The Silence of Listening: Zechariah For Our Time

I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Columbia, Pa. on Wednesday evening, 2 December 2009, the first Wednesday in Advent, and based on the assigned Gospel text for the day: St. Luke 1:5-24a, 57-64, the story of Zechariah.

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

[the text]

Dear Friends in Christ,

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were faithful, observant followers of the Law, and they stand in line with other faithful followers of the Lord who were blessed with children of Promise when (like Abraham and Sarah) they were past the usual age of child-bearing or (like Hannah and Elkanah) they were long considered incapable of having children together. God worked miracles with all these couples in order to further the working out of His promise of salvation. Next Wednesday we will ponder Elizabeth's part of the Advent story. Tonight we consider the story of Zechariah the priest, and the silence of Advent. It is primarily his silence, but it can and should be our silence as well.

As a priest, it was Zechariah's honor to be selected one day from among the thousands of priests of God to be the one to approach the altar in the temple at Jerusalem and burn incense while his division was on duty. He was chosen by lot, a method that was intended no doubt to make the selection unbiased, but which also allowed it to be directed by God. And this was certainly one time when God directed the casting of the lots for His own purposes. It was in this way that the Lord got Zechariah off by himself, and had his undivided attention. God sent His angel Gabriel to communicate with His priest.

Despite the fact that – as Luke tells us – both Zechariah and Elizabeth “were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly,” it still came as a shock to Zechariah when the angel appeared there at the right side of the altar. It's the sort of apparition that one might have hoped for. It was the kind of confirmation that someone could even have prayed for. Still, when it happened Zechariah was “startled and gripped with fear.” My guess is that there hadn't been any classes in priest school about how to deal with this sort of event.

The angel's message was that Zechariah should not be afraid, and that his prayer had been heard: he and Elizabeth were to become parents.

And not only that, but what a child this would be! “He will be great in the sight of the Lord” Gabriel says. This child will bring many of the people of Israel back to the Lord. His work will be undertaken in the spirit and power of Elijah. In other words, this was going to be one special boy.

Zechariah was stunned by this announcement. Not quite speechless, he stutters out the question: “How can I be sure of this?” and the explanation: “I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” In this simple, logical, and understandable question you and I can see that what was lacking in Zechariah's life to that point was not the gift of a child, but the gift of absolute faith. At this point Gabriel introduces himself by name, reviews his angelic credentials (“I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news ... this Gospel.”), and finally gives Zechariah the sign he thinks he needs to confirm Gabriel's good news. Because he “did not believe” Zechariah will take out of the Holy Place in the Temple both the promise of a son, and the sign of silence.

It must have made for an interesting homecoming when Zechariah got home to the hill country of Judea after his time of service at the Temple was up. The people who had been praying in the outer part of the Temple somehow understood that Zechariah had seen a vision inside. So perhaps it wasn't difficult for Elizabeth to understand the same thing. Zechariah, we can imagine, was likely bursting at the seams with the story of his experience, but he was unable to tell Elizabeth. He hadn't even been able to give the people at the Temple the benediction they were expecting, but was only able to keep making signs to them. When he got home, we can suppose he continued making signs to his wife and possibly also wrote short messages to her on the same writing tablet he would later use to name their son. Other than that, though, Zechariah spent the next 9 months in silence.

This is the silence of Advent. It is the silence of patient expectation, the silence of waiting for the fulfillment of the Promise. It is the silence of listening.

Now, some commentators think that Luke is also saying that Zechariah was deaf during this time. They pick out a phrase from the end of the story where the friends and relatives “made signs to [Zechariah] to find out what he would like to name the child.” I'm not so sure about that myself because Gabriel doesn't say anything about deafness. But since deaf people often don't speak out loud very much I can see the neighbors thinking that a speechless Zechariah must also be a non-hearing one. I would rather believe that Zechariah had spent the months of his wife's pregnancy listening.

The first thing Zechariah got the chance to do when exercising his gift of silence was, obviously, to shut his own mouth. Some of us spend an awful lot of time talking, don't we? And those of us who are not talking spend an awful lot of time thinking about what we'll say when we get a chance. Back home from Jerusalem, Zechariah found that he couldn't fill the air with his own words, and that there wasn't any point in planning what to say when he could get a word in edgewise since he couldn't talk anyway. So he was forced to sit back and listen. He listed to Elizabeth, to be sure. And he listened to God.

That is something you and I can learn from. We can spend our lives “observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly” but if we don't really listen to what the Lord wants of us, it will really be for naught.

What are some ways we can listen to God?

We can listen with Zechariah to the Word of God. He had the extremely rare privilege and blessing of a direct and personal Word brought from the presence of the Lord by one of His angels. But a vision of an angel is rare in our days. Instead, we hear God's Word to us through the Bible. That's one thing Zechariah would have done during his silent Advent. He would have continued to go to the local synagogue and continued to hear God's word read there at times of worship. Reading the lessons in church is not simply an formal exercise, but is a real chance for us to hear God speaking to each of us.

Zechariah probably also read from God's word on his own, in between services. You and I are able to read God's Word freely whenever we want. We have the gift of printed Bibles available to us, in a variety of understandable translations, Bibles that we can read whenever we want. Like Zechariah did, we can listen to God speak to us in our hearts as we ponder, think about, an meditate on God's Word.

We have many, many opportunities to hear God's Word.

And when we really stop and listen to it, God brings blessings to us through it.

So what sorts of things do we hear? What is the message that the Bible brings to us from the presence of God? At root, it is the same message that Gabriel gave to Zechariah in the Temple.

Listen to it now. God is happy that you – like Zechariah and Elizabeth – have obeyed all his commandments. He is glad that you have observed his regulations blamelessly.

...Or perhaps you haven't reached that level of perfection. Perhaps you haven't been absolutely obedient. Well then, you – like me – need to hear what Zechariah had to hear during his silent Advent. If you haven't been able to produce perfect obedience of God's Law, then you need to hear what Zechariah did: that obedience isn't enough, even though you couldn't possibly meet that goal anyway. What each of us needs is what Zechariah found out he needed. We need the gift of faith.

How could Zechariah be sure that what Gabriel had told him about his son John was true? Through faith. How can you and I be sure that what God has told us about his Son Jesus is true? Through faith.

The Holy Spirit has called each of us to saving faith through the Gospel. In Baptism God has washed us clean. In Holy Communion He sustains us by feeding us with Jesus's body and blood. Zechariah's son of promise was born in order to preach the coming of the Savior to the world. And even today we rehearse the giving and hearing of that promise, we re-enact the waiting for the birth of John and of Jesus, we await the gift of our Lord who actually did obey all God's commandments and observe his regulations blamelessly ... and did it all faithfully.

Our Lord Jesus came to earth to save each one of us from the just punishment for our sins. This Advent season, if we listen carefully, if we step into Zechariah's experience at least a little bit, and if we shut out the noise of the world, then we can perhaps in silence listen to what God is telling us.

Listen. Turn off the chatter. Turn off the email and cell phones. Turn off the radio and the television. Turn off the advertisements. Turn it all off and listen. God says He loves you. God says He forgives you. God says He sent His Son Jesus to save you. Accept the gift of faith He gives you. Live in it. Rejoice in it. Don't fall back into trying to save yourself by obeying His laws. Zechariah couldn't do it. You can't do it. You don't need to. Jesus already did; he has already made everything right between you and God. Because He loves you. Listen.

Amen.

And may the peace of God that passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

S.D.G.

Withdrawals, Spiritual and Otherwise

I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Columbia, PA on Wednesday evening, 18 March 2009, and based on the lessons assigned in the Lenten series being used (2 Sam. 11:26-12:13; Eph. 4:22-32; Gal. 5:19-25; and Matt. 26:69-75) but especially the Gospel, and focusing on the theme word assigned by the series: “Withdrawal”.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The theme words for each of this year's mid-week Lenten services are supposed to focus our attention on different things that cause relationship and communication problems. This week's word is “withdrawal” and I was thinking about that word on the way home from church last week. About the first thought I had was that a “withdrawal” is a good thing if it's a withdrawal from my bank account. It's good because being able to withdraw money means, first of all, that I still have money to withdraw, but also that my bank is still in business, and that I'm going to now be able to buy something nice for myself or someone else. So, how, I wondered, can I make a “withdrawal” into something that causes problems?

Well, that didn't take too long to figure out. I got to thinking that any kind of withdrawal results in one party having the thing withdrawn, while the other party has an empty nothing, a gap, a hole, or a loss that could be difficult to deal with. If I withdraw enough money from my savings account, then I could have a zero balance. If I withdraw troops from a battlefield, then there might be a gap in my defenses. If I withdraw from a relationship, then the other person has a personal gap to fill.

I. WITHDRAWING IN THE PASSION STORY

Let's turn our attention first of all to the Gospel for this evening and look at the withdrawing that took place in it. I would suppose that we've all heard this story before: Peter follows the unruly crowd of soldiers and civilians who arrested Jesus in the Garden, and goes so far as to enter the courtyard outside where the Lord was undergoing His trial. While he's standing there hoping to catch some word about what was happening with Jesus, one of the servant girls recognized him and pointed it out. Peter denied it and pulled back to the gateway

When Peter withdrew from the courtyard what empty places did he leave behind? Well, first of all we don't know that there were any other believers there, so we lost eye witnesses to that part of the Lord's life. The servant girl, too, lost out. I guess I've always followed the interpretation that this girl was accusing Peter, was trying to stick Peter with the same accusations that were being brought against Jesus. But look at the words of the text: 'she came to him and she said...' The text doesn't say she was accusing him. There's the chance that she was on Peter's side and just wanted to have that confirmed before sharing some news with him, or asking Peter for some comforting word on what he thought was going to happen. In other words, Peter missed a huge Ablaze moment here, in which he could have shared something about the love of Jesus with this servant girl.

Then, after withdrawing out to the gateway, another servant points out to those standing around that Peter was with Jesus. Had she seen them together at the Temple? Had she heard the Sermon on the Mount perhaps? Or had she been in the crowd at the feeding of the 5,000? We don't know. All we do know is that Peter pulled back a little further, that he didn't engage her in conversation, that he denied his relationship with the Lord a second time.

