28 days later

Writing this from The Smoky Mountain Diner in Hot Springs NC. Waiting on my breakfast and my shuttle (hopefully in that order) back to where I got off trail 28 days ago, just a little south of Newfound gap in the smokies.

I’m coming back with a slightly lighter kit and an entirely revamped approach. There is still a plan, but it’s subject to change by the day. The plan is less grand than it was (make it to Damascus for trail days, complete a continuous 500 miles, complete three states vs through hike the entire trail), but more importantly rather than trying to impose my will on the trail, I’m going to pay more attention to what the trail has for me.

“Is it really as simple, though, as saying that it is the going, and not the getting there, that counts? For Weil this could be deeply misleading. First, she gives this notion a particular twist: by embracing the going and not the getting there, we will ultimately get to somewhere more important than the original destination”

The Subversive Simone Weil
Robert Zaretsky