The promise of a spectacular view keeps most hiker’s feet moving.
Really, who doesn’t get that second wind to trudge onward and upward when a breathtaking awaits?
Last week my gal Micky and I hiked a ten-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail in New York. My ultimate goal is to hike the entire AT. However, I’m doing it the hard way: one section, one state at a time.
Some days are far from note-worthy – mud, bugs, rocks, nothing head-turning, stopping me in my tracks, begging me to take a photo.
But there’s something about spring in the northeast that makes you wonder if you’d been teleported to a South American rainforest.
This particular day and trail were one of my favorites to date.
Maybe it was the company.
Perhaps it was the vivid green everything that was vibrant and lush and freshly washed from the previous nights’ storms. At some point, after a few miles in, I didn’t even long for a view. I was so excited to see something cool at every turn. A frog. A brilliant glowing green fern. A beautiful field of wild geraniums. And poppies! The most amazing giant white oak tree. A bridge over a lovely river. A blue sky over a field of Timothy. An underground stream. Orange salamanders.
Oh yeah. There was a view. Somehow, it was anti-climactic.
Sometimes, that view isn’t the thing.
It’s all the other stuff you notice along the way.
The AT is a long, long trek.
There won’t always be a view.
Sometimes you need to do all the work, take all the steps, without much of a reward.
So stop looking for it.
Enjoy all the small things as you journey.
When you look back, they end up being the big things.
Cheers to the journey!