Finally, someone else hanging around there at the gateway – maybe a relative of some other prisoner, or perhaps a reporter for the 1st century version of Jerusalem's newspaper, or maybe another fringe believer who needed some encouragement to strengthen his faith – for the third time that night some person (the text actually says it was “those standing there”, i.e., a group of people) went to Peter and, pointing out his giveaway accent, said 'surely you are one of them'. And Peter blows up. He curses and swears that he doesn't know what they're talking about. He says he doesn't know Jesus. With that he withdraws from the place altogether. He leaves.

Now one of the most relevant things about this series of actions is that we find Peter withdrawing from Jesus as well as from the servants. The more he denies his relationship with the Lord, the further Peter gets from him physically. The more he denies, the further Peter also gets spiritually and emotionally. Peter pulls away from the Lord and gets more distraught. He pulls away and gets more violent in speech.

II. WITHDRAWING IN OUR LIVES

I would suggest that the same thing happens with us. We can pull away from people around us, withdrawing our presence and our support from them. But we can also withdraw from God as fully as Peter did.

How do we pull away from other people? Two people are talking and one just walks away. Perhaps, unfortunately so, it's easiest to picture happening within a marriage. It happens way to often. Sometimes it's done physically. Sometimes it's done emotionally. The reasons are many. The effects are the same. A gap appears. A large empty space develops where the relationship used to be.

Now sometimes the silences in a relationship are simply the result of the way different people process information. Some folks just need to think about things and work them through in their own heads, and they just can't talk about them sooner. Other folks process information by talking about it out loud. There are many chances for misunderstanding when one person of each of these types is on each side of a discussion that needs to make progress and reach resolution. A good solution is really for each person to understand their own way of working things out, AND to accept that the other person has a different, just as valid, way of working things out. Both need to be patient with the other.

But the wiles of Satan worm their way into our relationships, too. There are times where people intentionally turn their backs on a discussion partner, determined to cut off conversation and relationship in order to punish the other person. A refusal to communicate can be introduced by any and all of the “acts of a sinful nature” that Paul listed in the lesson from Galatians. Every one of them breaks relationships and causes one person to withdraw from another.

How do we pull away from God? With the same kind of active or passive relationship breaking. Think about how King David broke his relationship with God by lusting after Uriah's wife, by manipulating troop assignments in order to be sure that Uriah would die in battle, and by taking Uriah's widow as his own wife. There was both active and passive sinning there. Think about how we all have both an old self and a new self, an old Adam and a new Adam, a sinful self and a saintly self. Sometimes we just don't put off the old and put on the new, as Paul urges in Ephesians. Sometimes, like an old pair of pants, the old self seems too comfortable to get rid of even though it isn't either helpful or attractive.

The bottom line is that whenever we act or think in ways that perpetuate the sinful side of life, we withdraw from God. Adam and Even did just that in the Garden after eating the forbidden fruit. They withdrew from God and went into hiding. What results when we pull away from God is a huge empty space in our lives, an unfilled gap, a void, a vacuum. We're left with something that does not nourish us in any way. Sin creates a dark nothingness in our souls.

III. RESTORING WITHDRAWN RELATIONSHIPS

When we think about those empty places in our lives, whether they're empty places in our relationships with other people or with God, we're often struck with a sense of helplessness. Maybe we feel like we just can't do anything to fix them. Certainly that happens in our relationships with other people. In those relationships we're taught that “it takes two to tango” that is, it take two people to dance together and if one partner sits out, the other can't go on. That's where we need to seek cooperation and working together to find our way out of a communications breakdown. Counselors and relationship books are replete with suggestions. But if one partner refuses to join in, there isn't much in the end that the other partner can do to get the relationship going again.

Our relationship with God has an echo of that in it. Except that the refusal to participate in the relationship, the withdrawal from the relationship turns out to be all from our side. It gets to be a real vicious circle: in sin we pull away, then we don't recognize the love God wants to share with us, and, feeling unloved, we pull back further from God; which makes us feel less love. As suited as we are for living closely to our God, it's amazing that all we see on our own is the empty place created by our withdrawal. But that's the way it is.

So it's a good thing, it's a real blessing, that God reaches across the gap we've created. Take, just for example, what happened between King David and the Lord. David had created this huge gap between himself and the Lord, but could do nothing about it until the prophet Nathan came to him with God's Word. Nathan told that parable about the poor man's little ewe lamb that caught David's attention and sort of tricked David into speaking a word of judgment against himself. David, in essence, spoke the Law about his own case. Then David confessed his sin in verse 13 “I have sinned against the Lord.” But it takes Nathan to speak the forgiving word of the Gospel: “The Lord has taken away your sin, You are not going to die.”

God continues to reach across the gaps we create. Our Gospel tonight ends with Peter having recognized his sinfulness, going out to weep bitterly. But after the resurrection Jesus came to him with the forgiveness and reconciliation needed to fill to gap Peter had created, calling Peter to “Feed my lambs.”

Both of tonight's Epistles speak, too, of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of people. In Ephesians the Apostle writes that “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self.” (in other words, you couldn't do it yourselves, and hadn't really even conceived of putting off your old sinful selves). And in Galatians he draws such a strong contrast between the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit, too. The two really cannot co-exist.

So when our Lord calls to us, only then can we react. We're powered to do so by His all-powerful Word. Until we hear God's Word, we just keep digging ourselves in deeper and deeper (as Peter did that night long ago. Until we hear God's Word we wander further and further away as King David did.

Thank the Lord that he provides us the Sacraments, too, that are signs and seals of God's forgiveness and love for us. Without them, we would have no tangible assurance of the ways in which Jesus continues to reach out to us.

God's Word and his Sacraments are the divine means provided for us as the only way to bridge the gap created by our withdrawal from God. Our spiritual withdrawals away from the Lord are never a good thing. Tonight we can praise him that He provides us a way out, forgiving us our sins because Jesus took the penalty in our places when he died on Calvary's cross. Remember that, and rely on his forgiveness and the power of his Holy Spirit to make things right in your lives.

Amen.

S.D.G.

People: Invalidated and Validated

I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Columbia, PA on Wednesday evening Lenten service, 11 March 2009, and based on the assigned lessons for the evening (Jeremiah 17:5-14; Romans 5:1-11; Matthew 27:27-31) and the theme “Invalidation” [particularly in relationships and conversations].

Dear Friends in Christ,

I imagine that most of us here have been to a doctor's office or a store or some other place of business and been told that we could get our parking tickets validated. We know that means the doctor or business will take care of the parking. We'll get off free. They'll pay for us.

Many of the people going to a doctor, of course, are not going for an annual check-up or a just-in-case visit. They're going instead because they are sick. Maybe they're even invalids. (Invalids being people who are weak or infirm, in chronic ill health. Maybe a lot of the people we call “shut-ins” would count as “invalids”, too.) In those cases they not only want their parking ticket validated, they themselves want to be validated. The invalid wants to taken care of, too, would love to get off free from his or her ailments even more than from the parking lot fee.

And we would all agree that anyone who would add to the troubles of an invalid should, well, be punished. Invalids are weak, maybe a little helpless, certainly not able to fully defend themselves. We are definitely not like the pack of wild animals who leave their weak members behind, undefended, because the herd or flock has to move on in migration. We defend them, take care of them, do what we can to make their lives better.

Well, most of the time. Or some of the time, anyway.

Sometimes sin kicks in. Sometimes a complicated mix of desires and emotions keeps us from taking care of those who need care. Maybe it is greed on our part. Or maybe it's a lack of love. It could be a lot of things. But however complicated it might be, the thing that makes us not care for the invalids among us – whether they're physical invalids, or mental invalids, or moral invalids, or spiritual invalids – the thing that holds us back is simply sin. Sin kicks in and we invalidate the invalid.

We're not inventive that way, though. It's something that has been going on for centuries. Our Gospel text for this evening shows us a case of it, did you notice? In this case there was sin in and around the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem who kicked in Jesus. What an ugly scene that would have been. And it was probably the kind of thing those men did on a regular basis.

It was really like any other case of the bullies gathered around some weaker kid on the playground. Of course we know there was no playing here. And we know that the taunts they threw at Jesus fully intended to take him to His knees and then to His death. These soldiers had seen this sort of set up before and knew where it was going to end. But meanwhile they got their jollies by making fun of the quiet, shackled man who stood in their midst.

They'd heard him called “king” and they grabbed that theme and ran with it. Get him some sort of 'king outfit'! Get him some kind of crown! Get him a fake royal staff! If this weak-looking prisoner wants to be a king, let's even kneel before him!

In stories we write or in our movies and tv shows, that would only go so far before our hero revealed his true nature, threw off the scarlet robe, sent the crown of thorns flying through the room, and blasted those soldiers away. But we didn't write this story. God did. And we know it turned out differently. The soldiers continued to invalidate the Son of God until they tired of their sick games and it got time for them to lead him outside where they knew they would be putting him to death.

After a true story like that, you'd think people might change. And, who knows? Maybe that squad of soldiers did get changed by their experience that day. It's something we can never know this side of Heaven.

The people who haven't changed, not fully, are not the just the people back then, but the people here today, yes even here in this church tonight. Here's an important point tonight: These patterns or habits of invalidation against Jesus are echoed when we continue them against fellow humans. We, too, get kicks by invalidating other people. Our Wednesday theme this Lent is about different relationship ills, different ways we break or hinder our relationships with other people. Tonight's theme word there on the cover and first page of our bulletin is “Invalidation.” The idea is that there are ways each of us, by the strength and power of our sinful natures invalidate people.

Now, we more likely use words than crowns of thorns and spitting and hitting. But I'm guessing that while, as children, we learned to chant “sticks and stones can can break my bones .....” we all learned long ago that words really DO hurt us. It's probably easier for us to remember those times and places where someone said something hurtful to us, than it is for us to remember when we were the ones hurting. But we've all done the hurting, too. And – odd thing – sometimes we do it even when we're pretending to be helpful.

One of the easiest ways we invalidate people is by not listening to what they're really saying. Someone tells us, for example, 'boy, this economy has really got me nervous' and perhaps all we say is 'oh, come on, it's not that bad, why I remember a time....' Or maybe we hear someone say something like 'I really miss my parents (or spouse)' and our answer is 'Well, it's been a year now, don't you think it's time to be getting on with life?'

When we respond like that we are not sharing a story (in the first case) or helping someone deal with the pain (in the second case). What we're doing is invalidating them by calling their feeling invalid.

Here's more bad news: These patterns or habits of invalidation against Jesus are echoed when we continue them against God.

