1. Missed Turn Black Snake Boulder Omens
2. Red Dot Trail Panting Sweat Soaked Boulder Climb
3. Downward Blue Dot Hot Forest Boulder Hop
4. Into the Stream – Relief
Following the sound of water eventually, the creek came into view. After nearly three hours of sweat soaked hiking, never had I seen such a wondrous thing. The location of the stream however, was a problem. There was no trail access point. We climbed down the exposed roots system of a large maple tree and made it to the creek. Beautiful.
Ha, Nature Man, you going for a swim? You can’t swim. You ran away from lessons twenty years ago. You cried in the locker room at the YMCA. You don’t have health insurance Nature Man, those are wet mossy stones, you’ll probably slip and crack your head into pieces.
(And then I won’t hear you anymore)
I had conquered the mountain and the mountain had me conquered as well. My skin, still humming with heat seemed to be screaming for the relief of the loud, cold mountain stream. I needed to get into that water.
What, you are going to ignore me? I’m not going anywhere buddy. Every step you walk, thought you think, anything and everything you do – I am always going to be here. Your 30 milligrams of Prozac barely mute me old friend, and I swear, the second you give me the chance, you’ll be the one in italics. Go on, get into the water Nature Man, you joke, you farce, you cripple. Accept it. Slip on the stone, slip on the stone, you are going to slip on the stone.
(And then I won’t hear you anymore)
I took my pants off and stood in my underwear on the stones by the creek at the bottom of the mountain. Years of blisters burst fresh through the skin on my steaming feet and I hopped in, slipped and grabbed the wall to stay standing. I yelled, the water was so cold, wind knocked out of you cold, and my god did it feel good. Tears shrinking in distance from though to eye bottoms, I watched the water flow from above me and past my feet into the pool below me. Peace. Relief. A wonderful long breath after decades spent panting.
The green dot trail ended in the gully and we walked the white blazes of the Appalachian Trail back to the parking lot. I thought I had gotten us lost briefly but my sense of direction prevailed and eventually the parking lot ended the wilderness. I had survived. No panic attack, no fall, no need for the anesthetic in my pack. Just a desert of throat and pink skin.
Whoop – de – doo Nature Man, you did it. Next time you’ll be just as scared, and you’ll be here with me like always. Like the Island Beach State Park Trip, like the walk to campus, like everything you do buddy, I’m with you. I always have been and always will be. You can’t get away from me. You’ll slip, and ill be waiting for the fall. There is always a stone to slip on.
(And then I won’t hear you anymore)
