We slept surprisingly well at the shelter in town last night. I don’t know if it was the car noises, or the nearby generator humming all night, or the food coma… but it was a pretty restful sleep. We still woke up early, because we wanted to figure out how we’d get back to the trail. Luckily, the friendly people with The Hiker Yearbook (www.thehikeryearbook.com) were hanging out with us the previous night, and had a mini bus, which they used to bring us back up to the trail so we didn’t have to deal with hitching a ride. We even had time to go across the street and get some food from the grocery store for breakfast. It was a great conclusion to our stay in little Glasgow.
The hike today started with a long climb up Bluff Mountain. We ended up eating our lunch up there because the view was nice, the sun felt good, and the breeze kept us just cool enough. It was really nice, and difficult to walk away from. But, we had to move on, as we have a goal in sight (brewery on Saturday), and we’ve got to cover miles to get there.
Near the end of our day, we stopped by Brown Mountain Creek. There’s a footbridge, and a little swimming hole, where we soaked for a bit in the cold water. It felt so good on our sore feet. The last mile after the creek, we passed a sign that indicated a settlement used to be in the area along the creek in the early 1900s. It was a community of former slaves, and there are still remnants on the other side of the creek that indicate where the settlement was.
In all, we covered 20 miles today, and we ended up tenting right near the Brown Mountain Creek Shelter. Actually, our spot is pretty nice, right next to the babbling creek, I think I’ll sleep pretty soundly again tonight. We also passed the 800 mile mark on our way to Maine.
I was doing a bit of thinking while we were walking today, as I sometimes do. Is what we’re doing out here really worth it? By this I mean; is it really worth the time out of a job, getting blisters and hot, sweaty, and smelly, climbing up and down mountains just to climb another. Is the trip worth all the effort that we’ve put in to be here? I mean, I’m very glad that we are out here, seeing new things and meeting new people. And honestly, who wouldn’t enjoy being away from work for a few months in a row. Even with the bad days out here… the rainy days, hot and humid days, sore feet and muscle days… it’s still all part of the experience. So I came to the conclusion that yes, this experience is completely worth the effort, time, and money we’ve invested in it so far. I don’t think that enough people make the effort to invest their time in something that they truly want to do. It’s so easy to get stuck into a routine, and it can be scary to break it… especially when there are bills that need to be paid. If I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that we need to invest more time in ourselves and things that bring us satisfaction. For some it might be working extra hours, And feeling the satisfaction of a job well done, and that’s great. But I know a lot of people who just feel misery when they feel like they have to put in any extra time at a job or activity they hate. That’s when it becomes most important to invest some time into an endeavor that’ll bring some personal satisfaction.
I’ll step off my little soapbox now, as I’m tired. We’ve got a long day planned for tomorrow.
Alex and Casey, we are living this adventure thru you both. Keep on keeping on. Pam & Rich
A healthy work/life balance is a major key to happiness. The longer I’ve lived overseas the more I worry about all of my friends in the US who take or get very little time off from their jobs. A happy employee is a productive employee. I’ll never understand the overarching attitude of “don’t take time off or you’ll lose your job.” You only get one life, and it’s relatively short, so make sure that you’re happy and filling your time with work AND personal endeavours that you are passionate about! I’m so glad (and rather envious) that you guys are out there doing this hike. It is most definitely “worth it” 🙂