BMT/AT Figure 8 Day 49: The End
Day 49, Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Stealth Site on Stover Creek (Mile 2189,2) to Springer Mountain to Amicalola Falls S.P.
Mile 539.3
Miles Hiked: 3.9 to finish + 8 via Approach Trail to REALLY be done
RELUCTANT AND GLAD
I hiked out at first light this morning, reluctant and glad, both.
Reluctant because I finish today and I know I’m going to miss this daily pilgrimage the nano-second it’s over. Glad because I’m ready to do something else for a while.
Reluctant because it is sooooooo beautiful right now—fall colors peaking; dry; warm; starry nights. Glad because everyone else in the world thinks so, too, and have amassed in droves to witness the beauty and leave their piles of toilet paper behind, unburied.
Reluctant because my body loves the daily challenge of clicking off miles, under its own power. Glad because I’m also tired.
Reluctant because hiking is good for me. Glad because hiking gives me fodder for creation and it feels like it’s time to go home and make something.
SMALL THINGS
This morning I sat on top of Springer Mountain, remembering to appreciate the accomplishment of walking 539.3 miles, of completing something I set out to do. I so often forget this part of doing a thing, moving on too quickly to the next thing without savoring the present thing.
Small things happened.
A chipmunk betrayed his den under a rock, next to a mossy root. He came and went, over and over, each time returning with his cheeks puffed out and full of winter provisions. People came and went, too. But no one noticed the chipmunk but me.
An old man on a training hike shared his hopes for a successful thru hike next year.
A woman, staring at her phone, coming up from the parking area on the Forest road, marched off down the Approach Trail declaring “The AT is this way!” It was not, but she didn’t want to be wrong and resisted my attempt to convince her otherwise. It reminded me of the couple who’d followed their phone down a goat track in their Kia and got well and truly stuck in the mud.
THE GATHERER SHOWS UP ON SPRINGER
Best of all, the Gatherer caught up with me. The one person I met who I’d want to share the summit with. We reminisced.
About the hot showers at the Thunder Rock campground.
About the BMTA’s secret mission.
About the brambles and the many river fords and the lack of views and day after endless day of feeling like the last person on earth.
About Flip Flop burgers.
About bear sightings.
Then we congratulated each other, bumped fists, and made our way separately down to Amicalola Falls—solo hikers to the bittersweet end.
