All posts tagged appalchian trail

  • December 31, 2014

    Reflecting on 2014 with Just a Little Patience

    As I sit here waiting for some friends to come over to the house for our New Year’s Eve celebration, it’s a good time to reflect a bit on the calendar year that is passing. I was recently asked to recount what had happened in 2014 and share any aspirations I had for 2015. The first thing that came to mind about 2014 was a little truth that became real for me this year. I think I am further down the road in becoming a patient person. What I have learned is this:

    Almost all wisdom can be summed up in patience.

    I have known for quite some time that patience is a Christian virtue, a fruit of the Spirit, the calling card of the aged sages. I have never really been a patient person. I have been in a hurry for seemingly all my life. When I was 13 years-old, I wanted to be 16. When I was 16, I wanted to be 18. When I was 18, I wanted to be 25. It was not until my early 30s when I begin to really practice the patience I had heard about for so long. In my early 30s I was pastoring a church and learning the slow, difficult process of loving people on the way to becoming more like Jesus. In my vocation as a pastor I adopted patience as a philosophy of ministry; it is the way pastors love and serve their congregations. We do so with patience.

    I had learned to serve God’s people with patience, but I don’t know if I had reallybecome a patient person at that time. I was still unsettled, discontented, and unsure about myself. I pursued further education and began to write books, which were deeply satisfying, but not enough to change me. Then came 2014. I turned 40 years-old. The transition from 29 to 30 came and went without much thought, but turning 40 was a big deal for me. If by strength we are given 80 years of life then I had reached the halfway point. I turned 40 in the most memorable way. I woke up on my birthday at the Hawk Mountain Shelter on the Appalachian Trail (AT) and by the early afternoon I was standing on top of Springer Mountain in North Georgia, the Southern terminus of the AT. By the end of the day, I was standing2014-06-15 19.20.47 under the iconic arch at the visitor center at Amicalola State Park bringing the end to a 17-mile day and a 100-mile hike that had started 8 days earlier in Deep Gap, North Carolina. Long distance hiking requires a lot of patience. I could drive 100 miles in less than 2 hours. By foot, it took me 8 days. I did a lot of thinking on the trail, a lot of thinking about they kind of person I wanted to be in my next 40 years of life. I thought a lot about patience and about being present to the present moment. I think I am getting closer to being a patient person.

    My wife Jenni and I recently (re)watched Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt. The movie reminded me of the great patience and contentment of the Buddhist people. What drives them towards patience and contentment is different than what drives me as a follower of Jesus, but the patience is the same. I can rightly look at practitioners of Buddhism and call them wise as they reflect the patience I see in Jesus. Please do not misunderstand. I am committed to the Christian faith. I am committed to God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am committed to allowing the Holy Spirit to produce the life of patience in me. I am equally committed to admiring all who exhibit patience. I asked my wife if she thought I had become a more patient person. Her hesitation and silence told me all I need to know; I still have a long way to go. She agrees I have become more patient but we both agree I have not yet arrived.

    Now back to waiting for my friends to arrive.

    Waiting. This is what patient people do.

    1 Comment / Family, Life, Ministry, Theology /

  • June 16, 2014

    AT GA Section Hike Videos: Day 4-8

    Day 4

    Day 5

    Day 6

    Day 7

    Day 7 Bonus Video

    Day 8

    4 Comments / Uncategorized /

  • June 16, 2014

    Appalachian Trail Georgia Section Hike: Day 8

    Sunday, June 15, 2014
    17 miles to Amicalola Falls State Park

    I finally figured out how to sleep in a hammock…hike 16 miles the day before! I fell asleep last night with my phone in my hand. I was trying to finish yesterday’s blog but exhaustion took over. I woke up at 10:40 PM and put my phone away and I was back asleep.

