near the top.
Near the end.
Closer to Katahdin.
This trek has been a once in a lifetime, incredible journey, but it has been exhausting.
I feel like I will need several days of nonstop sleep to make up for all the physical exertion on the Trail.
And for me, at least, the states have not been getting any easier.
I have been expecting New England to be tough, especially once we hit Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine; but the mid-Atlantic states have proven to be strenuous as well.
Pennsylvania was rocky. ROCKY.
New Jersey was swampy (and still rocky).
And New York has been relentlessly up and down. Constantly. And swampy. And, yes, rocky.
But every step brings us closer to the end, and I have to remind myself that it will be over too soon.
March seems like so far gone, but at the same time it has zoomed by.
I want to cherish every moment out here... even the difficult moments.
It's in these moments when I feel like I am living.
When I'm trudging along, thirteen miles into a hot and humid day, and I look ahead of me and see a massive mountainside with a tiny little white blaze floating on a tree at the very top.
I stop and sigh.
Sometimes. Most times wanting to quit for the day.
Forget the other eight miles we have to do!
I stop and I sigh and I look up at the top of that mountain.
I feel defeated.
So defeated.
But this is not defeat.
Though I want to stop, I take a deep breath.
I howl.
I growl and I scratch and claw my way up the rock and earth to the top.
I am alive.
Of course, it's usually after such a climb when I drink all my water, eat three Snickers bars and collapse in some leaves not to wake up til morning.
But it's one more mountain.
And come morning, there will be more.
"I want to be a lilikoi, Boy Lilikoi
You grind your claws
You howl, you growl
Unafraid of Hoi Polloi
You run, you're free
You climb endless trees
You reignite"
Reignite...
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a conversation you and I had not too long ago, Micah. I remember us talking about Inspire, Desire, Refire... . And you sent a message to remind me of that talk.
So enjoy New England... so much history, the beginning of our country.
Sometimes I imagine what those people were thinking to pick up everything and set off across the ocean to a new life filled with inspiration, desire, and new hope. What were those people thinking taking that risk?
Kind of like deciding to walk the AT.
Yes, reignite.
ManCub... Today...July 5th....0200... I am reading this entry once again and trying to imagine your 1500 mile hike. 1500 miles!!! Oh my, I cannot express how incredibly proud I am of you and KitFox. I am so glad that you are on the AT together...experiencing every high and every low along the way...together. I love you two. Every day I think of you and always pray for God's continued blessing upon you. Tonight...Bruce, Glenda, Daddio, and I were looking at a map of Maine...Dad highlighted the AT and I imagined you and KitFox on the border...taking your first step into Maine. You are almost there...it gives me goosebumps. Reignite! Every morning....Reignite! "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21-23
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