When I was younger, I was an avid backpacker, completing multi-day to multi-week treks throughout the Southeast and the Rockies. While the Rockies are truly magnificent, The Appalachians are among the oldest mountain chain in the world, and this has been where my heart lies.
Of the Appalachians, my favorite treks were always in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, just above Robbinsville, North Carolina. This area boasts some of the last virgin forest East of the Mississippi, and the largest trees in the East, with Yellow Poplars measuring 19 feet and greater in circumference. These trees can be visited on a short 2 mile loop hike with gentle terrain, and they are a most spectacular sight. My eyes always turned to the mountains above, however.
Joyce Kilmer has some of the most beautiful, difficult terrain in the Southeast. a typical short trip would usually consist of a 3 day, 40 mile jaunt, with the first leg being a 2500 foot climb in the first 5 1/2 miles up to "Naked Ground", an old Indian junction in the days gone by. We'd have a short lunch break on the saddle, and follow the lead trail across the spine of the mountain to camp at the Hangover, covering a little more than 11 miles the first day. Follow a side trail up through a 1/4 mile Rhododendron tunnel, and you would pop out onto rock outcroppings overlooking a 3000 foot precipice down to Santeelah lake to the North and onward to the Great Smokey Mountains in the distance. These outcroppings, wild creeks, vistas and views were ours alone, as on deep-woods hikes, my hiking partner(s) and I rarely saw another person for the entire time up until the point of near exit.
These journeys always began with a dream. A week or so before the excursion, I would plan out a route in my mind that I'd like to take, and then pull out my maps to more fully plan the exact route, checking mileage per day, water availability on the trail, entrance and exit points, and "escape routes", in case of injury, exhaustion or extremely severe weather. Once the specifics were planned, I'd begin gathering my backpacking gear, rechecking water filters, stove fittings, zippers, etc. to ensure that they were all working properly since storage from my previous excursion. I would gather food, maps, film, and other "fun stuff" (a bottle of wine), and pack my pack in order to check the weight. At times, I'd find myself with an extremely heavy pack (60+ pounds), and have to remove some of the less necessary items (keep the wine, ditch the water filter, and take Iodine tablets) to ensure the pack wasn't too heavy, and finish preparing to leave. I had this ritual, whether I was leading a trip or going solo.
The planning, the preparation, the trip and the debriefing (when I led a group) was all extremely pleasurable and the joy came as a result of the following:
1.Having a Dream
2. Creating a Plan of Action
3. Executing the Plan
This has been my experience in Active Rain as well. I had a dream of reaching the 10,000 point mark within my first log-on to Active Rain. My plan of action has not been nearly as rigid, but I have had some basic goals set. I have had checkpoints along the way; each 1000 points I accrue, each time I move up in my county "placement", and each time I moved up onto the next page of my State "placement" are some examples.
I have, throughout my experience thus far, realized many of the intrinsic benefits as well as the extrinsic rewards; the relationships I have formed within the community, the positive affirmation of my thoughts and feelings put forth into the community, the incredible amount of knowledge and insight that I've received from fellow bloggers, and the feeling of belonging to a community of my professional peers across North America.
My dreams and goals are still in place, however the ride has been much more pleasurable as I haven't found myself so "driven" to get to the next check-point. It has been the Active Rain community that has allowed this transcendence to take place from merely "pushing forward" to the next mark, to being able to enjoy the experience for itself. For this, I say, "THANK YOU!!!"
Now, with that being said, ONTO THE 25,000 POINT MARK!
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Congrat's on hitting 10K! Keep up the good work, the rewards will come!`