The first thing I wrote about the trip.

Just about Sunset I was atop 

Springer Mountain..

As I climbed my mantra was 

“God don’t let me die here”. 

Finally reaching the plaque commemorating the beginning of the Appalachian trail. 

I caught my breath. 

I began to hear thunder headed my way. 

I pressed on a little longer for a promised summit that I never found. 

The sky grew dark fast. 

The grace period of twilight, 

I anticipated had just vanished. 

I turned around. 

For me the sound of the rain on the canopy above was like a distant crowd, unanimously applauding my not suffering a massive coronary arrest 

on the Appalachian Trail.

All the way down Springer Mountain the rain was shielded away by the trees. 

The deluge hardly touched me. 

I was alone for a few hours, 

deep in the woods...

feeling my way back down to camp. 

Good medicine.