#135 Blackrock Hut to Hightop Hut - Day 69: ATMM 885.0 to ATMM 906.4
Today's section of trail is beautiful and inspiring, all of it.....
5/9/22
Sunlight skims the high ridge on the adjacent mountain. Its naked trees glow in a fiery redness, a sharp contrast to the deep blue backdrop overhead.
White vapor hangs in the air before my face as I exhale, a temporary reminder of the cold spring morning.
Two small fuel cubes burn in the base of my camp stove, warming the water that will soon hydrate my breakfast.
With map in one hand and coffee in the other I think about the day before me. I feel alive today, inspired, ready to hike a million miles over a hundred mountain ranges.
My neighbors from last night join me at the shelter’s picnic table. Sherpa begins organizing his gear. I continue rinsing off my dishes with the remainder of my warm water.
Purple Rain tells me their story while changing out of her sleeping pants into her hiking shorts, right in front of me. Now, some people might be offended by such a thing, but I just had to get those dishes rinsed off.
The owner of last night’s heavy snores, Quest Star, emerges from her tent and joins the conversation.
The steep five hundred foot climb is enough to get anyone’s heart pumping…..except mine. One of my prescribed medicines prevents my heart from beating rapidly. It usually maxes out at around one hundred beats per minute no matter how hard I push.
This is a new situation for me. I’m not sure how hard I should push. I’m not sure I should even be out here so early in my treatment. I mentioned to my doctor a week before leaving that I was going to hike on the Appalachian Trail for a couple of weeks. Most people really don’t know what that means - the toll on the body and the physical demand of hiking this terrain day after day - but he said it was good to go, so I went.
To be honest, he could have said not to go and I would be out here anyway. I’m a bit stubborn. I just wouldn’t have mentioned it at my next visit.
The trail skirts around the summit of Black Rock Mountain. I take a moment to climb some of the boulders, but choose not to climb to the summit, as the view was great from where I turn around. If you’ve seen one mountain top view you’ve seen them all. I’m joking, of course. Each is a unique treasure unto itself and is experienced differently by everyone who gazes upon them.
No, I choose not to spend time climbing all the way up because I have other destinations on my mind. There are many campgrounds along the trail in Shenandoah N.P., and one I’ll pass by today is Loft Mountain Wayside, where I plan to purchase real food. They also have camping spots and hot showers, but it’ll be too early in the day to stop for the night. After the past few days of rain and clouds there’s no way I’m loafing around a campground, wasting this perfect sun-shiny sixty-degree sunny day.
Today’s section of trail today is both beautiful and inspiring - all of it - from the big blue sky spanning beyond the mountains to the smallest of leaves fluttering in the wind.
In short, it’s a perfect day for a hike and I intend to hike in it’s perfection.