Walking with Jesus - Oct 26, 2012

Oct 26 2012 Day 40

Miles   4.20 miles

Total   152.6

Goal for now 500

Today’s walk was the beginning test of my determination of this whole idea of an imaginary AT walk. Yesterday I talked about a drastic change in temperature from the 80 degrees to today’s high of 47. The wind was brisk and it was overcast and at one time misty. Even with a hat and vest on, if you stood still very long I might have decided I was cold. But if I am determined to accomplish this goal I must look past cold snowy or hot weather. I need to decide now to keep going.   Love this Latin saying I found and this winter I just might put it to music and make it my song. One more thing, this is my 40th day of hiking and it is often suggested that to make something a habit or make a permanent change in your life, repeating in for 40 day or 40 times will give you a better chance at it becoming a habit.

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

Just last week the woods were just overcome with color and now only the leave the hold on for dear life are there to wow you. It is still a peaceful place to be, the woods I mean. I saw a pileated woodpecker. They are so hard to photograph because they love to hide behind the trees as you try to get closer for a good picture of them. They are such a striking bird to look at. This is a large bird (7 or 8 inches or more) and mostly black with white head, white black strips and red top knot.  

I also decided that today’s time with God would be spent praying for Kristi, who is sinking in trouble, real trouble. I know Deb is so worried and I really understand this kind of worry. So the only hope is the one who created her and loves her even more than his mother. So the Lord and I talk for 4 miles and to think he listens. I ended with the assurance that he heard me and in his Power, wisdom and love he we bring the best outcome. Oh help her Lord.

Now to my pretend AT hike, at 152 miles I would be at a place called Brown Fork Gap Shelter, NC. You would find yourself about 22 or so miles south of the Tennessee border. You would enjoy panoramic views of the Smokies, Nantahala Lake, and all of the other surrounding mountains. I can tell you that I have heard enough to say that these designated camping areas with these shelters is not what I would call pleasant areas. To sleep with several strangers and mice just doesn’t thrill me. So rain or no rain I think I would set up my tent rather than shelter.

AT hikers are in this area in late March or early April so they can hope to finish in Maine by September or October. The Smoky Mt are can often be cold and even snow so a AT hiker has no choice but to take on the harsh weather. So as I walk this winter I can feel the real heart of the trail.  

Walk with Jesus Oct 25, 2012

Oct 25, 2012 – Day 39

Miles   2.7

Total   146.4

Goal for now 500

This was one of those surprise walks. I had a bus trip uptown and then ended up at YMCA in Avon. They have this whole fitness trail system and so I said “self why not”. So off I went and was surprise to see after walking all their trails I find they have over 2 miles of trails. They even had some wooded areas. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t like hiking parks but it was a great chance to get my walk in. For those who understand how I started walking you will know that I wanted to walk the Appalachian Trail but truly understand I can’t so I started this pretend AT hike. I wanted to copy it after a fellow who completed the full 2176 miles but when he started he said “If he couldn’t walk it with God he would quit.  So I wanted today's walk to be a time to see Gods creation but this fitness trail seems to not be very helpful in seeing nature at its best. But then it accrued to me what the long desert walks Jesus was like with his disciples. The long sandy roads, with heat causing each mile to seem like a heat box torture test. This whole group, Jesus and his 12 disciples, if only we could hear the conversations that went on mile after mile.  Did He find beauty in places where we are to blind to see it?  So as I walk I looked harder for the finger prints of God. Then I looked up at the awesome blue sky and big white puffy clouds and just gave praise in the beautiful simplicity of it all. I thought about the 80 degree day we were enjoying on this late October day and the fact that around midnight it will drop drastically overnight. Did you ever wonder at the miracles of the moving currents of air masses? Then there is the plan of the changing of seasons causing the drastically different nature of summer, winter, fall and spring. You see when we see all of nature as a carefully planned creation of God to show his character and power you start, or at least I start to wonder at the planned purpose of all of nature. If we are accepting the fact there is an all-powerful God then he could have created nature and earth as he saw fit. He did not have to create the four seasons or giving us the ability to see color or the wonder of awesomely colored Butterfly’s hatching from a cocoon.  As I have watched on a clear night and thought about the fact God knows the names of each star and the zodiac mentioned in the Bible may be for the purpose of knowing Gods plan for mankind. So as I began to finish my walk I have enjoyed spending time in the simplest of things in God’s creation.

We fight change but it is change that feed the built in need for new and different. It seems everything God placed around us involves different or change almost as if it is necessary for growth or molding us into our finished purpose. Even his earth is totally wrapped in drastic changes, the dessert walks, towering Mt., Swamps and Polar Ice caps.

So my walk today is just another change that keeps me seeking the next adventure. On the AT trail that is what adds the adventure and the very thing that makes the AT trail such a challenging goal. So it’s who you walk with and where that gives me meaning and motive. And it was a beautiful walk indeed. Thank you God.

