I just wanted to note today that it was my day off and I looked up at the mountain and decided that I wanted to climb to the top where the big metal tower is. I walked up Elm street to the public area where the reservoir is and continued up one of the trails. Just before I got to the reservoir however I came across a mother hen turkey. She was sitting motionless among the ferns on my right and I sensed her before I saw her. She sat motionless and something playing on my spirit made me stop and look around. She was about five feet from me on my right and as soon as I looked at her she jumped and pretended her wing was broken, hobbling nearby to get my attention. I never saw any babies, but did not want to disturb her too much. I merely sat down and watched as she circled around me at a distance of ten to thirty feet. I wanted to test my presumption that she had chicks nearby so I began to mimic a chick sound. I must have done a very good job since she nearly charged me as I did. She only stopped short about five feet from me as I sat on the trail. I got up after about fifteen minutes and continued on, picking up a feather she had left, sticking it in my hair behind my right ear.
Continuing on and up the mountainside, I found that there are many trails riddling this side of it and chose several of the crossroads. I felt no need to mark any of them as I am very good with landmarks. I finally got to the top about two hours later and was surprised that I didn�t even have to rest once. I took no water of food with me and was gone a total of about seven hours so I decided to snack on some berries and the plentiful plantain leaves, throwing a few dandelion leaves in for variety. I find it interesting how much sweeter the plantain in the mountains tastes compared to those in my yard. I spent the day exploring the mountainside and when I got close to the tower and heard traffic on the ridge road I decided to turn back. I had no trouble backtracking my original path and truly enjoyed this day.
Saturday July 5th, 2003: And Take a Friend!
Well, it is my next day off and again I climbed the mountain. This time I took my buddy Drew and we hiked all the way to the Laurel Caverns from down here in the valley. We took a different trail this time (more trails I had never seen) and this time I told him that he would be leading the way back so pay attention. There were only five main crossroad choices on the way up that he was unfamiliar with. It took us a while to get up there as he is not used to such exertions. I am sure I was genuinely annoying to him as I would jog up many a hill and hardly break a sweat or even breath heavy while he was dripping buckets and huffing and puffing all the way. :-)
He had been on the trail before all the way to the top and told me of the meadow we would reach and we did of course. We got to the road and he thought the caverns were to the left. I said we should go to the right and so we did. About a mile down the road we finally came to the entrance of the cavern grounds. Just before that he noted a large flowering shrub and proclaimed that he �liked that bush.� I teased him about that saying I would have never guessed he liked �bush�. :-) I was thoughtful enough to tell him to bring some water with him before we left and he refilled it when we got to the cavern area.
On the way back I stopped a moment as I felt I was being watched. I looked over to where the sensation came from and noted a butterfly on a flower facing me directly. I told Drew to wait a minute and as he stood there waiting, I went over and put my hand up to the pretty little black and blue butterfly. It climbed onto my finger and slowly fluttered it�s wings so I could witness it�s beauty, and once I was finished appreciating it�s colors and form I put my hand back to the flower and he simply walked back onto the plant. Drew just sat watching me and it interact and when I was finished with my little friend we continued back down the mountain toward home.
On the way back Drew led the way and of the five trail switches he took a wrong turn on four out of five of them. The first three I corrected him, but the last one I let him go down the wrong path a while until he was certain it was the wrong one and then we turned back. The last one (nearest to home) he was certain about and just before getting back to the main trail we came across a turtle in the middle of the path. I took a few pictures of him and wondered how he came to be so far from the reservoir but left him to his business and continued on. All in all it was a very nice day!
Wednesday July 16th, 2003: Invisibility to Animals?
Today I thought I would write about my hike on my favorite trail near my home. The weather here has been wetter than usual. I really like that though. I love rain! In fact, right now it is raining and there is thunder and lightning outside. I often like to go jogging, hiking or just be out in the rain getting drenched! I love the way it feels on my skin. Though it is nearing 2am now I did manage to get a quick jog in when it first started around 10pm. People probably think I am nuts jogging shirtless in the pouring rain!
So, it was my day off and I slept in until about noon since I was up until about 4am last night. I decided to jump in the truck and head out for a typical hike. I guess you could say I am a serious hiker. I live at the base of a mountain (in the Appalachian Range) and I often spend all day climbing to the top of it and exploring miles of the trails up there. It has always been this way. When I lived in California I would often hike the coastal and high Sierra mountains, but back to today. I have a favorite trail which is a few miles south of the Laurel Caverns on Mud Pike road. There is a place just off the road where I park my truck. I first had to cross the creek. It's cool water is refreshing on hot days. With all the rain we've been having the forest is covered with ferns, fungi and mosses. The Mountain Laurel is in bloom as are the tiger lilies and it is almost magical up there now. I came to the first rocky area of the trail and noticed a gust of cool air coming from a crevice in the rocks, rustling the ferns hanging over it. I pushed back the fronds and found that the air was coming from somewhere within the mountain. I dug out some of the rocks and the crevice continued on in far into the mountain face. Probably connecting with the caverns below but too small for me to get into.
I continued on and only about 50 yards up the trail I suddenly stopped. I felt the presence of something nearby. I went into stealth mode and crept silently forward. As I peered around the corner of a large Laurel bush I saw that which my spirit alerted me to. A beautiful little whitetail doe. She was foraging in a level area between thirty and forty feet away. She was not aware of my presence and simply went about her business. I sat motionless for ten minutes or so, simply watching her and enjoying the chance to see her acting naturally. I moved silently about ten feet closer to her and though I was in a direct line of sight with her she still was unaware of my presence. I sat looking directly at her, my spirit at peace, when I felt the gentle breeze hit my back. A moment later her head raised up as she caught my scent. She looked off to my left, but oddly enough she never looked right at me. It was as though I were invisible to her as I stood motionless. Not being able to detect me, but catching my scent she trotted off, stopped and paused to scan for me again, and still not seeing me she continued trotting off flaring her nostrils and puffing air through them.