We don't listen to what God is telling us. We don't follow His directions for our lives. He went out of His way to create us, to give us a place to live, to be sure we had a way to be in relationship with Him. And we as good as say we don't care.

We're as weak as the Roman soldiers were about stopping. I suppose there was a lot of peer pressure operating there in the Praetorium that night and morning. Some guy was bored and started the mockery rolling, and everyone felt compelled to join in and push it up a notch. If they ever thought about it they probably said that they felt helpless to stop it, even helpless to stand back and just avoid joining in.

That's just how we are today. We can't simply stop sin from ruling our world and our lives. And we can't even just stand back and let things carry on without participating. Sometimes we even make resolutions or promise ourselves that “next time it'll be different; next time I won't invalidate his or her feelings; next time I'll be a genuine friend.” But when it comes down to it, left to ourselves, our promises like that don't get us very far. We're really invalids, weak and helpless, when it comes to bringing about that kind of real change in our lives.

It's like we need some external power, something outside ourselves, to start the process of validating. Just as we can't validate our own parking ticket, neither can we validate our own actions and speech. We really do need something from outside to make us different inside. We don't have it in us to make the change.

But our glorious God does. He changes us.

Our God validates us in our baptism. He tells us, “Look, my Holy Spirit is calling you by the Gospel, enlightening you with His gifts, and is going to keep you in the one true faith. Here's a sign of my gracious love that washes away your sins. Remember every day that I am making you clean in this Baptism. Whenever you're tempted to sin, and whenever habits, companions or laziness are pulling you to invalidate some of my other creatures, recall your Baptism and use it today as a shield against those temptations.”

And God validates us at the Lord's Supper. We gather at this altar and God reaches across the divides of space and time to come to us in the actual body and blood of our Savior Jesus. He says to us, “I know you need strength for the journey of your life. I know the cares of this sinful world you're living in will wear you down. But I also know that my beloved Son is so burstingly full of life that if you had just a little of him inside you, then you would be refreshed and ready to continue on. So here, take and eat, this is His true body; take and drink, this is His true blood. Be refreshed. Be forgiven.”

God reaches out to us in His word and in these sacraments, stretching across the divide of sin to validate each and every one of us. When he does that, suddenly we're able to validate other people instead of invalidating them with hurtful, sinful, speech and actions. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.... While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” THAT is what gives us the power and motivation to stop invalidating other people; THAT is what allows us to validate them.

May our God and Father, who validated each of us through the life-giving death ad resurrection of Jesus Christ, give you a peace that passes all understanding and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

S.D.G.

This verges on the "random" but ...

Long Live Latin!



Score: 92% (11 out of 12)

They say this online "quiz has been taken 8589 times with an average score of 47%" as of just now when I took it.

I Never Knew You

I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Arlington, Virginia, on the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost (a.k.a. 1 June 2008) and to be based on a part of the Holy Gospel for the Day Matthew 7:15-29, specifically Matthew 7:21-23

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours in Christ Jesus our Lord,

The text for this morning's sermon is those verses from the middle of today's Holy Gospel, St. Matthew 7:21-23.

Dear Friends in Christ,

At first blush, this is one of those readings that might make us wonder “Gospel? Where's the Gospel in this? What is the 'good news' in a lesson that tells us that Jesus will reject people who call on him on Judgment Day?

The context of this lesson is that it comes at the end of one of the most famous, if not well known, longer passages in the New Testament: the “Sermon on the Mount”. Jesus here is wrapping up three chapters of teachings – mostly moral and ethical teachings and interpretations of the Jewish law – that had started back at the beginning of chapter 5 with the “Beatitudes.” Of course, the Lord ended the Beatitudes by turning the concept of blessedness on its head with the puzzling “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account.” Then much of the rest of chapter 5 flips the Law around with Jesus saying “You have heard it said ... but I say to you....” and thereby explaining to his hearers that God wants out of us a much harder but a deeper path to fulfillment of the Law.

Now, after preaching about prayer, and fasting, and trusting God, Jesus warns his hearers to beware of false prophets coming among them in sheep's clothing. And he says that “Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven.” One way of interpreting this verse that is our text would be to attach it firmly to what goes right before, that is, to make it an expansion on or explanation of the reference to false prophets. Jesus could here be giving a further explanation of what it means to be a false prophet disturbing the flock.

We can see that the false prophet at first appears to be one of the sheep. And we can see that it might take some time, a whole growing season perhaps, to tell clearly whether that prophet dressed in questionable clothing is false or not, because it just might take that long for the false prophet's bad fruit to appear. But eventually, Jesus says, it will become clear that those false prophets are inwardly ravenous wolves. The only plan those prophets have is to disturb and destroy and decimate the flock. It will have no peace in the end with a wolf in its midst.

And ultimately, Jesus explains, the false prophet/ravenous wolf has no peace either. He can be the one who cried 'Lord, Lord' on the last day only to have the gates of the kingdom of heaven swing shut in his face. That prophet is the one who may have done some works in the name of Jesus, but without his authority. That prophet is the one who put himself ahead of the Lord, who made himself the focus of attention, who grabbed for power on his own behalf. Yes, he may have mentioned God from time to time, but that false prophet's fruit is so very bad that it is clear in the end that he never knew Jesus, and worse, that Jesus never knew him.

That's one way of looking at these unsettling verses: they apply to and explain the earlier verses about the false prophets in sheep's clothing who disturb God's flock.

Another way of looking at them could apply the verses to the members of the flock. This makes them again more unsettling because these words of Jesus could then refer to any of us, even those of us who are not prophets (false or otherwise). As Christians we want assurance that we will spend our eternity with the Lord. But these words from the end of the Sermon on the Mount describe some fellow sheep who don't, in the end, make it into the kingdom on heaven despite all the sound and motion of their being constantly busy with what look like spiritual things. What's up with that?

The way to unravel this puzzle is to understand that there are really only two options when it comes to enjoying a close relationship with Jesus. Option A is the option of the Law; and Option B is the option of the Gospel. Most or all of you have heard this before, but it bears highlighting again in explanation of this text.

How does the Law Option work? Well, if you open your Bibles to the Old Testament Lesson for today in Deuteronomy 11 you'll see that the Lord made a pretty clear and simple offer to his people as they were about to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 11:27-28: “...the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God ... the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God.” Couldn't be much simpler.

It was verses like this that motivated A.J. Jacobs, the author of the recent bestseller titled “The Year of Living Biblically; One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible”. Except that when you read his book you find that a lot of what he did was either 'pick and choose' or 'once and done' following the laws found in the Bible. That is, under the 'as Possible' escape clause of the last two words in his subtitle, he often picked one law to follow in a particular week (leaving others unfollowed), or he made an extraordinary effort to fulfill one law once and then ignored it the rest of the year. [as a footnote, it's perhaps instructive that while the Library of Congress classified the book under 'Bible interpretation,' his publishers suggest on the dust jacket that it should be shelved in the 'Humor' section.] Perhaps that's the way most people seek to live according to the Bible. But I, for one, can't see that we can use that plan when following human laws – imagine telling the state trooper on the interstate, 'but officer, I followed that law about a speed limit last week, this is the week I'm being extra particular to obey the laws about parking and using turn signals.' And if we couldn't get very far like that with mere human laws, how can we expect to follow God's Law that way?

In case you want some more specificity, jump up to one of the verses our reading skipped, verse 22, where the Lord spells out “If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways” then the promised blessing will flow. God expects us to follow ALL his commandments if we're trying to live under Option A, the Law Option.

The other path is to follow Option B, the Gospel Option. Here we can turn to this morning's Epistle for a review of what that option entails. Saint Paul writes to the Roman Christians of the first century that “the righteousness of God has been manifested [made clear and obvious] apart from the law ... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift ... For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:21, 23, 28). And what applied to people then applies to people now. Paul is coming out and admitting that Option A, while a theoretical possibility, simply won't work. That Option promised God's blessings to everyone who followed ALL the commandments ALL the time. But it won't work for any of us because of what you know in your hearts without Paul bringing it up: we all have sinned, we've all fallen short, we're all stained. Every single one of us has tried to use the A.J. Jacobs escape clause of living as biblically as possible and hoping that it is good enough. Jacobs came up with a funny book, but our lives of sin are the complete opposite of funny.

All we can do to be that wise person who builds a house upon the rock is to hear the words of God and act on them. If we would happen to flood our lives with God's word – in the manner suggested in the beginning of today's Old Testament lesson, perhaps, or in other ways – then we will see what it is that God wants of us and what he doesn't. He doesn't want us to be that false prophet in sheep's clothing bearing bad fruit at the end of the season after decimating the flock. He doesn't want us strut around boasting 'hey, look at me, I prophesied and I cast out demons and I did many deeds of power'. Jesus wants us to be the person who is justified by grace as a gift, the one justified by faith apart from works of the law. Jesus is offering us the Gospel option as our way to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our lives then will be lives built on the solid rock. If we don't act on the words of Jesus, but instead insist on laying siege to Heaven by attempting to keep all the commandments on our own, we will be laying our life's foundation on loose sand.

We want to be the people building on the perfect life of Jesus that freed us from the restrictions, the compulsions, and the guilt of the Law. We will be the people able to love our neighbors, to love our families, and to love our enemies, in ways that are creative and beneficial for all. We will be living out the love of Jesus in this world. We will be bearing good fruit. It really is a freer, easier life that is more “blessed” (in the sense of those Beatitudes) than trying to struggle our way into the kingdom of heaven through the Law.

Those of us who live in grace, justified apart from the works of the Law, are the ones building on the Rock. On that last day we will say things like 'did You not give us words to say, Lord? Did Your power not cast out demons? Did You not do many deeds of power?' When that day comes and we cry 'Lord, Lord' Jesus will invite us to enter the kingdom of Heaven. What a great and wonderful day that will be.

Then eternal peace that passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

S.D.G.

Summer 2005 Hike - Part Two
23 May - 2 June
Arden Valley Road, NY -- Port Clinton, PA

23 May 2005 (Monday) Wildcat Shelter, NY

Back on the Trail again! Ann dropped me off at Arden Valley Road (where it – and the Trail – crosses the New York Thruway to the west of Harriman State Park) at noon. It’s been a forgetful day in ways: first, I left my bamboo hiking pole at home; then, I forgot to ‘camel up’ from the extra bottle of water I’d put in the car; and finally, I forgot that I’d already done a few miles of the AT south of Arden Valley Road (maybe 3 miles or so, which I recognized when I was on it, back in 2002 or so). Other than that it’s been nice.

