7 days?

I’ve been planning on starting my hike at Mt. Katahdin this coming week. My parents have planned their trip to Maine and Canada under the impression that I’d be able to start hiking on the 27th.

Silly us, mother nature doesn’t approve of pre-laid plans; her long cold winter has thrown a giant kink into the next week or two of my life. So here I am, one week out, checking and double checking Baxter State Park’s Facebook page in the hopes that maybe the 3′-5′ of snow on the trail will have melted since I last checked. Unfortunately, nature doesn’t work that way either. So I, like fellow SOBO Appalachian Trials blogger George, have to make backup plans.

Thankfully my mom was extremely flexible throughout the planning of our trip to Maine. She’s got backup plans for days, and I’m thankful that she’s been such an integral part of the start of my hike. Thanks Mom!!!!

I know that there is a life lesson in this, as well as a trail lesson. I can’t control the weather or conditions of the trail. It’s an early start in learning to adjust how I interact with my surroundings. Instead of trying to control them, I need to learn to take what I’m given and run with it. Even if running with it involves sitting in a hotel room waiting for snow to melt (which sounds like just about the worst thing I could ever have to do…). If I want to hike the trail badly enough to devote 5+ months of my life to hiking, surely I can devote a few days of waiting. Roll with the punches, it is what it is, etc. etc.

I’m just so.damn.excited.

featured image from Baxter State Park facebook page.