Day 3 of the North South Trail

Day 3 of the RI North-South Trail
In which I almost get picked up:

Day 3 on the North-South Trail

Today was not as bad as yesterday. I did a good portion of hiking on actual trails as well as dirt and gravel roads. Still, about 8 miles of today's 13 was on pavement and my feet are sore! My blisters are growing and developing personalities which is good because I need to have someone to talk to. All this nature and isolation is making me a little batty.

Tonight I am staying at a "rustic" campsite near Stepstone Falls in the Arcadia wilderness. Tomorrow's hike will bring me through Arcadia and into the Carolina Wilderness, both of which I've hiked before, so I'm looking forward to it.

Today someone actually stopped and offered me a ride! He wanted to know if I was "hiking or actually going somewhere." This was not the first time that someone intimated that I was going nowhere.

I'm wrestling with the isolation. Being alone is harder than I thought. I've just started wondering where God is in all of this. Not the isolation itself, but in my anxiety and uncomfortable feelings around being alone. It is a slow unfolding that is not "fun" but I'm hoping will be rewarding.

One other thing. In case I wasn't clear, I'm using my iPhone to post all of these updates. The phone is only on in the evening and in the morning. So far the battery is holding.

I Have Blistets!

In which I get blisters on my feet and make some very bad puns:

Day 2 of the NST (North-South Trail)

I am going to say that today was by far the worst that I am going to have for the entire trip. I am going to say this even though it is only my second day and I still have three left. Here are the reasons why:

- it was a 20 mile day

- it was mostly on pavement which is harder on the feet

- it was a 20 mile day mostly on pavement

I now have big blisters on both of my feet and I will not pop them. They will not get the satisfaction  of that. There will be no agony of de-feet. (heh)

Tonight I'm staying at a "family" campground that has at least one RV to every two people. This means no rustic sites. I even have electricity so I can charge my phone. The service is lousy, so no face-time or Skype with all of my fandom.

I have realized how isolated suburbia is on the leg of this hike. For close to 15 miles I walked in front of house after house and only said hello to two people. One was a kid running in his yard yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, a hiking man!" How often does he see people hiking by his house that he got so excited? Was I supposed to do something like a hiking some and dance for the child?

The other was an older woman sitting on her rocker on he front porch. I almost asked her for a glass of lemon aid, but I didn't want her to get off her rocker (heh).

Otherwise I didn't see anyone, or people didn't think it was right to say "hello." The houses are so far back and so distant that I don't think they would know how to be neighborly. Or maybe it is because I look like a crazy person walking with his life on his back and I smell. Probably one or the other.

Tomorrow is going to be a much better day. Only 13 miles and much of that on actual trails. Lets hope I can make it.

North- South Trail, Day 1

In which I remember that there is a difference between hiking and backpacking.

Day 1 of the NST (North-South Trail). It was supposed to be an easy day of only 13 miles. I had forgotten how difficult it is to walk 1 mile with a 40+ pound pack on your back. Tomorrow is supposed to be a 20 mile day. Hooray?

I'm spending the night at the George Washington Campground - at one of their fancy backpacking sites. This means I have to walk almost a mile to get water because a backpacking site needs to be rustic. I'm am not far from a power station and I can hear the road, but at least it's rustic!

Dinner was a delicious box of Mac and Cheese with a can of tuna, and now I'm enjoying a fire (to keep the bugs away) and a tasty Pop Tart. This is the good life.

No revelations (except that my pack is darn heavy), or moments of inspiration. The night is still young, and the sound of the motorcycle on the road may speak to me yet.

I'm Going for a Walk

Today, 8/19, I am going to be backpacking the Rhode Island North-South Trail. For 5 days, 80 miles, I will be walking, and thinking, and cursing the flies and other insects, and enjoying the wilderness. I'm going to try to leave updates via my phone as long as the battery doesn't die.

I haven't done a hike like this for almost 15 years and I have to say I am excited and a little anxious. There is something about carrying everything you need on your back for five days and not having a rapid form of transport to get from point A to point B. It makes you slow down, it makes you think differently.

Such an approach is an obvious nod to the mystical traditions, the folks who would put their bodies through a ridiculous ordeal and/or eat something a little funky and a little moldy, and then have profound visions and revelations from God. Very much like hiking. I'm not going with any burning question or profound through that I want to work through, but am open to any ways in which God might speak to me. Time alone, time in isolation can bring about the unexpected.

On this trek I have decided to not read Canterbury Tales - there just isn't enough time to try to work through such a work. Instead, for kicks, I'm going to read Freud's Introductory Lectures On Psychoanalysis. Whee!

So if you see me wandering through the vast wilderness of western RI with a crazed look in my eye be kind, offer me a bit of food and maybe a ride to a coffee establishment of some kind, and tell me about your mother.