A little slow, perhaps, taking over 6 hours to come 10 miles.

It was pretty overcast all the drive up from home, and for 3 hours of hiking, but at 3:00 the sun came out and it warmed up a little (past the 56 degrees it was in the early afternoon).

Some native wildflowers along the way today, including this pink lady's slipper orchid just within a foot of the Trail.

Two folks here at the shelter when I arrived: a young girl named Odessa (she said it was because she was a Classics major in college) and an old guy (quite talkative) whose name I didn't catch, both going north. Two others showed up since, but they’re tenting. Then a guy and dog (guy in a skirt, dog with a pack), but they’re tenting somewhere, too.

It’s 8:45 and about 60 degrees. Pretty much time to go to bed. Odessa already has; guy seems about to be; tenters are sitting on the bench at the shelter fire ring chatting, eating, and looking at pictures on his cell phone.


24 May 2005 (Tuesday) Waywayanda Shelter, NJ

Cold day on the Trail. [Click image to see full size]



Overcast all day except for one very short outbreak of sun at 2:00. Hiked from 7:30 to about 2:30. I’m sure it wasn’t above 60 all day. At least it didn’t rain.

[Click image to see full size]



Crossed into New Jersey in the afternoon, so now I’ve done all of the AT in New York, too.

Played “leap frog” with the guy and dog. He introduced himself where they had stopped at one of the creeks we crossed as Jill (or, would it be Gilles?), then spoke to his dog “Here, Jack.” I said, “Oh, I get it: Jack and Jill. And you’re fetching water, too. What are the chances?” He said that when he started in Georgia he was carrying a small pail, too. Why not? They’re in the shelter tonight, too.

It’s only 4:50 and I’m done eating, put food in the “bear box” [a metal foot locker with a hasp on the front that’s supposedly bear proof], and have gotten into my may to warm up some.

I didn’t do any great thinking today on the Trail. Considered a little some of my regrets … what they might be. Like not having had the courage to through hike back in the 1970’s. Or not having taken batter advantage of New York City in all those years of living in Tuckahoe. Or not having really nailed my languages back in college. Missed opportunities all. I don’t want to have any more.

47 degrees at 6:00 pm. In my sleeping bag. Still warming up, because I’ve got my shoulders out. Can’t do crosswords or read comfortably.

Tomorrow’s start should be easy. After that, probably not too hard, it looks.


25 May 2005 (Wednesday) Pochuck Mountain Shelter, NJ

Another chilly day. Overcast all day, breezy, last night’s rain blowing off the trees especially in the morning.

I left Waywayanda at 7:00 and got here at 2:00. Seven hours for 12.3 miles (or something like that), but that includes 2 stops for water which are, of necessity, a little longer than 10 minutes each. It’s sometimes hard to stop and all when I’m chugging along, but I’ve skipped water sources before and regretted it later.

Today’s hike was mostly not too bad. Came down off one mountain on a long series of stone steps. And in the last mile there was a serious rocky patch. But in the middle, some flat areas traversed on puncheon and by the new boardwalk and bridge just put in last summer (or was it the one before?).

I saw some pink lady’s slipper orchids today, so I’ve seen at least one each day. And I think I heard a winter wren today. I’ve also heard veeries singing a few times.

Got one set of clothes hanging about various places in hopes that they’ll dry out before nightfall.

[Click image to see full size]



Pretty sweaty despite the chill. I didn’t check the temperature in mid-day, but right now in the shelter it’s 53 degrees – minus whatever the wind chill is.

A couple young guys showed up last night shortly before dark. Turned out to be people Jill had known back around the Smokies or before. I enjoyed listening to their chatter about who is on or off the Trail, and their recommendations to Jill about places to stay in Pennsylvania. Jill, it turns out, had started at Springer, hiked to about Harpers Ferry, gotten off to go to a wedding in Connecticut, decided to hike south from there, and is planning on jumping then from Harpers Ferry up to Connecticut to head north to Katahdin. He explained to his friends that it’s a ”kilt” not a “skirt” (even if it is a plain khaki color, not a tartan).

Tomorrow I have some elevation gain to make. The goal is High Point Shelter (near the highest point in New Jersey), but I think I might go a little beyond to Rutherford Shelter and then bump the next day on a little, both in order to shorten the scheduled 21 mile day on Saturday. I’m supposing it will work. I could have done 5 more today and still been in before dark. Least ways I feel like I could.

8:45 pm and time to turn in. Temp holding steady at 49 degrees last couple hours.


26 May 2005 (Thursday) Rutherford Shelter, NJ
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So when I got to High Point Shelter it seemed too early to stop. It was only another 4+ miles to get here, so I did.

That was despite the suggestion of the creator/host of “The Secret Shelter” who told me that “it’s in a swamp,” likely to be buggy, and that he always suggests people push beyond it. I’d also met a NO-BO hiker named Chino – who recognized me from down south – who was here last night. He told me that “while it’s .4 miles off the Trail, it’s an easy .4.” The first tenth of a mile is actually a pretty steep drop down from the AT. I think that’s the big reason it doesn’t get a lot of overnighters. (It couldn’t be the phoebe nest with babies in the front overhang.)

Tonight I ate the “Flyin’ Bryan’s Garlic Potatoes” meal I got from the “Lipsmackin’ Backpackin’ Vegetarian Cookbook.” And to make things eerie, Flyin’ Bryan had actually signed the shelter register some months ago.

I called home from the High Point State Park office at 3:00, but had to leave a message. Since I was scheduled to have stopped 2 miles short of the office, I’m sure Ann wasn’t expecting a call.

Saw another pink lady’s slipper today.

This was another overcast, cool, damp day. Maybe the sun will come out next week. There was a lot of grassy field to walk through early this morning. It’s amazing how wet boots and pants get just walking thru a field. I’ve got my clothes hanging up to air out, but I’m certain they won’t dry.

I was alone at Pochuck Shelter last night and probably will be again tonight.

6:30, 58 degrees.


27 May 2005 (Friday) Brinks Road Shelter, NJ

I wasn’t alone last night after all. AND it was sunny all day today! Woke up at something like quarter after five and saw a bright moon shining through the trees. Seemed like a good omen. And it was, for 30-45 minutes later I could tell that the sky was blue. Just now at 5 pm a thunderstorm rolled in from somewhere, but I’m under a roof and that’s fine with me.

Saw two more pink lady’s slippers today. And my first real snake: a 5-51/2 foot long black snake which zipped for cover when I came upon it. Took a photo, but only got the front half of the snake in the frame.

The Mashipacong Shelter is the first place I saw some of Desperado’s trail magic. He takes care of a few shelters along here and stocks the bear boxes with goodies: lemon cookies, drink mix, first aid stuff, alcohol for fuel. The cookies were gone when I got there, but I took some fuel because I was concerned about getting through another week with what I had. Their privy is also a large metal shed over a composting privy, a commercial design; quite nice. [Click image to see full size]



I passed by the Gren Anderson Shelter because it was a little off the Trail, so I don’t know if Desperado stocks goodies there. I’d been scheduled to stay there, and had wanted to see it because it was built by Green Mountain Club members. Here at this shelter, though, I was able to partake of the lemon cookie gift. Makes up a little for the Worthington Bakery being closed. (Am I the only person on the Trail who didn’t know that it wasn’t open for business any more? There were constructions guys all over it doing remodeling, so maybe later this summer.)

The water at this shelter is down a blue blaze trail that disappears. I got off track coming back and the next guy got further off – had to holler for his wife to find his way back to the shelter. They’re from Mississippi. Talked to her a bit while he was getting the water, and she said that she’s doing this for him; and hopes her turn will come. They’re tenting.

Two young folks showed up and there was another younger guy (from Tennessee) already in the shelter when I arrived

As I was approaching the closed bakery today I met a guy on the Trail who had just started. His clothes were too clean, for one thing. He said he was headed for the Water Gap – so I turned him around and headed him south. We walked together to the road and he didn’t see the blaze there (okay, so it was a little hard to spot on the back of a sign) so I led on [wondering later whether I should have gone on down to the gas station I saw and gotten a soda as least – it was still hot then – or looked for a phone, or more water]. We hiked up the hill and he was telling me a story about getting lost once in the Smokies with two rock climbing friends, and we missed a turn while he was talking. I realized it a couple hundred yards down the hill on the woods road we were on (the down hill part should have tipped me off earlier), and turned us around. Up the next step part I told him “any time you want to pass me.” He said I was setting a good pace. When we got to the real top he took a picture of me eating the second of the chocolate-y granola bar snacks he’d given me, with a nice big vista in the background. He’d been telling me about his work doing something engineering rail trails, and how this part of New Jersey has a lot of lakes. Then he led off. And left me in the dust. “Good pace” indeed! Last time I saw him was about 10 minutes before getting to the shelter when I spied him up ahead a ways hoisting his pack after a break. He’d said to someone we passed that he was aiming about 6 miles beyond the shelter, but all my data book shows thereabouts is a road. Well, whatever.

Another guy showed up while I as writing that paragraph. I’m thinking they’re starting long holiday weekends. It is Memorial Day on Monday, right? I think they’re all tenting.

I’ve got 5:30 and 65 degrees.

Oh! First real trail magic was yesterday. I came down some hill to some unmarked (gravel, as I recall) road. Saw some ‘trash’ to the side of the Trail: two cardboard cases for beer. But something made me go over and check them. One had unopened cans (at least 2) in it! So I washed one off, popped it open, and drank down all those lovely carbohydrates. Quite unexpected, unmarked, and unreservedly appreciated. (Except that in the last day I found myself wondering whether I should have brought another can along with me. Ah well, share and share alike.) Time for dinner, I guess.

There’s another phoebe nest here in this shelter.


28 May 2005 (Saturday) Mohican Outdoor Center, NJ

Today was a good day on the Trail. Weather was nice, starting sunny and getting cloudier in the afternoon. Then just beginning to sprinkle as I was within the last mile of this place.

“This place” is the Mohican Outdoor Center, owned and operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club ( a little south of their usual stomping grounds). It’s got cabins and tenting sites and a couple buildings for groups. I’m in one of the latter and the check-in guy said there were only 2 other peoples here (so far) in this building. AND, I scored a single room rather than having to share bunkbeds in a room of 6 or 8. I got here about 3:30, I guess; checked in and picked up my re-supply box; walked down here to this building; read Ann’s letter (which was in the box); took a hot shower (!); and made supper. There’s a kitchen here, so I used their electric stove to heat my water. Same meal-in-a-bag, but sitting down at a table indoors under fluorescent light does make it nicer. (Here come the other folks.)

