Gilligan on the AT Revisited: 30-Jun-2008

June 30, 2008

This is a 5-month long series of blog posts that are the entries in my journals written on most evenings as I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1993. The journal entry appears first — indented — and then any additional commentary from my 15-years-removed perspective follows.

6/30/93 – Wed.

22.4 miles on A.t. (plus 0.5 miles of side trail to the shetler) and staying at Pickle Branch Shelter with Gandalf.

Gandalf does talk! Usually, his stories and comments are interesting, but he can go on almost endlessly, which means I don’t get to read/write until later than I would like to. I do enjoy his company on the whole, though.

Comments for the day (from Gandalf quoting a comedian — Stephen Wright(?)):

“If you had everything, where would you put it all?”

“It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.”

I felt pretty good today overall. I saw 6 or 8 deer (including one fawn), blackberries are finally starting to ripen, and I found a couple of cherry trees that had ripe cherries. I am within shot of at least talking to Julie, and I have again begun to adjust to life on the trail without her. not to say I don’t miss her and think of her often, but I have gotten over the sight of her walking down the A.T. away from me.

Somehow, Gandalf got started talking about Scout camp (he’s an Eagle scout, a former camp counselor, and a current scoutmaster), and it is now dark, so I will end this entry soon.

There is some unidentifiable music playing way off in the distance. I heard it first, and it took Gandalf a while before he heard it, but he now has. It’s kind of an eery, wailing sort of sound, and I would probably be a bit freaked otu if I were here alone (images of people dancing around a sacrificial fire), but I am not alone. I’m glad for that.

Posted in Appalachian Trail, Tim