18. Wagon ruts (Pecks Corner to Cosby Knob NC)

Five clear, warm days in late winter happens once in a blue moon up in the Smokies. This is the weather window that greeted my journey through the most rugged section of the South. Whew. Even still, the air carried a distinct chill today, a combination of the high altitude and an overcast layer that blew in last night dragging a colder airmass behind. The air whispers of snow up here, a deeper cold. Before this arrives, I will offset its bite somewhat by descending.

Both high and low, a string of freezing or near-freezing nights has begun. When hiking in March, you expect and deal with it.

The pending springtime

Still, the flora reflects subtle evidence of the pending springtime. At low elevations in human-cultivated gardens, the daffodils bloom, heralding the spring. In wild gardens everywhere, the abundant rhododendron prepare buds, their size directly correlating with elevation.

I like to think the spring races to catch me. Because of the tilt of the Earth, spring advances in a nonlinear fashion. Until the equinox, spring accelerates in its northward progression, moving farther each day. Spring cuts into my head start each day. It pulls blossoms out of the orange trees in Florida and greens the grass in South Texas even now, I imagine. 

But what will happen to the rhododendron buds this next week when winter makes a return? Hannah said the leaves will curl up around the buds if the cold stings, protecting. Both the budding bushes and the majority of trees that have yet to bud know there fickleness of late winter. In either their lingering dormancy or their leafy defense, the wisdom of previous generations carries on.

Digging good ruts

As always, Mossy, Young G – self-renamed Sparrow – and I filled the day with stimulating conversation. One of my favorite parts was when we discussed the habits that we are building on the trail. These habits dig into us, like ruts dug into a dirt path. Even if a wagon tried to avoid the ruts, once they become established, the wagon will slip into them anyway, digging them even deeper. So it is with the patterns of our behavior. After this time on the trail and so long to go, we hope these patterns of behavior, these ruts, will stay.

Here are some ruts we are forming: going to bed with the sunset and waking up with the sunrise, focusing on being rather than doing, prioritizing a stretching routine, eating to fuel the body rather than eating absentmindedly, limiting the activities in one day, awareness of how each part of the body is feeling, knowledge that little issues can become big problems if not treated, interacting genuinely with people from different walks of life, not wasting any time on devices. Each of these will surely receive more attention in this journal. It’s nice to be aware of these patterns, to cultivate them, to dig the ruts deeper, desiring their continuation after the trail because of the fullness we experience out here.