Spirituality in 604 Steps

I am no longer a casual hiker. It is official. We started The Canyon Climbers Club this weekend.

Our friends, Mike and Christine, had their engagement party at Amicalola Falls on Saturday. Tara and I talked about it and decided we should get a room to stay and hike on Sunday. After all, Amicalola is on the required hiking list for the club!

Of course, I waited until the last minute to book a room. I always wait until the last minute.  I seem to always think there is more time than there actually is.  (Just ask my friend, Kelly - she will tell you about the panic attacks she has had leading up to our many trips, New York, Florida, etc.  I am not a good plan-ahead type of girl!)  Anyway, this was not the best time to be a no-plan-ahead kind of girl, as a bunch of family came to the party from out of town, and needed rooms and cabins. When I finally called, the nice lady that answered the phone. The conversation went a little like this:


Nice Lady: “I only have one room left. Would you like it?”
Me: “YES! Er, yes, ma'am, please.”
Nice Lady: “It's a king bed, on the first floor. The view is nice.”
Me: “PERFECT! Er, okay, thank you very much.”
Nice Lady: “You really lucked out. We are booked for the whole weekend, even the cabins are all full.”
Me: (Thinking: 'I KNOW! My friend is having an engagement party and I'm a dumbass for not booking this shit earlier!!!') Speaking, “Wow, that's great. Thank you so much.”

We got a room. Barely. Thank god!

Saturday morning, we begin the drive up. After a few obligatory stops on the way, we are headed north. In the car, with coffee, smokes, and conversation, we are headed out to celebrate with friends and then on to conquer a goal feels amazing.

Saturday was gorgeous. There could not have been a better day for an outdoor party. The music, as always, was rockin'. The scenery was great. Good food. I met lots of great people and laughed a lot. We had a couple hours between the band's final song and the bonfire. Tara and I decided to try our luck at finding a Starbucks. The GPS said it was only 6 miles away. WRONG. It was 26 miles away. Not 26 highway or city miles...26 COUNTRY miles. We were late for the bonfire. It didn't matter. It was fun. And worth every minute!

Sunday morning, we woke up to pack and meet Pam and Ric in the dining area for breakfast before our big hike. Ahhh...the hike. 604 Steps up. And then down. Two miles total. But a strenuous two miles it will be. We took a lot of stopping breaks. Water, pictures, sit down. Water, pictures, sit down. Hike. Hike. Hike.

But, oh, the journey is well worth it! The waterfall is a sight to see. It is amazing to see this beauty up close and personal from all angles and levels! We reveled in every moment. There were silly pictures and fun pictures, pictures alone and pictures together. There are pictures without any of us in them – the beauty around us too great for human tainting.

There were times when we split off from each other, Pam and Ric enjoying the moment together, Tara and I enjoying...and other combinations of the four of us. Even times when we were all somewhat separated – just enjoying this in our own spiritual way. Together and alone, we all felt something that powerful.

I deeply enjoy the conversations that happen on the trail. It has been my experience (even though I'm not a seasoned hiker) that, though I may already know the person I'm with, a conversation on a trail is much more intimate and personal than in the outside world. It opens people up and brings them together. There is a sense of unity, of wholeness that takes place there.

Once we reached the top, we were suddenly invigorated. Our exhaustion lifted some, and the joy of the climb filled our lungs and our beings. Walking down, the lyrics were light, our hearts filled with pride. The other side of the waterfall is earth and woods, with berries and trees and nature. We even saw a couple buzzards overhead. Nature in all its wonder.

Once in the air conditioning of the visitor's center (ahhhhhhhhh...air conditioning!), Tara and I got our first punch on the Canyon Climbers Club Cards, and Pam and Ric bought their own membership! They will be hiking the other three trails along with us!

More spiritual expierences are sure to come, as they did Sunday.

Going There, Doing That, and Getting the T-Shirt!

Apparently, I'm a hiker now. I mean, maybe. Maybe I'm a hiker now. But I am definitely an amateur photographer wanna be who takes outdoor pictures in the woods.

