Well, I believe I have the answer to an age-old question: 

Yes.  Yes, in fact a bear does s#%t in the woods.  And sometimes right on the Trail.  Right after this,I got passed by a guy and he’d seen it too.  Then he says as he’s pulling away…”You know there’s 1900 bears in this park, right?”  OK.  How ‘bout not telling me everything.  Man, it was fresh, too. 

Shortly after this, I hit Trail Magic!  I was the first one there-another great spread-and I had some cold Powerade, hamburger, chips and some fruit…this was another one run by a church group: Baptist this time.  Warm generous people as always.

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Interestingly, there were a couple of places where Wild Hog fences were protecting apparently rare and environmentally sensitive Beech groves.

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AT 103:  Trail Maintenance people.  I’ve met several Trail maintenance people recently.  These guys do yeoman’s work, voluntarily, for the AT Conservancy.  They make steps, widen the path and clear fallen trees, and spend a lot of time building little structures to divert water off the Trail during rainfall.  Pete, here, is energetic and spent over 1,000 hours last year on maintaining the Trail—that is phenomenal!  Of course I thanked all these guys.

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     So, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of life today.  Light fare.  I’m thinking of it as it relates to food, shelter, and (I’m going to nix clothing because hair sufficed for a great while—clothing seems like an evolution rather than an original necessity) water. 

     The release of our energies from the acquisition of these three as evolution permits allows for life to have meaning beyond survival—and that’s the meaning for life we must be talking about.

     First, let’s see how we got here:

     Water:  easy.  Lakes, rivers, streams and rain deliver enough water across enough areas of the globe to support life handily, notwithstanding distribution issues.

     Shelter: shelter has been originally available by construction with plants, mud, stone and largely trees- who knows what else?

     Food:  the evolution of abundant food was a little more hard-won.  Hunter-gathering for a long time, then we figured out how to grow enough food locally to sustain families and have a surplus, and then the agricultural revolution took progress from an arithmetic to a geometric progression.  The world flourished by the trade of necessities, and eventually luxuries and services as most people were able to disengage from directly producing the bare necessities:  food, shelter and water. 

    Secondly, thus disengaged, we must realize that if humans have free time, afloat upon abundance, it must be to do something with it.  Doing versus not doing is the obvious choice; to not do anything is anathema to the dynamics of life that we feel in our hearts and see on this busy little planet every second of every day.  It’s what living things are about:  doing.  So, if we should do something with our time, then what is it that we should do: good things or bad things?  The great majority of people fortunately recoil at the thought that it would be a purpose or a legitimate pastime for anyone to do bad things.  Since we’re not going to do nothing, and we’re not going to do bad things, we must be called to do good things.  And for whom/what?  Probably for everything; for the environment, for animals, and for each other of course.   I have seen this (doing for others) at work on the Trail.   I gave my silk ‘baselayer’undershirt away to a guy who had a severe rash on his skin and nothing to put against the friction his backpack was putting on his skin through his sweat- soaked cotton T-shirt.  Additionally, I’ve been given food on Trail when I’ve underplanned.  That’s how it goes; if we all do good for others, others will be doing good for us.  

Well that’s my take on the meaning of life!  Today.  Anyways! 🤓

Woke up feeling completely different.  Energetically fixed hot coffee, hot oatmeal and a banana for breakfast and couldn’t wait to start hiking and seeing the things and meeting the people and pushing that cold clean air through me hard all the way.  I walked through the, again, famous, Neel Gap arch and blasted away at the hills, mountains and ‘gaps’  from early morning until early afternoon.  It was cold but intermittently sunny and gradually getting warmer and I just felt . . . strong.  Dear Lord, is it true?  Is it possible that the old Kevin Perrin is still in there somewhere, being yanked out of a closet and into the sunlight for a final run at life!  Insert Rocky Theme Song here.  Note that in all this time I haven’t mentioned any feet problems.  So far so good there  . . .  Why did I stop briefly early afternoon?  TRAIL MAGIC!  This was my first experience but at HogPen Gap, a Gap which will live in my dreams, I ran into some bible-study folks who set up Trial Magic.  It was my first Trail Magic and they set the bar very high. 

As we came through the Gap we came upon tables of food, drink, love and encouragement from a bible group that had set up a very generous Trail Magic site for us.[Trail Magic:  The Appalachian Trail Conservancy states: The term “trail magic” was coined by long-distance hikers to describe an unexpected occurrence that lifts a hiker’s spirits and inspires awe or gratitude. “Trail magic” may be as simple as being offered a candy bar by a passing hiker or spotting an elusive species of wildlife]. This was awesome.  I had lemonade, hot soup, pasta salad, and basked in the sunlight with Echo, Coyote and her family, and Nick from the Netherlands.  I thanked them profusely, took some fruit, refilled on water and hit the Trail for Low Gap Shelter.   Continued at a really good pace, often passing people, all the way into Low Gap Shelter. Set up VERY carefully as we were expecting yet another deluge.