sweetwilder

April 25-26, 2015

“Deep in each man is the knowledge that something knows of his existence. Something knows, and cannot be fled nor hid from.”
― Cormac McCarthy

I will often enter the woods to shed my worries and anxiety, only to find that those concerns were so inconsequential that I have a difficult time remembering them when I finally emerge. The woods reminds me that I am minuscule. I see the grandeur of trees that have grown for hundreds of years, plants that bloom in exceeding splendor and rivers thundering. Perhaps that is what anxiety is; a compulsive nonsensical worry about nothing. When hiking you march to a destination at the speed I believe we as humans are meant to move. You stop to watch the centipede, stare at the flower, close your eyes to listen to the bird call.

It had been far too long since the last time that Johnny, Josh and I hiked together. This trip gave me the opportunity to show them my favorite hiking location this year, the Ellicott Rock Wilderness. The grey cold of winter has been replaced by the lush green of spring. It’s a beautiful process to see one particular area at different times of the year. Emily compares it to finding an author and reading their material over the course of the their lifetime. It changes in some fashion, but in other aspects it’s wonderful to see the subtle similarities.

We had a wonderful hike that started on the Fork Mountain Trail and went to the Chattooga River Trail, where we made camp above the river for the night. The next day we hiked to the Foothills Trail and back to the car at Sloan Bridge Access.

The calmness of the river, the green leaves and peaceful slumber of sleeping in a rain storm were just what I wanted.

Total mileage is 18.1 miles.