    I woke up while it was still dark and I checked the time. It was 5:48 AM. I slept 7 hours uninterrupted! I dozed back off to sleep and woke back up at 7:20 and laid in my hammock finishing yesterday’s blog. We had a leisurely hiker’s breakfast and took our time packing up. One of the women staying at camp here wished mechappy birthday, which was kind. It was a good reminder. Today is my 40th birthday. Unreal. I am glad we pushed hard yesterday because today plans on being an easy day. I will be standing on Spring Mountain on my birthday.

    We left camp at 10. I stopped to lead us in prayer as we got back to the AT. Today is Trinity Sunday on the church calendar so I prayed the prayer for today:

    Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

    We hiked down the gravel road to the Hickory Flats Cemetery and campground owned by the New Bethel Church. It had a bathroom (which I regrettably used) and a covered pavilion. The sign outside the bathroom said they had a Camp Meeting Revival last week that ended last night. It is strange that I have missed Sunday morning worship two Sundays in a row, but being at that campground on a Sunday reminded me of the people of God. There was even a pulpit in the rafters of the pavilion. I walked the grounds and prayed the prayer the Trinity Sunday again. John and I also played in the two-person merry-go-round and we walked the old cemetery before leaving.

    We hiked on to Long Creek Falls, took pictures there. The air was filled with the smell of coffee and donuts. We did not see the food but we could smell it. We made it to the footbridge over Long Creek near Three Forks. The creek and surrounding trees looked like a postcard. We made it to the Stover Creek Shelter and had lunch with Carrie and her husband. We stayed with them last night. We laughed about some of the funny characters we stayed with last night. They are from Atlanta and have two daughters. They want to section hike the entire AT.

    They left the shelter and we finished up lunch and were out by 1:30 PM or so. We hiked in the final remaining miles of the AT slow and steady. I continued to review the previous 7 days in my mind and let the anticipation of Springer Mountain build in my head. We made the climb up to Spring Mountain Shelter and Jeff and I sat down on the picnic table. When John arrived, Jeff said we should hike down to Amicalola. It was only 3 PM. I said I felt good and thought we could do the remaining 9 miles and be out by 7 PM. John said he was ready for it. So we changed plans! Instead of 8 miles today and 9 miles tomorrow, we were going to do 17 miles in in one day!

    I called Gabe and my Dad to tell them of the change of plans, and I called Jenni too. And then we were off! Before we made the climb down to the finish line at Amicalola we had .1 more miles to the AT.

    It was only 5-10 minute hike to the summit. I could see the clearing for Springer in the distance. It was sunny and there were 5 or 6 people there. The summit is small, just a small clearing in the trees with a small view and the two plaques. Carrie and her husband were there. We told them of our change of plans. He took our picture and we each took pictures of the summit plaques. Springer Mountain isn’t a tall mountain but it is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. It is where thousands of northbound thru hikers start their journey and where a smaller number of southbound thru hikers end their journey. It was a special place and I was standing there on my 40th birthday.

    I signed the register with these words: I was born on June 15, 1974. 40 years later I hiked the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail! Living the dream! Derek (aka Arrowmaker). We stayed on the summit for 30 minutes. By 3:30 we were down the Approach Trail.

    We made it to the archway at about 7:30, hiking the nine-mile Approach Trail in four hours. We stopped once for water and a few times at the falls to take pictures. Finishing was more about the miles than the smiles. The Approach Trail does not count as AT miles but it was a tough trail. We hiked it southbound but it would be even harder northbound. It is up and down and littered with rocks and roots just like the AT. My advice to thru hikers and section hikers is SKIP THE APPROACH TRAIL. There is no reason to going on a hike before going on a hike (HT: Pox Holiday).

    We passed through the archway behind the visitor center in a single file line. The guys wanted me to go first. I took off my trekking poles and held them with my right hand and lifted them up in the air as I passed under the archway. My Dad and Uncle Andy and his wife Gail were there waiting for us. They hugged our sweaty necks and took pictures. We were tired but overwhelmed at the sense of accomplishment.

    In 8 days we hiked 85 AT miles and when we added up all the blue-blaze miles, we hiked well over 100 miles…33 of those miles on the last two days. Not a bad way to spend my 40th birthday.

    No Comments / Life /