Re: [at-l] a sad hello again...

["Thomas McGinnis" <tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us>]

>>> "W F Thorneloe, MD" <thornel@attglobal.net> 04/04/00 05:05PM 
I hope you will give yourself a few days in town before a final decision 
over ending your hike, regardless of ..... 

#### Sloetoe, remembering much pain, comments sloely...
PhillyTom,

Fourteen months ago, I had to post a message very similar to yours, except that we weren't yet on the trail.

I know from experience that what you describe is eviscerating.

You may have a sound and solid reason for leaving the trail, but I know too, from personal experience and from what you yourself wrote, that you have more than one sound, solid reason for striking back out on the Trail. You loved the experience and what it did to you.

You wrote that 'Right now my heart is not on the Trail." Know that your heart doesn't HAVE to be on the Trail for YOU to be on the Trail. All that you have to do, to make it from Georgia to Maine, is get up in the morning, put one damn foot in front of the other, and walk. That's all you have to do; and whether you're on the Appalachian Trail or not, you're going to have to do something terribly, terribly close to that anyway, just to get by — just to make a living. Why not 'get by' doing something good for your head, your heart, and your soul? It's not an escape. The AT might LOOK like an escape which you don't want to take, but it will be a confrontation with all that you are, all that you can be, all that you can EVER be. I bet you know that.

Perhaps you feel like you are living a nightmare. Perhaps you think that you (or she) might wake up, and all the good things be restored. Perhaps there's a part of you, like someone else's voice in your head, saying "This really IS going on." And perhaps you know your heart would not be in the hike.....

Please know that whether your heart is in your hike right now or not, if you go back on the Trail, your heart will come to you. I PROMISE you, your heart will come to you. 

Wishing you all that is right and good,
Sloetoe



* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

==============================================================================
Cc:            at-l@backcountry.net
From:          Gary Ticknor <garyticknor@starpower.net>
Date:          Tue, 04 Apr 2000 19:26:44 -0400
Subject:       Re: [at-l] Sleeping bags, socks, and gear
Content-type:  text/plain; charset=us-ascii

In 25 years, the only time I have used my compass was to bushwhack a half mile
to the BRP from a shelter so that I could road walk back to my car. I'm sure I
could have done it without the compass at that.

Still, I hike with a tiny little compass. Has a tiny little thermometer on it,
which I get no end of enjoyment out of. I also have a whistle in my 1st aid kit
- never used it either.

- Gary from Fairfax

"W F Thorneloe, MD" wrote:

> I strongly disagree! The whistle is an essential emergency equipment. I
> prefer to have a compass with mirror, whistle on the compass's lanyard, and
> see a thermometer as only a convenient grabber for a zipper. But the
> compass and whistle are essential. Wait for my trip report and "wrong way"
> story.
>
> OrangeBug
> Atlanta, GA
>
> At 03:01 PM 4/4/2000, Tim Hewitt wrote:
> > > Pocket whistle with thermometer and compass 1oz
> >
> >Lose both of these.
>
> * From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

==============================================================================