I’m Climbing Katahdin Today

And I can’t sleep. I’m too excited. So I figured I would write instead.

It’s 3am in the morning and I’m at the Birch’s with some other hikers. I can hear two of them snoring as I type.

By the time I have enough internet service to post this I will be on my way down to Virginia. Katahdin is only my halfway point. A stop along my journey. After, I will still have 944 miles to go.

I still have so much to see and hike. The ponies at the Greyson highlands, blood mountain, the smokies… And yet for me this summit is still so imbued with significants.

In 2014 I climbed katahdin for my first time (and saw my first moose!).

Then, seven years ago, I was twenty years old, serving as a combat soldier in the Israeli military. I was on leave and had been dating Jeremy for a year and a half. Then, I was also excited to climb Katahdin. Probably also awake at 3am. And this repeat hike somehow feels like the closing of a circle.

I will be climbing Katahdin on the Erev Rosh Hashanah-the eve of the Jewish New Year. And when I get down, Jeremy, my husband, will be waiting for me at the bottom.

I can’t help but think how appropriate and incredible it is to start the new year on top of one of the most challenging mountains on the Appalachian trail. These past three months have changed my life. Along with it my relationship has evolved and my sense of self has been strengthened. I know who I am and what I am capable of. A journey of 1,200 miles and at the end-middle of it, I have found my self.

Rosh Hashanah begins the ‘aseret yamay teshuva’. In English this is usually translated as the ‘ten days of repentance’ but the term teshuva should really be translated as ‘return’. ‘The ten days of returning’. A return to roots, to self, to the essence of what makes us human. A time to reflect and rediscover.

Climbing Katahdin is all of that for me and more. I am proud that I have gone this far and looked foward to the rest of this crazy adventure.

Shana tova. May this year bring you and yours health, happiness and many beautiful hikes.

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Comments 1

  • Oliver : Sep 19th

    Nice post

    Reply

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