Thursday, January 26, 2012

Reflections of the Appalachian Trail Life

Hello everyone.  Sorry for the long hiatus.  I have recently been inspired and motivated to get back on here and write a little, even if nobody is reading!  It is sometimes therapeutic just to get some thoughts out and reflect on some positive memories from the past. 

It is encroaching on the two year anniversary of boomerang and my self's departure for our Appalachian Trail thru-hike.   It seems like yesterday we were getting dropped off at Amicalola State Park, yet sometimes its almost as a deep winter fog sets in on my memory and I fiercely struggle recall the day and other days early in the adventure.  I often catch myself in an irrational panic when these memories escape me.   To cite the Disney classic Peter Pan,  the trail is my "Happy Place" and when I can't reach it physically,  I seek the memory in its stead.  I often worry that time will play its twisted role and slowly wipe these memories away from their storage places while I get caught up in the hustle of life.  I never want to forget.  I don't want to forget a single day, a single view, a single smell,  a single person, the feel of the rugged earth and snow underneath my worn and tattered soles of my shoes, the freezing rain seeping down my neck onto the warm small of my back,  the melodies of the insects at night, the songs of the birds in the morning, or the smoky smell of a campfire, or the feeling like your ready to burst at the awesomeness of the view at the top of a climb.  It makes me so thankful that God has blessed me with a set of eyes and that he felt I was worthy enough to behold the beauty he created and if I were to be struck blind tomorrow I would not for one second feel cheated in life because of the sights these eyes have seen on that trip alone.


 I went to school and earned my Master's degree in Biology which I finished after I returned from the trail in hopes of a career in the fish and/or  wildlife research and protection realm.    As most of you know jobs are extremely hard to find nowadays dangit!! and especially in this area considering the significant cuts the government has made to these departments.   I have since been blessed with a job working with the U.S. Navy.  I only say blessed because at this time, because I had student loan bills that began to trickle in right before a what would be period of financial strangulation.   To normal people in the U.S.,  I have an opportunity to work a 7 a.m. to 4 p.m job most folks would die for.  My first job out of college and I make as much money as a lot of people do who have to support their entire families.  I am extremely thankful for the opportunity and the great financial start I hope to gain from it but it really is hard to look in the mirror every morning knowing I am doing something I told myself I would never do...jump in the rat line with the so many people who go to work sit silently in a cubicle and work solely and passionless for a paycheck.   I do not ever talk about the way I feel about my work for a few reasons: 1.  Job security, there are probably a whole line of folks waiting to take my job.  2.  Its a negative subject and I HATE being negative.  I will boast of my ability to always keep my life in a really good perspective.  There are several people right here in my own town who worry about dinner and whether or not they will be able to feed their kids on daily basis!!!!  That's a terrible way for anyone to have to live!! (yet we fork out countless millions of dollars to foreign countries  who teach their children to hate and kill Americans to help them eat and rebuild homes in countries that are in some parts of the world [Haiti, and other countries located in hurricane alley] statistically proven to only be knocked down again and again by hurricanes every year!!!!! sorry that is a whole different discussion not for this blog). Lastly, 3.  I have a really good chance of being able to go home in one piece at the end of the day and have the ability to see my family.  Our brave service men and women who have so diligently and courageously fought foreign extremist after being  plucked from their life as they knew it and placed on foreign sands to defend our liberties that most of us take for granted everyday....... these soldiers do not have that luxury.    Some of them come home, Some don't, and some do missing limbs, or minds numbed and changed by a brutal war.  The reason I have the option to go to work or not to is because of these people and the people in the past who have fought and defended my freedom from those who wish to take it.  For American soldiers, All gave some-Some gave all.  It is one of the reason I was able to basically quit the real world and walk and live in the mountain for almost 5 months.  I am getting a little long winded and tangent bound so I will break for the evening, get refocused tomorrow and make this a 2 part post.  Thanks for reading and its good to be back!!!  If your not a follower, join and if you are please ask others to follow if you think its worth the read!  Thanks!

Reckless, North

p.s.  my AT thru-hike counterpart boomerang has started a blog so check it out and join if you'd like as well and get from a different view at boomerangbackpacking.blogspot.com

2 comments:

  1. Actually it is boomerangbackpacking.blogspot.com

    Welcome back

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey B-Rang! glad to be back and good to hear from you. I have corrected your linked and joined boomerangbackpacking.blogspot.com. Keep in Touch

    ReplyDelete