#153 Pine Knob Shelter to Raven Rock Shelter - Day 78: MM1049.0 - MM1062.1
One of many reasons to go into the wilderness is to learn ways to be better - not to deface the teacher.
4-4-2023
Homer’s Odyssey sets the tone of conversation at this morning’s breakfast table. Almost unavoidably, Odysseus’ long journey home after the Trojan War steers us into our own reasons for journeying the Appalachian Trail (A.T.)
Though Mr. Rook and Dessert Queen are no strangers to hiking, they’ve never taken on anything as tough or as long as the A.T. Inspired by the story of Peace Pilgrim decades ago, Dessert Queen has always dreamed of hiking it. So here they are, living the dream.
Faze and I, as she will open up more with me over the next several days, are both here for healing from battle wounds - each traveling from one phase of life into whatever the next one may be.
Meeting a hiker named Faze so early into this hike, only ten days after talking with a teacher at work about living life in phases, is no accident. These encounters are but two of the many things that influence how the story of this hike is told.
I’m somewhat familiar with the story, though I’ve never read it all. Before leaving the table I write in my journal: Read The Odyssey when you get back home - (I didn’t) - thinking perhaps there’s something in it to be gleaned that will influence how I am writing the stories from this long 2023 journey.
The trail passes Annapolis Rocks and Black Rock Cliff, and both have people climbing around on them. I drop in for a snack at Annapolis Rock. A teacher from the valley below asks questions about my backpack and journey.
Walking from Annapolis Rocks to Black Rock Cliff with four more teachers - three ladies and one guy - I ask why so many day-hikers I’ve met out here in the past few days are teachers. They say it’s spring break week in Maryland. My new companions all teach at the same school and have been hiking buddies for a long time.
They ask what brings me to the trail. After my short story one of the ladies signs up on my Sprawl Facebook page on the spot and promises to check out my BLOG when she gets home. The rest said they’d do the same at home. (some did, some didn’t)
Earl, 78 years old, part time minister and part-time substitute teacher, has the spirit of a man half his age. He and I stop in the middle of the trail for a deep conversation. His friends hike on.
Faze passes by and catches some of our words, as she later says, “You and that guy were deep into some heavy stuff, huh?”
With both eyes focused on the rocky ground I realized I’d accidentally followed a side trail to High Rock Overlook and was no longer on the A.T.
Trash of all kinds is liberally scattered along the ground, mostly behind the tree-line, where the wind has blown it. Beer cans and bottles surround the No Alcoholic Beverages sign - Okay, that’s comical, I guess, in your own back yards, but not so funny up here.
Excessive graffiti covers everything possible - the ground, rocks, trees, even the signs discouraging trashing the place didn’t stand a chance.
Why is it like this? Because a gravel road ends here. A road that connects “civilization” to the wilderness - whose town’s “artists” have run out of opportunities for defacement in their own communities, so they end up here.
One of many reasons to go into the wilderness is to learn ways to be better - not to deface the teacher.
Some love what it has become, others despise it.
Guess where I land on the matter.
I backtrack to rejoin the A.T. encountering much more trash, very deep into the woods, through the graffiti covered trees.
What a disgrace!
Devils Advocate: Could it be said that the thousands of white blazes along the A.T. are graffiti?
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