I have been hiking four times. All in the last month. I have been to Sweetwater State Park (with Tara), Amicalola Creek Interpretive Trail (with Olivia), Kennesaw Mountain (with Lisa, Tara, and Pam), and Raccoon Mountain (with Tara). In that order. And, Sunday, I'm going to Raven Cliff Falls (with Tara). So that will be five journeys into the wilderness in a month. Obsessive? Probably. But wait until you hear what I've done since this began. Then there will be no need for a question mark at the end of that word.

I have bought stuff. Hiking stuff. I've been to REI and I have purchased. What have I bought?

A hiking pack. I have this thing with bags. I need them. I love them. I buy bags like most girls buy purses. So this sort-a makes some kind of sense, for me at least. This bag is amazing, though. Osprey brand, it is gray and has a pocket for everything! And it's big enough for pretty much anything I could take with me, but small enough so I don't weigh it down with useless shit, as I tend to do. It is messenger-style with a waist strap, so it is easy on my back and my bum neck. That's good. I think it is even waterproof (but not sure)! One thing is for sure, 80% of it is made from recycled material. And that's good.

Hiking shoes. Probably smart, though after only a month? Well, yes. My tennis shoes, in all their gorgeousness and reliability, are not really meant for rocks and trails and mud. I'll clean them up and continue their intended purpose at the gym.  To my credit, I got these at DSW, they were about $75 cheaper than the exact ones at REI. So I'm happy with this.

Dry Sacs. These are amazing! The keep all your shit dry! When empty, they roll up all itsy-bitsy and can fit anywhere (for example, in my new pack)! Just shake it out, put the stuff in it I don't want to be harmed by the lake I could fall in as I dare-devil across rocks to get a picture or as we are standing in the wake of a waterfall, and YAY! dryness!

One thing that won't be in my handy-dandy dry sac is my new Rite-in-the-Rain journal. Waterproof! "WATERPROOF?  What?   Really?”, you say? Well, I don't really know. I'll let you know, though. I haven't yet had occasion to test it out. But the idea of it superseded the price tag on it and I had to have it!

Convinced of my obsessiveness yet?  Well, I also bought a t-shirt from Raccoon Mountain last weekend.  It says "Chattanooga Survivor" on the back.  I don't know why I thought that was so funny.  But I still think it's funny, so it was a good purchase.  I hope to have it in the budget to buy more silly t-shirts as the journeys continue.

...“I made it through the wilderness...somehow I made it through...” keeps running through my head. I can't help it...

So all this. Four, soon to be five trips into the woods. But here's the thing. I don't even really know if I like hiking yet. How crazy is that!

Here's what I like about hiking. I like taking pictures. I like looking at the wonder of nature. I like to exercise. I like to see different things, things that are not cluster homes and mcmansions and strip malls. I like hanging out with a friend and talking the day away. I like going to places I would never go otherwise, small towns and back roads. I appreciate that we have not once eaten at a chain restaurant while on these excursions, except for the mandatory stop at Starbucks before exiting the suburbs.

Here is what I do not like about hiking: I do not like that I have lived here for nearly twenty years and had no idea that all this beauty and life was around me. I feel like my eyes have been snapped open. I'm serious – in nearly TWENTY YEARS I had no idea that hundreds of destinations of beauty were within an hour, maybe two tops, of my front door.

In spite of my indecisiveness, I plan to continue. In fact, Tara and I are signing up for the Canyon Climbers Club. Once we complete the four specified trails, they will give us a t-shirt! (I love t-shirts!) And we have an on-going list of hikes we want to go on, a list that seems to grow every day.

I'm looking for books about hiking, too. I'm a beginner and a reader and an English major. That means I must read. MUST READ. One of my character traits is that I must know everything about everything, especially if I am participating in said thing.

I am particularly interested in hiking in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Maybe Alabama, too, if it is close enough to home. Day hikes only – I am not a camper! If you have any suggestions on books that have been helpful for you, please send the names this way. If the books are available used (as in not super-new, a year or two – maybe five? - years old), and I could get a stack for a reasonable price, all the better!  Or, if you have hiked anywhere you think I should check out, please send out the name.

I will probably be writing a good bit about hiking in the coming posts. Other than my sister's bachelorette party in Florida next weekend and her wedding the weekend after, that's how I'm spending my free time. Please feel free to leave your experience (if you have any), concerns, well-wishes, funny stories, encouraging words, or criticisms of my new hobby below. I am sure I will benefit from each one!