The 14 miles I did today were split right in the middle as a road crossing that had a water pump at it. Made it easy to stop for “lunch.” A couple handfuls of gorp. And it seemed like a lot of the Trail was fairly flat today, too. Some was actually abandoned asphalt road (now turned to gravel) from a vacation community bought out by the federal government when they were talking about damming up the Water Gap.

I go through the Delaware Water Gap tomorrow. It’s 10 miles or so from here to the west end of the I-80 bridge over the river. Then another 6.6 miles up to the shelter. Shelter’s at 1,500’ elevation. Bridge is at 350’. I should be going through the DWG right around noon and will dicker with myself about getting a restaurant meal. May depend on the weather somewhat.

A couple people mentioned to me that the worst of the fabled Pennsylvania rocks are between here and Wind Gap. I pass Wind Gap on Monday.

This is the first day I didn’t see a pink lady’s slipper.

Before I forget, more wildlife: ticks! Either the shelter had them last night or I brought them in with me. Killed 10 or 11, and 5 or 6 were actually on my legs, though not yet settled down for a meal. I got one more this afternoon off my calf when I took my boots off. And then two more in the shower. Had trouble getting to sleep last night, too, as a result. First some mosquitoes and, then when the cooling temperatures sent them on their way, thinking that every itch or tickle was another tick. Two or three times during the night I did pick something off me and toss it out of the shelter. I should have turned on my flashlight to see if it was tick-ish or not. The other guy in the shelter was sleeping soundly even though he had a very noisy air mattress. Actually, he was in his sleeping bag when I arrived, only got up to make his supper at one point after I ate, and went back in the bag right away. He only barely got up before I left this morning. He’s heading up to Hanover, NH (like the guy I was with the night before) where he will finish his AT hike.

It’s 6:00 and still raining. I’m going to get on a pair of dirty pants (so my clean ones will remain my “dry clothes in case of rain” pants) and go back to the lodge building to see about a phone and a candy bar.


29 May 2005 (Sunday) Kirkridge Shelter, PA

Ended up last night that there were probably 10 or more people in the building. Including 4 who were up and loud until 9:30. Posted quiet hours were from 10 pm on, but sheesh …. I was trying to get to sleep from 8:00 or 8:30, when it was getting dark outside. I think they might have been the same four kids who showed up at the Brinks Road Shelter at 9:30 that night, headlamps ablazing. They looked around and, deciding there weren’t any good tent sites there, walked back up the blue blaze to the AT. I found them in two tents at the junction with the AT when I started out in the morning. Their bear bags were hung about 4 feet off the ground.

I ended up sleeping pretty well in the end, though, and getting up just before 6:30. Ate, packed, and left at 7:30.

Had something of a long day. Sunny mostly until about the last 2 miles of 16. Went 10 miles to the Delaware Water Gap visitor center which was roped off and closed due to a flood some time back. I rested and ate some gorp there. Then walked over the bridge into Pennsylvania. (And didn’t think about it being the completion of another state until later.)

Tried to get a meal there in town at the Trail’s End Café, but after leaving my pack outside and reading the menu while waiting to be seated for the Sunday brunch, I noticed the sentence beginning “While we do not take any credit cards ….” Well, shoot! I really should have put last night’s room on the plastic and kept my cash. So, rather than walking further into town for an ATM or someplace taking plastic, I went on up the hill. Wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t seen the notice. Would they have held my pack hostage while I went for cash? Or had someone drive me to an ATM?

It turned out okay. It was starting to rain the last couple miles and I really bore down to make it to the shelter before it let loose. Might have been in more rain if I’d stayed and eaten something in town. Here at the shelter are 2 women with 2 high school girls (and I can’t figure out the relationships) and 3 college freshman guys, former boy scouts, who are not with the women. One of the guys mentioned “up at Saranac we …” so I asked him if he meant Young Life’s Saranac Village. He did indeed. He’d been there three summers in a row. I told him I was on the first work crew of the second summer it was open.

Saw another pink lady’s slipper today.

There were mega rocks around Sunfish Pond, the other side of the Water Gap. A real boulder scramble in places. [Click image to see full size]



PA doesn’t have all the rocks. People keep talking about the rocks and the register here is full of NO-BO remarks about being glad to be getting out of Pennsylvania. Guess I’ll find out how they rate in my own mind tomorrow. (There are also a few comments about how the rocks “weren’t as bad as advertised.”)

Met the Ridgerunner as I was entering DWG. He was closing in on the bridge and I told him “There’s a straight flat stretch up ahead with no rocks”
and then saw his ridgerunner patch. We chatted a bit. He didn’t know how the food was at the Trail’s End Café and suggested pizza or donuts in town. And didn’t know absolutely that the water up here was working. It’s piped in from a retreat center just in back of the shelter a short walk, and was reported to be out of service early in May.

Ann and I had a nice talk last night. She’s planning on hiking in to the last shelter and spending the night with me on Thursday.

It’s cleared off a lot and is probably 60 degrees here at 7 pm. Food is hung since there’s an apparently recent notice in the shelter about bears nearby.


30 May 2005 (Monday) Leroy A. Smith Shelter, PA

Well, so far, my home state is living up to its “Rocksylvania” moniker. There was a long, fairly straight, relatively level, and very slow and tedious stretch today. All because of those rocks. One really can’t look up very often; and there’s no place flat to place one’s feet. But it’s supposed to get better the further “south” I go.

One remarkable thing about hiking today is that I didn’t see a single hiker going either direction. I did pass two groups of campers who had hiked in to their camp sites (one family of 4, and one group of 3 Army guys), but since they weren’t hiking a the time I’m not counting them.

When I got to the shelter here I thought there were hikers in ahead of me, but they turned out to be 2 locals coming up the mountain for a holiday view from the top (this shelter is on a trail that heads down the side of the ridge to civilization someplace, and it’s near a power line crossing). They offered me food – Swiss cheese and granola bars – from their small picnic cooler. We chatted a bit and then I went off for water (a 10 minute walk each way). When I got back they were gone, but had left another granola bar for me. I took off my boots and put on my long-sleeved shirt against the chill of the sprinkle starting up. It rained in fits and starts. Then the people showed up again, having just gone up to see the view from the power line cut-through. We chatted a bit more, but they didn’t offer any more edibles. (I thought later I should have thanked them again for the food and mentioned that I hoped I didn’t seem greedy because I sure felt like I could have eaten a lot more.) Then they left. Rick and Maggie: they left a note in the register saying something about being under God’s almighty care, but faith didn’t come up in our conversation.

I did do more thinking about faith while walking today. It’s hard for me not to with the last phrases of the Te Deum ringing in my head for miles after my morning trail devotion (“Day by day we magnify Thee; and we worship Thy Name ever world without end.”) Just how do/should/can I magnify God day by day?

Through the tedious part of the Trail, though, I was mostly imagining what if I’d sat down to rest on some rocks, gotten bitten by a rattlesnake, got it off me quickly, killed it, taken its photo, and had to stat out for help. Somehow I’d have a cell phone and would be carrying on one of those long off-and-on calls to 911 that get written up in a Reader’s Digest story. Today, anyway, there wouldn’t have been anybody ‘coming along before too long’ to go for help after the venom in my leg made it impossible to get very far very fast (plus, remember all those rocks). It would have been sad, and nearly tragic. I ended up awakening in a hospital room, so I guess I made it out alive somehow.

I made it out of the shelter at 7:15 this morning. Good thing, too, judging from the timing of the afternoon rain showers (which seem to have stopped for now at 7:00 pm). The women and girls were all asleep or pretending to be. (Turns out that they were indeed Girl Scouts.) The three guys hadn’t emerged from their tent. I made breakfast, took two trips for water, packed up and set out; none of the rest appeared to move at all.

Yesterday another NO-BO recognized me on the Trail. This was “Metric” who was one of the 3 guys at Manassas Gap who identified the “Foe-bee” nesting in the overhang. And in the registers yesterday and today, I see that a couple other hikers I chatted with, “Chestnut” and “Palladin,” have already passed this way.

Here’s what may be a “first appearance in print”: in an article by Matt Heid (Senior Editor of AMC Outdoors) “Sticks and Stones; the pros, cons, and proper use of trekking poles” in AMC Outdoors Magazine April 2005, pp.14-16, is this sentence: “An informal poll conducted by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 2000 indicates that 90-95 percent of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers carry trekking poles, as do 30-50 percent of short-term backpackers, and 10-15 percent of day hikers.” And the name change doesn’t become official until the meeting in July.

7:20 pm, 58 degrees, time to read.


31 May 2005 (Tuesday) George W. Outerbridge Shelter, PA

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A good, long day of strenuous hiking. Some up. Some down. Some flat. Some rocky. Some not.

No pink lady’s slippers today, but I did get to hike over and through and down the Palmerton Superfund site, a former zinc mining and smelting area that looks like a cross between a moonscape and some Death Valley scene of desolation.

[Click image to see full size]



Even had buzzards circling overhead. Only thing missing were the sun-bleached remains of a broken down Conestoga wagon, and the whitened bones of an ox or longhorn cattle or whatever.

Before descending the huge rock pile to the river in Lehigh Gap there’s a long flat walk up on top (mostly on an old road).

[Click image to see full size]



Up there I met 3 kids slackpacking north – “the B’s” and “Hippie Longstocking.” I’d heard of all three before, mostly from register entries. They explained what I’d heard last night from the late-arriving group “The A-Team, that a group of about 15 NO-BO hikers had kind of clumped together, shelter by shelter through much of Pennsylvania, but had taken three zero days over the Memorial Day weekend to go to someone’s house in New Jersey. It sounded to me like it might have been Hippie L’s house, because she described its features and attractions “for that crowd” knowingly: hot tub, showers, bar, phone, cable modem Internet connection, washer and dryer ….