"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

 

Walk with Jesus Oct. 8 - Oct 23, 22012

Miles 6.6 – Day 38 

Total   143.7 miles

Goal for now 500

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

Another great day and also one that began to look like it wouldn’t happen. Carol only had today this week to walk and we wanted to do this while I was on my fall break which I had only one more week left. But I woke to heavy rain. We had set today to walk the Monona trail and began over by Nora Plaza. It had been planned she would pick me up at 10:00. But at 10:00 it began to rain again. So Ok, lets make it 11:00 but it was still raining at 11:00. Then it was agreed that we would leave at 12:30 and the radar seem to give us the green light on this idea. But the whole drive over it rained. It rained hard, it rained light and then it rained just any why it chooses to. We were both pleased to with the fact that none of this rain detoured us from our plan. But thank you Lord, for when we pulled into our parking place the rain stopped. Now this was no guarantee that it would not start again but we just had faith it wouldn’t, and actually it didn’t. This part of the Monona trail was just beautiful. We walked about 3 and ½ miles and then arrived at some quite little restaurants and sat and eat a small lunch and then headed back. The sun even came out for a while. We had a great walk and had fun talking as we went. It was almost 7 miles which is longer than I had ever walked and was pleased I made it and no worse for the ware.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles   3.9  - Day  37

Total   137.1 miles

Goal for now 500

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

I’m at it again and walking at Arbuckle Acre. I wanted to walk there because I wanted to walk by town hall to see all the Build a Bails displays. It was our first time to put something in the towns fall display. So off I went. It was fun for us to build it.  There were lots of displays but mostly business. My miles are clicking away and I see that before long I will be zeroing in on 200 miles. Who would have thought. It was such a great thing to spend so much time reflecting on all of Gods Creation. Oh, Lord I pray I will not stop walking.

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 31, 2012 – Day 36

Miles 2.6

Total   133.2

Goal for now 500

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

I have looked forward to this walk. Carol and I went to Eagle Creek. I have wanted to for some time but Bill felt I needed someone to walk with me over there so Carol agree to go. She took her beautiful dog and it was just a beautiful day. We walked in the area of old nature center and then the path that leads out into the lake. There were lots of others out walking and enjoying the day. The best of all was that Carol would be willing to walk even in the winter.

 

"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

Walk with Jesus Oct 16, 2012

Mon Oct 8, 2012 – Day 33

Miles   3.7

Total   123.

Goal for now 500

 

 

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

 
Fall is coming fast. Soon the green in this picture will all be gone and yellows and red will replace it. Again after the heat and droubt it was suggest there would be little color this year but it looks like again they are wrong. So on and on I go. I hope winter will not slow me down.

Oct 13, 2012 Day 34

Miles   4.2

Total   127.4

Goal for now 500

While walking I was thinking about the reason on mile one I started this walking and keeping a journal. It was to just touch on a tiny amount of the feeling of a large commitment to a goal bigger than I could reasonable accomplish, that is hiking the Appalachian Trail and its 2176 miles(see day one of this walk). Hiking is much different that walking. Hiking carries with it the thought of observing all that is around you and enduring whatever the weather brings. These long distant hikes also suggest the necessity of completing at least certain section of this goal just to return to civilization. It asks you to give up some of your worldly pleasures to accomplish goals you set. It also removes you from some of the distraction we live with. So I enjoy observing where I would be at certain miles on the Appalachian Trail. This helps keep in my mind why I was drawn to this whole adventure.

So at about 127 miles I would be at a place called Tellico Gap in NC. Oh how beautiful and so totally removed from civilization.

This 7.5 mile section of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina features the views from the observation tower on 4627 foot Wesser Bald. It's only a 1.4 mile hike along the AT from Tellico Gap to Wesser Bald, making this a very popular day hike in the area.

 

 

Oct 14, 2012 Day 35

Miles   3.7

Total   130.6

Goal for now 500

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

It is such a thrill to enjoy fall this year. You can drive to Browns County or somewhere else but this was just less than a mile from my house. I just love walking here two or three times a week.

I thought it would be fun to show a photo of the very same spot when I first started this walk in Sept.

There is a different smell to the woods in fall. Some call it dead and dying leaves. But I call it the promise of hope that renewal will come. New life always follows death. There is not a soul alive who does not with all certainty, know that following fall and all that looks barren and dead, will be followed with life and reborn. Wildflowers will pop up and tiny spots of green will burst out at the first warmth of spring.

So why do we have such difficulty seeing death of a love one in the same way. It is promised and that most of us say we believe. We know fall and all that is dying and the barren under snow of winter will bring the rebirth of spring. So, maybe we can remember the fall and winter of our lost love ones and wait for spring and rebirth of these love ones to burst forth.

All of nature declares Gods wisdom and Glory. I love walking and watching his beautiful creation. The things I think about when I am walking. I guess it is better that day dreaming or watching TV.

I am moving on toward my goal of walking 100 or more miles this month. I just keep going on and on. Next week I will go with a friend for a longer than usual hike, maybe 7 or 8 miles. Hope I am up to it.

Walking with Jesus Oct 6, 2012

Oct 6 2012 – Day 32

Miles  5.3

Total   119.3

Goal for now 500

 

This week has been a little lacking and the reason is just not going to do. All of this hiking started because of my fascination with one man’s walk of the Appalachian trial for two reasons one to deal with the change of losing his wife and to walk with God. I read his entire book and it was for him life changing but it came from the long hours through not just the good weather and seeing Gods beauty but most of all, just as in life, it was the storms, the long wet nights, hard rocky climbs, and foot blister that he learned of the God who sees and cares for us.