Once she was gone I continued on and spent a couple hours exploring the many rock formations nearby. It is always so peaceful when I am in nature and I wish I could spend every waking moment out there. I feel closest to God when I am among his creations. I took a few pictures and then headed home. All in all it was a very nice day off. The simple things make this life enjoyable for me. Oh well, I guess I should get to bed now. I do have to work tomorrow! :-)
Thursday July 17th, 2003: Just another day
Well, I had to go back to work after having two days off and I was a bit grumpy as usual. It's always a bit hard to go back to work after having a really great day off. It wouldn't be so bad if I were getting the 20-25 hours and 3 days off a week I want but they seem bound and determined to work me no less than 37 hours, 5-6 days each week. The bad part is that I am too nice and have trouble asserting what I want. I too often make myself available and have a reputation of being "the dependable one". This of course has it's good points, but it makes me a bit resentful that working takes up too much of my summer. But enough of that.
Once I got home from work I did my nightly jog which I only started this week. Each night I jog a little further and I can already feel my endurance building. I am already pretty fit but I figured it would be a good way to build my cardio-vascular system and endurance just in case I actually get invited to be on the next Survivor show. I sent my video and application in to the producers last month and according to the website I may be getting a call from them at the end of this month or the beginning of August. If called I will be invited to a preliminary interview in Pittsburgh and if I go on from there the next interview will be in L.A. I already have my Passport and I think the biggest concern I have (should I be invited to go) would be the problem of me not wanting to come back. The thought of being in a "Gilligan's Island" type of scenario is very appealing to me and considering how much I love and enjoy all the time I spend in the woods and hills, I somehow think I could live happily like that for a very long time.
So, not a whole lot happened today, but I did sit on the hood of my truck after my run and simply stared at the stars for about an hour. As I sat in wonder of the heavens I thought, as I often do, how everything is connected and I thought about the forces and laws which make it all work. Such moments take all of the worries and stresses of this life away and in those brief frames of time I am at peace. It is in these times which I seek out and find daily that I feel unison with God and all of creation. All in all I guess it is a balanced life I enjoy. Each day has it's triumphs and tribulations. All of it is necessary for the greatest sense of appreciation in this life. Well, time to go to bed now. I will wake to see what tomorrow will bring.
Friday July 18th, 2003: Lights in the night sky
Same old thing at work today. But after getting home and jogging I sat as usual catching my breath on the hood of my truck, looking up at the sky. It was a bit after 11pm and there were some fireflies still flying about flashing their greenish lights (the photuris pennsylvanicus variety). I looked up at the stars and noted a satellite moving across the sky. Odd it seemed that it was moving in an almost northerly direction. Usually it seems they run more East-West. When that one disappeared in the distance I noted another one heading in the same general direction, just a bit more Westward, but still mostly North. Then I noted one other one which was heading almost completely South. I spotted all three within a span of ten minutes.
Then, about five minutes later I saw the most beautiful white-orange shooting star. It was big, relatively slow and lasted just over a second. It seemed to waver a little bit before burning out. Perhaps it was a piece of space junk. The orange hue may have been an indication of Sodium being present within it's composition. Finally, only a few short minutes after that, I noticed the oddest light of all of them. It was two lights actually. Almost directly above me there was a very quick and bright flash of two white lights. As if two average sized stars suddenly became half the size of the moon and then went back to normal. It was very sudden and very quick. I did not see the flashes directly, but just a tiny bit up and to my right. Enough to be certain they were not close (i.e. fireflies, etc.) and also to see that the light was white and that both flashes were in perfect synchronization with one another. They were very close to one another as well. Perhaps a moon's space between them. Strange these last lights. I had never seen ones like them before. Perhaps sun glint from a satellite's solar panels? It would have had to be two however flashing at the same time for as far apart as they were which is quite unlikely, but I can't think of what else they might have been. Unless of course the aliens are coming back to get me! :-) Ah well, time for bed.
Saturday July 19th, 2003: Endurance building fast!
Well it is the fifth day since I started jogging every night now. The first night I started I only managed two tenths of a mile before I had to stop, gasping and wheezing (Pathetic!). But I guess that's not too bad for a 37 year old who hasn't jogged consistently since high school. But now, on the fifth day I reached a half a mile, stopped to catch my breath, then another half a mile, stopped again and finally another third of a mile. Gee, at this rate I should be up to 10 miles nonstop in a few weeks!
I worked until 5pm today and right after I got home this HUGE torrential downpour started with lightning very close and Thunder so loud it shook the ground! So of course I threw on my shorts very quickly and in a matter of seconds I was out in the rain and totally drenched! It's a good thing I live on a gentle slope and not in a hollow or I am sure I would have been flooded. There was a veritable river coming down my driveway and huge puddles formed where the property has a few low spots. It didn't last too long though and the ground absorbed the water pretty quickly. Definitely flash flood weather, and I am sure some people in the area were affected.
Despite the rain, the fireflies came out in abundance tonight while on my jog and afterwards, as I sat on the hood of my truck, my kitty spooky jumped up there with me and we sat there, me petting her and her purring and loving the attention. I sat there, wondering what to do with my next day off (Sunday) after the P-FLAG meeting. I probably should mow the lawn, but I will probably spend the day up on the mountain as usual. :-)
