Aug 9 Claryville, NY, 563 miles, 52 day journey.
I made my decision to camp on the trail based on the information I had at hand. I was told the trail to Balsam lean to was very steep. I had a new type of pain in my hip. I was not sure how close I was to the lean to when I found the water. I had vowed to be careful at the beginning of the hike and figured I should continue to follow that plan. After I started hiking this morning, I learned that I was an hour away from the shelter so techniquically I could have made it. But I was tired and tired people more easily make mistakes. Overall, I think it was the right decision. I also think that camping like that on my last night spoke to the quality of the hike that I had hoped for when I started. I was careful to the end. Today my hip felt fine. I hiked 15 miles, on route to Claryville. It was quiet a contrast to my 4 miles a day at the beginning of the hike. On the way down, I met an older man with 10-12 early HS girls eating lunch on the trail. He looked unkempt compared to the girls. They all had camping gear. He told me it would take me 2 days to get to Claryville and that there was a monstrous hill to climb to get to town. The hill never appeared and I got to Claryville at 3:30 pm The Blue Hill Lodge does not have a pay phone. It continues to be a Verizon dead zone. I do not know if Gina got my messages yesterday. The owner of the lodge says he will give me one free call. I call Gina's house and left a message on the answering machine. At this point I do not know what is on my voice mail. What a sense of "lack of control" with the one call limit the owner allowed me to make. The need for a calling card is very clear at this point. Since there is a lodge and there is a room available at $90, I decide to wait and see if Gina or Pat would come to get me. If they have not gotten here by 7 or 8 pm I will rent a room. I buy a Gatorade and start working on my journal. Within an hour Pat drives into the parking lot. He had gotten lost; otherwise he would have been there much earlier than my arrival. It worked out really well for me -- trail magic right up to the last hour.
Finger Lakes Trail, end-to-end, through (thru) hike, started June 18th completed Aug 9th, 2010. A 52 day journey, 563miles. Title: The Old Man and the Trail, A Solitary Journey of Renewal. By Garth Fisher, age 70, 2315 N. Wright Rd., Janesville, WI 53546
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Re-entry
ReentryAug 10 Ithaca, NY Tue
I have noticed my nervous system reacting sharply to all the input from people, traffic, sounds, and light. I had 2 people honk at me today, I think for driving too slow. I had some chores to do. Such as getting the phone number of the shoe company so I can call them and see what can be done about the broken eyelet on my left boot. I need an oil change for the car. I need to do a laundry, emails, and start packing for the trip back to Wis. How do you know you are high up on the mountain ? when the buzzard flies parallel to you and winks. I also want to sit around today and just remember and contemplate
I have noticed my nervous system reacting sharply to all the input from people, traffic, sounds, and light. I had 2 people honk at me today, I think for driving too slow. I had some chores to do. Such as getting the phone number of the shoe company so I can call them and see what can be done about the broken eyelet on my left boot. I need an oil change for the car. I need to do a laundry, emails, and start packing for the trip back to Wis. How do you know you are high up on the mountain ? when the buzzard flies parallel to you and winks. I also want to sit around today and just remember and contemplate
Road trip
Aug 11
10 hours on the road to Ted and Wanda's in Pershing, Ind. A long long drive. I really did not contemplate much. I had to stay focused on driving. I feel a little out of practice.
10 hours on the road to Ted and Wanda's in Pershing, Ind. A long long drive. I really did not contemplate much. I had to stay focused on driving. I feel a little out of practice.
Heading back to Wisconsin
Aug 12
Went to Greenfield and visited my mother in the nursing home. Afterwards, I drove back to Cambridge City, put on my backpack after parking in the school parking lot. I walked up the country road to the cemetery and my dad's grave. His grave had a new plaque saying he was a WW II veteran. I looked at other headstones and recognized a number of them as adults I had known as a youngster. There were also some HS friend’s headstones. I hiked out into the countryside where I had jogged or ridden my bike at some time in the past. Then I went back to Ted and Wanda's home. I have this distinct inner sense of different time and geographical zones. There is the FLT hike zone. The CC past and present zone. And, shortly I will enter the Wis. present world zone. It feels like I am walking through 2 separate doorways. Am I different than when I started out ? Well, I am healthier. I feel like I have graduated onto the next era of my life. I have started that journey on to the Plain towards the Ocean of Origin. I have stepped into my next decade feeling renewed, no, that is not the right word; it is more like old but new. I will have to work on better articulating this feeling or sense of what has happened internally to me as a result of this hike/journey. So stay tuned folks, there is more to come.
Went to Greenfield and visited my mother in the nursing home. Afterwards, I drove back to Cambridge City, put on my backpack after parking in the school parking lot. I walked up the country road to the cemetery and my dad's grave. His grave had a new plaque saying he was a WW II veteran. I looked at other headstones and recognized a number of them as adults I had known as a youngster. There were also some HS friend’s headstones. I hiked out into the countryside where I had jogged or ridden my bike at some time in the past. Then I went back to Ted and Wanda's home. I have this distinct inner sense of different time and geographical zones. There is the FLT hike zone. The CC past and present zone. And, shortly I will enter the Wis. present world zone. It feels like I am walking through 2 separate doorways. Am I different than when I started out ? Well, I am healthier. I feel like I have graduated onto the next era of my life. I have started that journey on to the Plain towards the Ocean of Origin. I have stepped into my next decade feeling renewed, no, that is not the right word; it is more like old but new. I will have to work on better articulating this feeling or sense of what has happened internally to me as a result of this hike/journey. So stay tuned folks, there is more to come.
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