That “A Team” group came into the shelter after I wrote last night. During the heavier rain (which it looks like we won’t get any of tonight). I think they’re a guy, his sister, and her boyfriend. The latter two were cooking together, then turned the stove over to the brother to cook his meal separately. They, too, were coming off a couple day’s holiday with parents (the parents, by the way, signed in at tonight’s shelter register a few days ago). The girl was definitely running the show, and asked me questions about the Trail up ahead. The guys both admitted not really having heard about the Trail until some 6 months ago when she talked it up with them and convinced them to come. They started 13 February. She told me that she was a super-organized person and had started out with a schedule … which she quickly threw out. They were a little interested in the different outlook of section hikers. The boyfriend wondered how I could ever get back to hiking again once I’d get off for such a stretch; he imagined that if he stopped for months, he’d never go back to the Trail.

Between 6:45 and 7:00 tonight three guys showed up for the night. 7:14 and 71 degrees.


1 June 2005 (Wednesday) Allentown Hiking Club Shelter, PA

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Another long day, but not so bad hiking. There were a couple places where there were real serious scrambles, needing focus and concentration (and no rain!), but a lot of today was pretty flat stuff, some of it even rock free.

My own highlight of the day came 4 mile from the end, where I crossed route 309. I toddled over to the combination restaurant and B&B to see whether they really do have water available as the guidebooks say. Well I couldn’t find an outdoor tap that was working, and the place was locked up tight. So I toddles back across the big parking lot to the Trail crossing. There were two truck drivers parked in the lot, hauling stuff to make or repair highway guardrails and one of them called over to me. We chatted a bit and she wanted to know why I did it, how far I’d come, and so on. Then she asked me if someone was supposed to be picking me up. No, I said, I was just hoping that they had some cool water to spare; and waved my empty water bottle. No problem, she says, and grabs a gallon jug of spring water from the seat beside her to fill up my empty liter. We talked a little more and she asked what I ate along the Trail. As I was explaining my trail food, the other driver’s cell phone rang and she called over to us that they were ready down at the job site. SO then my driver says, here’s some bread (a big roll) and some butter packets for your lunch. She also topped off my water bottle. I told her she was an angel. And we went our separate ways. Real “trail magic.” (Okay, maybe bread and butter and water doesn’t sound that exciting to you, but it really hit the spot with me at that moment.)

I saw a turkey cross the Trail this morning. And last evening there were two scarlet tanagers. Oh, and how can I forget at 4:38 this morning a whip-poor-will very near the shelter?

Last night there ended up being only two other hikers at the shelter with me. A third guy was there for maybe half an hour before pushing on (into Palmerton?). They were all very interested in my lurid tales of the size and difficulty of the Palmerton superfund hill. I showed them a couple of the photos I took, too. A couple of the guys gear talked for a while before the one left. Then there was some amiable chatting for a while.

The older of the two, “Buzz,” really hates the rocks, which are doing a number on his knees. The younger guy, “Catnip,” was maybe even still in high school, wearing a feather in his hair, and section hiking Harpers Ferry to the Water Gap. He seemed to subsist on snacks, and was hiking in his old skate-boarding shoes. He told me this morning that he ate only dry food and thought that maybe next time he’d bring a stove and cook some dehydrated food because the dry stuff just weighed too much (or maybe it was the other way around, I don’t remember). I didn’t pursue with him the essential differences between dried and dehydrated. Buzz, by the way, had left Springer on the 15th of March, a full month behind the A-Team, and now only a day behind them. Shows the power of taking zero days; he’d only taken 3 since he started.

Between the whip-poor-will and all, I was on the Trail at 6:45 this morning. Got in here at, I think, about 4:45. It’s a long hike for water. Their sign says 1,200 feet … which I figure is close to a quarter mile, but the “feet” make it sound closer. Took me ten minutes to hobble down to the spring.

It’s 7:45 and 71 degrees. We’ll see whether anyone else shows up.

Tomorrow I meet Annie, either on the Trail or at the shelter. It’s another 16 ½ mile day for me (plus a water run in the morning).


2 June 2005 (Thursday) Windsor Furnace Shelter, PA

Nobody else showed up last night. It’s a relatively new shelter, with a nice privy and all. And a spring almost a quarter mile away. Someone had left a plastic gallon jug in the shelter so I used it this morning to get my water, and was able to purify it all at once, drink a couple liters, and still have my water to carry with me when I headed out.

There was what seemed like a really long uphill along a road in some state game lands this morning. Pretty easy trail because it was a maintained gravel road, but constantly uphill. And the blazes not too close together so I kept wondering whether I’d missed a turn off. Eventually the road petered out, though, and the Trail reverted to ruts and rocks.

Pretty much all day there were only 3 day hikers, without even day packs. Two were before this long stretch and one was during. The last guy was pretty talkative and told me about seeing a rattlesnake up at “The Pinnacle,” a high point I was heading for. When I got there I didn’t see any snakes, but then I didn’t go out to the overlook either. From there on, the Trail was more “normal.” Well, except for passing a radio tower where I could hear the air conditioning kick on for the equipment.

Eventually, though, when I think I was about within a mile of the shelter, I spied Annie up ahead. How nice! We walked to the shelter together, sharing our day’s experiences (mine included seeing one of those grouse play the broken wing game to try to lure me away from her ground nest and babies). We rested and then had supper. Ann also brought Snickers and Butterfingers, enough to satisfy and have many left over to leave in a plastic bag for other hikers.

While we were resting and snacking a hiker came up to the shelter to write in the register. She looked vaguely familiar, like I’d seen her in Virginia, but her name didn’t ring a bell and we didn’t put together where we were when exactly. She was heading north and said something about 10 more miles before dark, which seemed an awful lot to me with what daylight was left to her.

I’m thinking that, just 6 miles north of Duncannon, this shelter doesn’t get lots of overnight traffic.

Oh, another example of NO-BO prejudice: just before the last road I came to (where the long uphill through the gamelands started) I came across a sign facing south that read “Ecologically sensitive area; no camping for next ½ mile.” So, if I’m coming from the other direction like I was – where there is no such sign at the end of the sensitive area – and I decide to camp within a half mile of the back side of that sign … am I still liable for disturbing the area? It wouldn’t be that big a deal to put up signs for SO-BO hikers, too, would it?


10 June 2005 (Friday) home

This would have been my final day on the Trail if I’d been able to keep hiking south in Virginia. Of course, things turned out well anyway. I was able to be home to get an important phone call; got some chores done; got a lot of good reading done.

And I basically filled in a long “gap” on my trail map. Now all I really have left is Connecticut and Massachusetts; everything south of Thornton Gap, Virginia; and north of Pico/Killington, VT. Simple.

Ann and I had a wonderful night in the shelter and the hike out in the morning was not too bad (from my point of view) except for a persistent drizzle. Didn’t take too long to drive home from there. And I start back at work on Monday.


The "math":

166.8 Trail miles in 11.5 days for an average of 14.5 per day;
total (with earlier in May hike) of 291.8 miles over 19.5 days for an average of 14.9 miles a day;
finished AT in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, and all but about 20 miles of Pennsylvania; also have the southern 100 miles of Vermont done

Summer 2005 Hike - Part One
7 May - 15 May
Pen-Mar, MD -- Thornton Gap, VA


7 May 2005 – Saturday – Pine Knob Shelter (Maryland) on the Appalachian Trail

So, after some months of planning and figuring, Ann drove me from home this morning to the Pen-Mar County Park just barely south of the Mason-Dixon Line. We got there about 8:45 a.m., and I got hiking about 9:00. Got here to the shelter (17.6 miles later) at 5:20. Had a short lunch break at Ensign Cowall Shelter, which was roughly half-way in between.

Mostly the Trail was pretty easy. Long stretches of it flat and dirt-covered, but there were some harder rocky patches. And I really did need this shelter to be here. The big drawback here is the traffic noise from I-70, just down the hill, and a supposed drag strip nearby. On the other hand, the spring is close to the shelter.

Met 3 or so NO-BO through hikers. Ate lunch with a couple NO-BO section hikers from Syracuse who had started down in the Shenandoah someplace and were hiking back in the direction of home.

Saw a little wildlife: a turkey on the drive in; chipmunk, rabbit, various birds (heard but didn’t see a raven); some butterflies; and – remind me – is it a good thing or a bad thing to see a salamander in the pool of water at the spring you’re dipping from?

There’s a hiker holed up in his sleeping bag in the shelter. Raised his head to say hello when he heard me arrive, but laid back down again. Coughed a couple times. Maybe he’s waiting out a cold. Noisy group of tenters on the far side of the privy.

Scarlet tanager sighting – two of them! Make that at least 3.

Going to make supper and read the shelter register.

8 May 2005 (Sunday) Ed Garvey Shelter (Maryland)

What a nice shelter! Only drawback is that the spring is listed as .4 miles down a steep hill. Two guys left almost a half hour ago to get water and aren’t back yet. I filled up back at Gathland State Park, about 3 miles north of here and intend to make it last through breakfast and the 6 miles into Harpers Ferry.

The guy in the sleeping bag yesterday turned out to be a section hiker doing a shakedown hike preparing for a through hike he wants to start in January, after he graduates from college. He was learning a lot about what he didn't need to take with him.

The Trail today was again pretty easy. This sure isn’t northern Vermont. If I’d tried to do the miles there that I’m doing here, I probably wouldn’t be here. And that would be a shame.

Weather’s been beautiful. No clouds today, but breezy. Started out at about 48-50 degrees at 7:00 this morning and was in the low 70’s at mid-day. Went by the historic 1827 Washington Monument in the morning.
Birds abound. Not as many flowers as yesterday when there were lots and lots of yellow violets, but I did see a couple stands of pink azaleas today. Saw a deer today and something that might have been a groundhog moving very quickly through the woods when it heard me. AND I think I saw a bald eagle fly by after I got here to the shelter at around 3:30.

Yesterday my head was full of all kinds of thoughts as I walked. Today not so much.

In the morning it’s off to Harpers Ferry, downhill and then flat along the C & O Canal, a total of 6 miles. Then walking around town a bit to go to the ATC headquarters and maybe eat a restaurant meal. After that another 5 miles probably all uphill, then 5 more to the shelter, total of 16 + town.

Not sure about that uphill part because I seem not to have brought toe second map I need, plus I can’t find any of the photocopies I made of the data book or the thru-hiker’s companion. I really should be absolutely sure tonight. Actually, I should have 2 more maps to get to my first Post Office. Hmmm.

I get to call Ann tomorrow when I’m in town. Yay!

Found the maps and photocopies in the first pocket of the pack I looked into.

Two college guys hiking north are here and spreading their stuff in the upstairs loft. They’re eating that expensive Mountain House freeze dried stuff.

