[at-l] Most Difficult Mile?

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

I would say the most difficult mile is not BEFORE
Springer/Katahdin...but the mile AFTER
Springer/Katahdin when you finish.

Being on top of the Big K was awesome. Going back down
to Katahdin Stream CG was an odd feeling. I had
completed my journey of 5 mos. Had been on the top of
the world. My life was simple.

Now, I was hiking down the trail..back to a car...and
back home.  The journey was over. I did not want it to

end at a very core level.

Colin Fletcher described it well for me:

"It is always there, of course, when you come back
from the green world. You have been living by sunrise
and sunset, by wind and rain, surrounded by the ebb
and flow of lives that respond only to such simple,
rhythmic elements. But now the tone and tempo of the
days switch. Instead of harmony, jangle.
"

Going down the Big K took me out of the greenworld and
put me back into the world of jangle.


************************************************************
The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com