Falling

[WalkSoftly33]

http://www.learningtofall.com/excerpt.htm

Giving my 2 week notice tomorrow morning, in about 7 hours. A buddy of mine just sent me this article. I think I remeber reading it years ago, but It felt like the first time reading it. It was a timely read and Im looking foward to what is ahead. Thought I would share it. Enjoy your trekking.

[HiKen2011]

Nice read. I'll be leaving April 2nd myself. You doing approach trail?

Detour

[WalkSoftly33]

Just got back from doing the deed, went surprisingly well. My boss was happy for me and I think also was happy I wasnt leaving to work for a competitor. The first few sentences went some thing like this.

"Im giving my notice, I want to thank yo...."

Interuptting

"Where are you going?"

"I am thru hiking the Appalachian Trail"

"Oh... Oh wow that is awsome, how exciting!"


Im flying down to see my little sister at Alabama University on my Bday March 30th, She is driving me to Amicola (4.5hrs) on the 31st, and I will be doing the approach trail on the 1st camping at the top of Springer Mt. You doing the approach trail? Hope to see ya out there!

[sidebackside]

Best of luck on your hike WS33!!!

You too Downey!

[HiKen2011]

Thanks Sidebackside, I'm sure I'll need it!
I've done the approach trail before, it's not as bad as most people say. I plan to spend the night of the 1'st on sringer as well, I have a Dr. appointment earlier in the day and be dropped of at the parking lot later that afternoon. See ya there!

Detour

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.

[weary]

A beautiful essay. Many thanks for posting it.

[WalkSoftly33]

SidebackSide- Thanks and good luck to you next year!

Downey- I will see you out there, are you doin a section or a thru? Hey there are plenty of incomplete idiots on the trail at the very least a few "Nuts" Im sure you could find the spair parts your are missing. Haha

weary-

[HiKen2011]

I will be attempting a thru hike. I'm excited! Hope it goes better for me than last year's attempt. I had a back and groin issue and had to leave the trail very early on.

Detour

I'm not a complete idiot some parts are missing.

[WalkSoftly33]

I will be attempting a thru hike. I'm excited! Hope it goes better for me than last year's attempt. I had a back and groin issue and had to leave the trail very early on.

Detour

I'm not a complete idiot some parts are missing.

Thats a bummer about last year.

I was hit by a F 350 about 4 or so years back, coupled with playing sports my hole life my back is probably older than my 25 yrs.

In the past two months I have started to do back bridges and alternating kneeling superman exercises and have found my back feels alot stonger and the dull nagging pain seems to have lessened to an extent. Thought I would throw that out there if it could help you. If you are not doing any core/back exercises now, two weeks is still enough time to make a difference.

[WalkSoftly33]

I am getting real pumped now that work is "out of the way" never thought you could catch a disease from some place you have never been. It seems I have caught Springer Fever anyway!!!

[berkshirebirder]

Yes, it's a beautiful and thoughtful message about life as well as physical movement. Here are just a few paragraphs, for anyone trying to grasp what hiking can mean:

Learning to Fall
The Blessings of an Imperfect Life

by Philip Simmons

Think again of falling as a figure of speech. We fall on our faces, we fall for a joke, we fall for someone, we fall in love. In each of these falls, what do we fall away from? We fall from ego, we fall from our carefully constructed identities, our reputations, our precious selves. We fall from ambition, we fall from grasping, we fall, at least temporarily, from reason.

And what do we fall into? We fall into passion, into terror, into unreasoning joy. We fall into humility, into compassion, into emptiness, into oneness with forces larger than ourselves, into oneness with others whom we realize are likewise falling...

When we learn to fall we learn to accept the vulnerability that is our human endowment, the cost of walking upright on the earth.