It’s 6:10. I’m going to review tomorrow’s maps and then read a while.

9 May 2005 (Monday) – David Lesser Shelter tenting area (VA or WV)

Tenting tonight mainly because 4 SO-BO college buddies are at the shelter. My thinking is that they’ll be up a while. It’s only 7:00 and I’m in the tent ready to lay down (well, I am already laid down to write). I followed these guys over the Shenandoah River bridge out of Harpers Ferry and we passed each other 3 or 4 times. I ended up in the lead somehow and got here about 15 minutes before them. They do a lot of chattering on the Trail. Then right away one of them went to sleep and started snoring – or breathing heavily – and I though I didn’t need that tonight. So I started thinking about the tent.

Tomorrow could be a hard day. Shorter miles planned – about 14 – but over a section called “The Rollercoaster” because of its constant ups and downs. An older guy pulled in here ca. 7:00 and said it wasn’t too bad because they’re short and because there’s a stream in each low point. Well good.

Today I did 16 Trail miles, plus over a mile in H.F. First I missed the turn to get to the ATC office and had to backtrack when I saw I was up to the Jefferson Rock. Maybe half a mile there. Plus it’s a half mile uphill from town center to the ATC Office. Half a mile back. Back up to Jefferson Rock and then onwards. BUT if I’d stopped to get out the new map, I’d have seen that the other blue blazed trail to the ATC was just a bit beyond the Jefferson Rock. Drat.

I had been thinking about a restaurant breakfast there in town, but there was nothing convenient enough for me. Saw the place. Got my Polaroid picture taken for the album (I’m section hiker #44 for the year to pass through the office).

The stretch from the last shelter to H.F. was nice.
Pretty flat and clear, then a switchbacked downhill, then the C & O Canal stretch.

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Saw a turtle and 3 babies on a log in the canal, a deer coming onto the towpath from the river side, and then a flock of 6 or 8 orioles in trees between the path and the river just before getting to the bridge to cross into Harpers Ferry.

When I called Ann from the ATC office she was surprised. Had forgotten I’d be going right through town and stopping there. Made my bird reports. It was good talking with her.

My right knee is acting up a little. Doesn’t like downhills so much. Ibuprofen and prayer to the rescue!

If I get off early enough in the a.m.. I should be fine. I left Ed Garvey shelter at 7 a.m. today and got here around 4:00, but spent an hour or so in H.F., so I did 16 miles in 8 hours walking. Good pace.

Oh, the shelter register claims there was a bear nosing around food bags last night. I’ve hung mine (probably a little low). Took a little doing, especially getting the last knot in place.

7:23 p.m. I’m going to read a little and see about sleep.

10 May 2005 (Tuesday) Sam Moore Shelter (VA)

6:20 p.m., I’ve been here 2 hours by myself and might just be for the night (though, of course, it’s never too late for someone to arrive). I’d guess a lot of NO-BO hikers blow right by this shelter, headed for the Bear’s Den Hostel. I was going to blow right by the hostel this afternoon except that I met a north-bounder in between there and Snickers Gap who said the magic words “Ben and Jerry’s.” So, what the heck, I stopped. Spent $5.50 on ice cream and a bottle of Gatorade; used the bathroom; filled my water bottles; and I was returning the spoon I’d eaten the ice cream with when I saw a computer with internet access for their “guests.” It didn’t specify overnight guests or not, so I sat down to email quick notes to Ann and the kids.

I was on the Trail ca. 7:00 this morning. Walked in the clouds for 2-3 hours before the sun came out. Just occasional sprinkles now and then, and quite chilly, but a lot of that part of the Trail was level, easy-going stuff. My right knee really slows me down on the downhills, but I figure I was averaging the standard 2 mph much of the day anyway. Still hopeful of keeping that up.

Tomorrow I’m “scheduled” for Dick’s Dome Shelter, another 16 mile day after today’s 14, but I’m tempted to shoot for the next shelter (Manassas Gap) as it’s “only” another 4.5 beyond, is bigger, and of course closer to the Linden Post Office. And this is such a huge food box I’m picking up – 11 days’ worth. I should try to shorten that heavy day somewhat. I’ll probably also question to wisdom of walking that much food through Shenandoah when it’s supposed to have restaurants sort of near the Trail.

No special wildlife sightings today. Some pretty wildflowers, though, here and there.

74 degrees and breezy. It was breezy much of last night and I fretted over whether to put up the rain fly over the tent. Didn’t need it in the end. Heard there should be “showers” tomorrow (both from Ann on the phone yesterday in Harpers Ferry, and from a woman accompanying a bunch of kids north on the Trail to “do some rock climbing” at Crescent Rock. Looked to be about 7th graders. I was most happy to talk with her because I was having a little trouble pinpointing just where I was, and that at least put me south of Crescent Rock.).

This place is in a tulip poplar grove … lots of very tall, straight trees … no branches reachable for bear-bagging unless you’ve got a cross bow and lots of rope. I take the presence of a lot of mouse hanger thingies to mean that bears don’t like tulip poplars (even if mice do)

It’s cooled to 72 degrees at 7:30 and I’m going “to bed” even though it’s still light out.

11 May 2005 (Wednesday) Manassas Gap Shelter (VA)

Long, hot day. But here I am 4 miles further than my schedule said. I decided that 18(+2) was too long on a mail pick-up day, even if some of it was before the pick up. So now tomorrow will be 14 Trail miles + 2 road miles (round trip) for the mail.

A random view of the smooth AT footpath taken at 8:15 in the morning -

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And just three minutes down the Trail the rocks appeared -

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But it was hot today. I didn’t check the temp during the day, but the talkative guy in the shelter said the radio reported it at 91. Yowzers!

LOTS of trillium blooming today. There were a couple of miles of Trail just north of here where 30-40 feet off rail on both sides was carpeted with them! Quite a sight.

Here in the shelter there’s a gray bird with lighter chest that’s built a nest inside above the “door,” a sort of mud and stuff set-up. Was real hesitant about coming in when one of us humans was sitting in the doorway, but now that we’re both down on our sleeping bags, it comes and goes with a flutter. Wonder whether it’ll be singing us awake.

Trail re-route in Sky Meadows State Park cut half a mile off the section, but it was virtually all in the blazing sun. Not good. The promised rain for today kept to a brief, few minutes of sprinkle. Did cool things off a bit, though.

Physical report: feeling pretty good except that the knee still hurts a little; ups are still tiring; downs are still slow; and now I’m chafing (especially where my pack belt rubs). A real annoyance. Plus, I believe the “convenience” store near the Linden P.O. doesn’t open until something like 5 p.m.! The convenience part must be for the owner, not the hikers. Had been hoping to pick up some powder or something.

It’s 7:30 p.m. and 85 degrees.

That bird has a darker grey head , and bobs its tail when it’s on the branches contemplating a run at the nest.

Third guy just showed up and said two more are behind him. They’re here and identified the bird as an Eastern “Foe-bee.”

12 May 2005 (Thursday) Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter (VA)

6:30 p.m., 63 degrees, cloudy.

So, anyway, those guys were up until 9:45 last night and there seemed to be an awful lot of rustling of bags and bivies in the shelter until all hours and through the night. Between that and tired legs, I felt like I couldn’t get to sleep, and then didn’t sleep well.

The 5th guy at the shelter last night was there when I arrived, name of Pine Tree. Older, retired carpenter from the Midwest, now out of Florida. Started a thru-hike with his son a couple years ago. After his knee “went out” and he then had an operation on it, he’s at it again, but taking his sweet old time this time. Thought that next year he might go out to Wyoming, buy two horses (pack and ride) and just ride around out there to see what he could see. Likes Florida’s winters, but not its summer heat, so he’s planning on doing something away from there in the summer.

Today, then … up early (the 2 latecomers still in bed when I hit the Trail) and out about 7:00. Easy walk down to the road, then a flat road walk to the P.O. in Linden where the clerk got my box, and checked for but couldn’t find any letters. I repacked the food (what a load!) for the next 11 days and walked over to the convenience store which IS open in the morning after all. Called Annie from the payphone outside and got updates. She said she sent a letter last Saturday, same day as the box, and another one on Monday. Bought a bottle of grapefruit juice and cookies. Back to the P.O. Guy said he’d check again and found a letter in back someplace. I thanked him and asked about the earlier one. He checked the general delivery cupboard again and this time found it. Jeepers! Back to the store again, to get fuel. Their gasoline antifreeze is isopropyl alcohol and I mixed it with the methanol I have. Yeah. It leaves soot on the pot. Only an hour or so later did I remember that I wanted to get some foot powder or something, too. Maybe at the next store, if I still need it.

The hike wasn’t so bad with the heavy pack except for the last couple miles when it started to show on my shoulders. Did a lot of sweating today after the post office stop. Even stopped at a shelter to change pants, they were so wet from sweat. It’d almost started to rain in town, so that I put on my jacket and pack cover, but then let off before I got to the Trail … and didn’t take off either for a while; that may have been part of the issue.

At the last big road (Rt. 522. which goes into Front Royal) there was a parked car and I was hoping for a trail angel with something cold to drink. No such luck. It was a woman dropping off a couple, the woman of which was looking for her cell phone. I humped on up the hill without checking the map because this is in the new guidebook for the Shenandoah which I got in the mail; and I’d put the maps in the pack rather than separating the first one out into my waist wallet. Well, one way or the other I was hoping to get to what the book said was the Northern Virginia Trail Center where I could get water from a tap (I’d been warned by a NO-BO hiker to get water on the way to this shelter because it’s a long quarter mile from the shelter to the spring). I wanted to camel up at the Center and then get water at a spring and be set. Well, I never saw such a blue blaze trail. Maybe it’s not there any longer.

Then the guide book talked about benches and views and trails elsewhere. First bench was okay but now with no view. Next bench seemed to be on the wrong side of the Trail, I thought. Finally came to a sign which said the shelter was a half mile ahead, a rarity to get a warning (promise) like that. I took the long blue blaze to the spring and then went up to the shelter wondering if it would have hurt anything to build the shelter closer to the spring? (As it turns out, the spring wasn’t on ATC property when the shelter was built, else they might have.)