I say all this because my reason for not completing my goal of 15 miles this week (12 was my total) was two days of our first cold, misty and dreary weather. To try the best I can to get some kind of feel for this life changing event of the AT trail I must get past this fair weather walking. Taking that many days off makes me wonder of the will to keep this adventure going. The first thought of this reminded me of this book and how after several days walking in very hard terrain with wet, cold weather he chose to take a 0 day in a warm hostel nearby.   He talks a lot about how hard it was to get back on the trail. So taking days off because it is not 70 degrees and sunny days more than just keeps me from my weekly and monthly goal. It also does damage to my will and determination to the long distance goal of 500 miles by April 1. So I want to get on with this. Get the rain gear and warm cloths ready for the coming cold and even snowy weather.

I walked to Arbuckle’s Park and it was just beautiful. It was a bit cool and I wore a jacket the entire way but it was a great walk. Tomorrow is Sunday, and with the weather so beautiful, it will be hard to take a 0 day but I am guessing one of the secrets to success of this adventure is taking a day of rest and quite time to read, study and spend time with other people that love the Lord. But no matter how you look at it 119 miles is very satisfying.

Oh, one more thing, there has never been anything I got the crazy desire to attempt, whether it is CDA, art classes or hiking an imaginary Appalachian Train My Billy is always behind me and cheering me on. There is no one who has ever done that for me except of course God. Thank you Billy.

Walking with Jesus Oct. 5 2012

Oct 5 2012 – Day 31

Miles   4.2

Total  114.0 

Goal for now 500

Fall is in full swing now and the weather today is great. It is supposed to turn much cooler and misty and rainy tomorrow. So today is a great choice.

 

As I walked and drank it all in I wondered since God choose to create the world with four seasons and said that by his creation we would know him, just what are we to learn about him in the change of seasons. Change, now that is something we aren’t very good at. Most hate change. I often hear someone say, now this weather I could take year around, really, 365 days a year same thing, just something, different day. Well not me, I love the change of season and even the challenge of changing weather most days. Really I soon become bored with walking in the same place; same direction and yes even same weather would soon leave me wanting as far as challenges go. It is a tossup as to whether spring or fall is my favorite. But right now it is fall. I love the show of colors crisp cool nights and comfortable days.

 

This year as I have been walking many days of the fall I find true wonder at how all of nature seems to know to prepare for the winter months. The squirrels run around, almost seeming to rush to collect and hide enough food for the winter. Birds are gathering for the trip south and seem to be eating an overabundance of food to take them through their trip. We had on lone humming bird at our feeder that came and drank an overabundance of food. We hadn’t seen any humming birds for some time. I told Bill he must be heading south and saw a quick meal at our house.

One thing that seems very motivating and simplifies keeping track of how far I walk is an app called Runkeeper.  It clocks my time, distance, and calories burned. When I end the activity I get an e-mail and it takes me to a web page that shows me a map of my route and you can set goals and it keeps track of them for you. I really enjoy it.

http://runkeeper.com

Walk with Jesus - Oct 1 2012

Oct 1 - Day 30

Miles   3.4

Total   109.8

Goal for now 500

Nunc coepi " Latin for
"I begin once more with your help, O Lord."

 

Yesterday was my 0 day (a day with no miles) I have opted to take Sundays as a day of rest each week. Yesterday was a beautiful day to rest. Today it threatens to rain but I was thrilled to finish today dry. The temperature was 65 or so and great walking. I went back to Williams Park to walk today and looked for some fun nature surprises. I’m hoping that I got a real treat. This was when overhead through a very wooded part of the park I saw a large bird soring. I could not get a good look, and thought surly not an eagle. Oh, come on Kathy don’t get ridiculous. But I keep watching and never got a full look only a full wing span of a very large bird. I finally lost sight and thought no this must be one of those Turkey vultures. I was ready to continue walking and then I heard this loud screech and I stop right in my tracks. It was the sound of eagle. Could it be, oh I’m so hopeful and will keep watching in the future. I have found this fun app for my smart phone that will track and map and give me all kinds of calculations of my walk. It is great and I pull it up on the computer and print the area I walked in. It’s a lot of fun. You can also set goals like the one I set, which was 500 miles by April 1, 2013.  I have left my goal of 100 miles behind and am hoping to reach 200 in a little over a month from now. Goals seem to give me the get up and go to get out of my chair and venture out in to nature. This app is called RunKeeper and the map it track me on is up top.

So back to my imaginary Appalachian Trail hike, if I had walked 109 miles I would be at Winding Stair Gap Shelter in N.C. The view from there is just beautiful, I can only imagine. Oh well it is a dream.  

This 30.9 mile section of the Appalachian Trail features the views from 5000 footers Standing Indian Mountain and Albert Mountain. For north bound thru hikers this is the first section you'll experience in North Carolina. This whole section of trail is within the Nantahala National Forest.