Hiking Log – Gratitude
This is part five of excerpts from the trail log which was located on a New York portion of the Appalachian trail. For the post which explains this series, click here.
Following is my selection of this week’s thoughts of a hiker.
August 2, 2016
As life would have it I have and continue to be given more to be grateful for all the time; because I constantly express my gratitude to universe… & Gratitude creates expansion. I was trying to find a trailhead this morning for a day hike & I saw this one on the side of the road after getting lost and I had never hiked it before; when I came up to the glorious waterfall I was speechless and in awe of its over-whelming beauty, a beauty that I only see because it is already within me. Infinite love & gratitude for this human experience.
I am just out for the day but sometime in the next two months, I will be doing a week long hike starting at a catholic church with a shelter for AT hikers, that’s where I left off last year after my week long hike starting at Fingerboard shelter. That was my first time on the AT for a week by myself & to this day is the best BEST feeling & goal that I have accomplished so far! I am a motha-f**kn badass & so are you! You got this no matter what! The same force that is rushing through that waterfall is the same force that is rushing through you, you are universe experiencing itself in human form; you are divine. Thank you for your time.
If I live outside for 11 months out of the year does that mean that I swallow more spiders in my sleep than the average human does? – Food for thought-
I feel at home on the AT.
Love & blessings.
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I thought this was an interesting post for several reasons.
This hiker lives life as it happens. She said she wound up on this part of the trail because she got lost and happened to see the trail on the side of the road. I know which road she must have been on if she found the waterfall before she found the trail log. So while lost in Orange County NY, she finds a marker for a trail on the road, parks her car, gets out and just goes. She didn’t know what she would see or where she would go. She just knew there was a trail, and it went somewhere, and she wanted to explore it. What an adventurous spirit!
Because she was somewhere she hadn’t planned, this hiker did not realize she was going to see a waterfall. In August, the waterfall was already probably starting to slow down and was past the Spring prime. But to her, when she came around that corner and not only saw but heard the water, it was an amazing moment that filled her with gratitude. Because she was IN the moment. I have run into many people at that specific point in the trail. Some have earbuds in and are listening to something or perhaps talking to someone, and they just scramble up past the waterfall and don’t even see it. I can imagine this hiker coming around that particular bend, and stopping with a huge smile on her face. She probably saw the water glistening off the rocks. She definitely stored that scene in her head to call back at future moments. Being IN every moment is such an amazing way to live life. Anyone who lives in such a way truly does appreciate everything.
And after this hiker spent some time at the water fall, she hiked up the hill past it and kept on going. I’m convinced she just wanted to see what else there was to see. She was on a day adventure, and wherever it took her, she would go. So she got to the trail log, which is about a half hour or so past the water fall and she was still grateful. What a joy-filled lady.
Not only is she joy-filled, but she loves hiking so much she is going to go on the trail for herself for a week, something she had done in the past. It’s really quite an accomplishment to be able to do a weekly hike alone. Not only because you’d have to carry pounds of supplies, and be physically in shape to do such a hike. But also because there can be dangers along the way in terms of slippery surfaces, reptiles and mammals, and the like. This hiker has my utmost admiration for being such an adventurous, problem-solving, brave and grateful person. Kudos, hiker, kudos.
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For more thehousekat.com Hiking-related posts, click here.