Rested; read; made supper; and as I was hanging my food bag on the cable by the shelter porch (I’m virtually in the Shenandoah so there may be bears about), the two cell phone people wandered up from the tent sites to see what the shelter looks like. They’re sort of section hiking: last year did Springer to Erwin, now Front Royal to Erwin, and maybe the rest later. I may be seeing them for a while because I’m pretty much going shelter to shelter through the Shenandoah (although I have seen neither hide not hair of those 4 guys who came out of Harpers Ferry with me).

Tomorrow’s only a 10 mile day. At 7:00 it’s a chilly 62 degrees. Gonna lay me down and read a bit.

[A chillier 48 degrees upon getting up in the morning. Hit the Trail ca. 8:30 a.m.]

13 May 2005 (Friday) Gravel Springs Hut, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Yeah, it must have been chilly last night. I ended up with my sleeping bag zipped all the way up, and was comfy, not too hot. Today I kept an eye on the temperature. It never got above 58 degrees. Then there was the wind, too, most of the day. Quite chilly. Didn’t see the sun at all until after I got to the shelter, and it’s just peeking through now and then; most of the sky is still thickly overcast.

Easy Trail today, though, and not so long (10 miles, I thi8nk it was), but the chill made it not overly enjoyable. Signed in and got my 'backcountry pass' when I got the the Park border. Saw deer a couple of times, and just a couple other hikers. One group of six kids calling themselves “Team Vanity” for some reason. Now a pair of No-BO sections hikers are here with me. The woman seems to be the one doing more hiking as they said he hadn’t been out with her before, and has only a week now, while she has a month.

Another phoebe nest in this shelter.

I spent some time after arriving trying to plot a shorter ay a few from now when I’m set for a 21 or so. If I bypass the shelter before there’s supposed to be a relatively flat former farm field about 3 miles beyond. That would make two 17 mile days in a row. ‘Course, who knows?

I’m going to get in my bag early tonight just to keep warm.

There’s supposed to be a restaurant of some sort not too far south at the Elkwallow Wayside on the Skyline Drive. Tomorrow, being Saturday, may see a bit of tourists, especially if the sky clears. On the other hand, it could be raining tomorrow. Maybe yesterday morning and today are the omens of rain … a cold front has come through, that’s for sure.

The shelter register has a lot of stories in it about a raccoon who has learned that there’s food atop the bear pole thing. It is said to climb to the top and then eat into food bags as they swing below. One entry says to hang your bag by at least 2 feet of cord so the coon can’t reach it. Others have tried to use trees (but a coon who can climb a smooth steel pole can just as well get up a tree, can’t it?). I’m going to try putting my cookset on top of the food in the bag, and then my dirty socks on top of that to make it more difficult for Mr. Raccoon to get to the food, plus mask the food smell a little perhaps. Or maybe the coon has gone elsewhere as the last coon story was a while ago – a few days anyway.

There’s a resident chipmunk here. And the register talks about mice (which could be the chippy) at night.

I’ve got 5:03 and 62 degrees --- but a pretty steady wind, too. Time for warm food.

14 May (Saturday) Pass Mountain Hut, Shenandoah National Park, VA

Much hotter today than yesterday, up around 80 degrees in mid-day with good sun pretty much all day. I was up and about before any of the others woke up. There were 2 SO-BO section hikers who showed up around dark, after I’d given up and snuggled deep into my bag looking for warmth. Found it, of course, but I didn’t get to really meet the people, so I half wondered if they were the two cell phone people. At 3:00 a.m. I heard the first two people waking them up saying that the raccoon was atop the pole getting her food, and they’d bring it in the shelter if she wanted. I heard them say it was the second time they’d gotten up to shoo it away.

At 5:30 I heard the pole and chain clanging, but by the time I got up the coon was gone. Then I sat and listened to the birds waking up (how do they ever hear their own calls in the morning amongst all the others?). After that I tried to pull my things quietly out of the shelter and packed a lot of it up. Then I got my food bag down, made breakfast, finished packing, and hit the Trail about 7:15. I suppose the others might wonder if I just disappeared. (I remember sort of envying the hikers in Vermont who could do just that.) At the bottom of the food pole there were the wrappers for a Lipton Cajun Style Beans and Rice, and for 3 granola bars. Guess the coon ate well.

Shortly after getting on the Trail something dropped into the leaves about 4 feet to my left. I stopped to see what it was and then suddenly there were 4 or 5 baby orioles playing a roughhouse game of tag from ground to branch and away. Quite a sight.

A bit of hot hiking later I got to the Elkwallow Wayside (gas station / snack bar). Was there about 10:30, so I could still get 2 egg and cheese sandwiches (one with honey mustard and relish, the other with barbecue sauce and relish). Yummy! Called home and left a message for Annie on the machine. Went back into the store and got 2 large Snickers bars (total of 810 calories if I did the math right). Washed up a little in the bathroom, where I removed the second tick of the day from myself and flushed it down the sink. These were the big dog ticks; I don’t know how anyone can see the tiny deer ticks.

Met the guys from Ohio again today. They come out to do 30 miles or so each year on this weekend in May, a group of 5 of them. They leave one car at either end of the day’s stretch, and exchange keys when they pass each other in the middle. At least they say there are 5 of them; I saw the same guys each day.

Talked with an older couple a little ways back on Pass Mountain. I’d stopped to rest on a rock and heard voices, then realized that there was someone just ahead. These two were sprawled out flat on their backs chatting. She was from Lebanon, PA and had gone to E-town College; he had gone to F&M and then taught somewhere. Their first time out this season, they said, getting their hiking legs back for backpacking later.

So I pulled into the shelter at about 2:30 to find the place swarming with at least 50 Koreans from a church in Vienna, VA. They were wrapping up a barbecue and offered me a slab of chicken, which I declined saying I’m a vegetarian. Didn’t get any other offers of food. What I was really hoping for was a cold drink. They cleaned and bustled (a few of them anyway) for half an hour and then were gone. One guy stopped and asked me about my hike; I asked him about the group. He said they were going on overseas missions trips and this was part of their physical training. They did a pretty good job of cleaning up the hut area, but the flies know they were here.

Which brings us to the newest pair of SO-BO hikers (you’d think with all these other people going southbound, I’d see some of them more than once). This young couple from Colorado popped into the shelter a little while after the Koreans headed downhill. Said they’d seen a bear back on Pass Mountain. Now I’m wondering how much Korean barbecue got spilled in the woods where the various groups were eating. And how much spilled bbq sauce is near the fire pit for mister bruin to come lick off tonight while I’m sleeping.

The guy just got a job with the High Mountain Institute, an interesting-sounding educational endeavor in Leadville, CO where they bring in high school juniors from all over the country for a semester and – while keeping them up on their regular subjects – also do some environmental/outdoor education stuff with them. Sounded fun. She used to be a park ranger in Colorado, but just recently quit because it’s getting to be too much law enforcement. So they put stuff into storage, jumped into his truck, and came to Virginia to hike for a while.

It’s kind of clouding over and cooling off now, down to 75 something degrees here at 5:00. The couple said we’re supposed to get thundershowers the next tow days, but the weather’s been wrong the last week, too. (They re-supplied from relatives today just down the Trail a piece, so it’s locals reporting the weather – or semi-locals anyway.) I’d appreciate a day with temps and cloud cover in between yesterday’s and today’s. Suppertime soon.

15 May 2005 (Sunday) Panorama Restaurant, Shenandoah National Park, Thornton Gap, VA

Well, like so many before me, I’m going to “get off the Trail” before I’d originally planned. My reason is gout. I’ve had it, I don’t know, 5-6-7 years or so, with only 2 flare-ups, both right at the beginning. Take my little pill every morning and it leaves me alone. Except now it comes back. Could be just what I was eating the last couple days, or that plus the stress of backpacking, or who knows what. (Ate much the same, and backpacked in Vermont 3 years ago without any gout. Go figure!) Yesterday I did eat the 2 egg and cheese sandwiches, and I’ve been eating gorp with mixed nuts in it (that I now remember some of which are on the list of foods high in purines hat should be avoided). Plus my meals have been the beans and rice sort of thing, but nothing different from my usual fare. It boiled down to a lot of proteins do metabolize. And, maybe, in the end, not as much water as often as I should. Oh, well.

Last night, again, I couldn’t find the right position to sleep in. Between that and my to joint hurting if I put pressure on it the wrong way, I didn’t feel like I got much sleep. I was up at 5:30 or 6:00, and really on my way before the others got up. The third other resident last night was a NO-BO section hiker from Montana and/or Colorado, just into a couple weeks’ vacation. No bears last night.

Well, I got here to the phone just a minute or two after 8:30 and called home. Ann had changed the greeting to a message for me saying she’d be out till 12:30, going to church with Jon. That was because I was scheduled to get to a phone later in the day at the Skyland area and she didn’t want me to miss her being home by calling too early. Anyway, I left a message and said I’d hang out here till 12:30 and call again. The restaurant is closed so I’m sitting on its porch to stay out of the wind.

Funny thing about the gout: in my experience it’ll be “all better” in a day or two. I probably could have stayed out on the Trail if I wasn’t in such a tight section-hiker schedule, needing pretty much to be at least to particular places each night, if not beyond. Maybe I’ll go back out next week and finish the part of Pennsylvania I haven’t done yet.

12:30 … called home and Joanna says that Ann left at 10:30 already, in between church services. So the wait won’t be as long. She has the cell phone with her, so I’ll call and let her know just how to find me without paying to get onto the Skyline Drive.

20 May 2005 – Elizabethtown, PA

So the gout flare-up is over and gone, as I thought it would be. I probably could have gotten along on the Trail in spite of it, but the Thornton Gap spot was too convenient to skip calling from there. I was slower getting down to it from Pass Mountain that I would have been otherwise (even back when my knee had been hurting). It was more real annoying that painful. But I still wouldn’t have wanted to stub my toe on anything.

Still thinking of the rest of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania starting some time next week. People had asked about my section hike and generally liked that I was going to be out for a month. I’d been telling them that I did the Long Trail 3 years ago, and so got the southern 100 miles of Vermont done then; and that I used to live in New York and got all of NY and a little bit of Connecticut done then; and that I was now in Pennsylvania and had hiked half of the Trail in PA (all establishing my “Trail cred” pretty firmly). As it turns out, when I looked at the maps and Data Book I’ve done a lot more than half of Pennsylvania. I’ve hiked from Port Clinton (Hawk Mountain) south almost to the Maryland border. From Port Clinton up to the Delaware Water Gap is only a few days’ hike. And adding New Jersey wouldn’t be all that much longer. Hmmmmm.