a surrender - 15

(Continuing "a surrender," chapter three)

 

into the wilderness

At first, I didn’t tell anyone what I had in mind. I just told them that I was going on a long hike, for a month or so, on the Appalachian Trail. It sounded reasonable. A good way to clear my head after leaving the seminary, and lots of time to think about what to do next. But in the back of my mind there was an idea stirring, a tiny thought, that maybe after my long hike I could just keep going.

The Appalachian Trail runs for more than two thousand miles along the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. I wasn’t planning to hike that far, though. I had found a monastery near the trail, about a six week walk from the southern end. When I got there I could take a retreat for a week or so. By then I might know what to do next. The trail mostly keeps to the wooded wilderness of the mountains, though it crosses roads occasionally, and there are large, three-sided shelters every fifteen miles or so. There are springs along the way to get water, though the water has to be purified to be safe to drink. The trail is clearly marked. And there are maps and guide books that provide all the necessary information for hikers, including the locations of towns not far from the trail, where food and supplies can be purchased. So I bought a map and guidebook, to go with my small tent and sleeping bag, large backpack and good hiking boots. I was well prepared.

That is, my pack was prepared; it took my body a while to get there. I enjoyed the quiet hours of walking in the woods. But my pack was too heavy and there was a lot of climbing and my knees grew sore. It was carrying the pack down the long switchbacks that was hardest on the knees. People walking long distance on the trail often went by nicknames, trail names. I chose “Monk’s Knees” because my knees felt like I had spent too many hours kneeling in prayer. Even though I wasn’t hiking during the busiest time of the year, I met people on the trail every day, and often walked for a few days with one or two of them before we lost each other. The shelters were usually crowded at night, so I avoided them. They often had mice in them as well. I slept in my little tent. For simplicity, I had planned to eat only cold food. But I was surprised how much cooler it was at the higher elevation. So, after several days struggling to get moving in the chilly mornings, I bought a tiny cooking apparatus that could boil one cup of water with a fuel cube. After that I had hot cocoa each morning at breakfast, or oatmeal, and sometimes soup for lunch. And eventually, the hours of walking didn’t wear me out as much. I felt my body growing stronger.

Continued...