QUOTES FROM "THROUGH HIKER'S EYES, PART 1"
GA


The two of us walked along the path until we found the plaque marking the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We took a few snapshots of each other at the plaque before I started looking around the summit. Only then did I realize that I had no clue where the Trail headed from here. "Hey Jane, I'm not trying to be funny, but do you know where the Trail goes from here?"

She first looked at me with a smile like I was joking, but then as she started looking around the vague woodlands, her face became more serious. "It would be bad if we ended up at Amicalola Falls again today."

Just when I was about to set my pack down and start scouting the area, up popped Many Sleeps with what I'm sure was a big smile buried under his bountiful beard. "It's a beautiful morning to start your hike"

"Yes sir, we were just about to get started…still getting our bearings."

"Well, if you're headed to Maine, always follow the white blazes north," he instructed as he pointed to a path that almost magically appeared. A tree painted with a small white rectangle suddenly stood before me.

"After you," smiled Jane.

I took a deep breath, gripped my poles, and headed north. "Into the wardrobe we go."

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NC
While Jane and I deliberated whether we should hike five more miles, River Weasel came in followed by Gandoda. "Was it just me or did that mountain have seven summits?," quipped River Weasel as he threw his poles to the ground.

"I didn't think you were sober enough to hike today," jabbed Donkey Love.

"I've been sober since the second summit, thank you," grinned River Weasel as he jokingly staggered around.

"So what do you think?" asked Jane as she snapped me back to attention.

"It's almost 6:30. I think I'll follow the wisdom of Model T and call it a day."

"Hike your own hike! That's what I always say," interrupted River Weasel. Everyone in the camp turned and looked at him. "You know I coined that phrase. Not the 'Hike your own hike' part, but the 'hike your own hike - that's what I always say' phrase."

Jane agreed that tomorrow would just have to be a rough day, so we made camp. No sooner had we finished than Silverfoot came walking up. "Not you!," barked River Weasel. "I'm entitled to at least one night of rest!"

"Excuse me!," shot back Silverfoot. "It was you with all your bad jokes that kept everybody up last night!"

"Well, there's not enough room in this camp for you, especially since Gringo's new orange tent takes up half a football field."

"It's big, but I finally have something I can stretch out in," defended Gringo.

"So, continued River Weasel, "Unless you have a hammock like Baro and me, and oh, oh I don't think you do. You'll have to go somewhere else."

"That just proves you've never seen my tent, and once again you don't know what you're talking about," Silverfoot said with a smile. "It will fit right between Gringo and Gandoda."

Now I, along with everyone else, had been fully entertained to this point by their flirtatious fighting, but we all saw that there was barely enough room to squeeze a greased pig between their tents. Five minutes later, Silverfoot whipped out the smallest tent ever created and slid it into place with room to spare.

"Is that a Barbie tent? Where did you get that? In a Happy Meal?" laughed River Weasel.

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TN
"Here goes!," I yelled at Jane as I stepped out from the safety of the trees and into the wind and hail. I took about twenty steps into the raging storm when lightning struck directly in front of me bringing me to an abrupt stop. The bolt hit so close to me, my head was flooded with a tingling sensation. It was at this moment when I was shaken up by the near blast that a gust of wind picked me up and threw me five feet, landing me face first on the ground. The next thing I know, I'm a human turtle crouching under my pack being pelted in the face with hail every time I look up. Instinctively, I turned my pack towards the menacing storm just as another gust came flying over the ridge and literally pushed me a few more feet towards the ledge. This is not how I wanted to die!
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VA
Later that night, as I lay in my hammock journaling, I heard a sound deep in the woods that I had never heard before. It sounded like something very large moving around. Not only was it moving, it was ripping things apart and screeching and squealing as it went. I was listening closely, when I suddenly heard the same noise from the opposite side of our camp. I didn't see anything as I peered over my hammock except for flashlights now shining from the shelter.

I continued to listen intently, and, for a moment, I thought the creatures were moving off. I breathed a sigh of relief and began to relax. That's when they returned, and, this time, they didn't stop until they were right between Jangle's tent and my hammock. The horrific shrieking sound was deafening. For a brief moment, I thought about climbing out of my nylon fortress, but I knew I would see that little ghostly girl from the well riding the devil's beast. I have a policy about ghosts. I don't believe in them based on the fact I've never seen one. I really didn't want to look out and see anything that was going to change my policy, especially on a night that I slept at mile marker 666.

My mind raced trying to figure out what I should do until a sudden piercing cry made me freeze.

"Jangles!," I screamed out as loud as I could. "Jangles! Are you all right!," I waited, but there was no answer over the beastly noise. "Jangles! Jangles!"

I paused and listened once again, but there was nothing except for the horror that preyed just outside my hammock. With my knife in hand, I took a deep breath. I guess the devil beast got her. And with that thought, I rolled over and went to sleep…as best I could.

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WV
After I parted ways with my favorite Aussies, the next few miles continued to go smoothly except for the fact I now had the Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 mile)" tune stuck in my head:

I just walked 1,000 miles,
And I will walk 1,000 more
Just to be the man who walked 2,000
And then a couple hundred more
Ba-dum-pum, Ba-dum-pum

I was still singing the song when I walked up on the Welcome to West Virginia sign. Subconsciously, I immediately looked around for the camera person who would take a picture of this special occasion, but alas no one was there. I felt I had to do something for proof just in case I woke up tomorrow in Georgia. I dug around in my pack and found my emergency camera I picked up after my run in with Captain Creepy. The next time someone tries to perpetrate me I'll at least have proof.

With camera in hand, I began taking pictures of what had become some of my closest friends. All right, Mr. Leather Hat, you hang up here above the sign and, Mr. Kelty, you lean against the post with Sorrow and Suffering...Perfect.

Content that I now had enough evidence of my state of being, I tucked the camera away in a secure place and continued my journey.

West Virginia, Mountain Momma, Take me home, Country road ...

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