#174 Fitzgerald Falls to Fingerboard Shelter - Day 99: MM1378.5 - MM1391.2
Since the beginning of this hike, any time I’m asked on the trail how I'm doing, I've been responding with a hearty "Living the dream!"
4-25-2024
The only thing better than waking up in a tent to a crisp beautiful morning is waking up in a tent to a crisp beautiful morning beside a raging waterfall.
I didn’t notice last night how much trash is scattered around our campground. That’s one of the negative sides of being so close to a road - easy access to the wilderness for people who don’t respect it.
I pick up a lot of it, but having nowhere to go with it, I leave it in a pile by a log. Hopefully someone with a trash bag will pack it out.
The trail follows the waterfall to the top of the mountain. A trail maintenance crew has built stairs out of large rocks up the side of the waterfall.
Beyond the main waterfall lies dozens of cascading falls nearly all the way up the five-hundred-foot Mombasha Mountain.
High on Mombasha is a small box with the Appalachian Trail logo on it. Inside the box is a small notebook.
The cover it reads, "Living the dream".
Since the beginning of this hike, any time I’m asked on the trail how I'm doing, I've been responding with a hearty "Living the dream!”
Today is my 25th day on trial. It's hard to be away from home for long periods of time because my dreams lie there as well. But my book’s stories cannot be written without first living them.
The dream of sharing my story with as many people who need to hear it is unfolding every day - these stories are not just about hiking but about a long process of healing from life altering events.
I hope those of you who have been following my journey so far, and those who have been reading my recent journeys, have been getting something out of them.
I am amazed at how many people I have met in the past month who have lived through very similar situations as I have. Some, with tears in their eyes, have told me their stories.
My stories do not hold the answers, but share hope and proof that there can be healing on the other side.
Book three of the four book series is being created now in this year’s section hike. New roots are beginning to take hold. New insights are revealing themselves. It’s been a major turning point in my own healing. A very different kind of story is forming. I am becoming a different kind storyteller.
To those who take time to read these stories - thank you for your support.
