A slightly unusual thing happened today after I got off the mountain. My email subscribers might have noticed a bit of a wrinkle in the fabric of space-time, as they say. A glitch in the Matrix, as some others may say. “Huh?” as everyone else might mutter.
(For that last group, I nixed the post when it became obsolete.)
I met a wonderful group of people this afternoon. A couple of them were PCT thru-hikers, which was a very interesting perspective, especially as I’m looking forward to stepping off Springer Mountain in my bid to hike the AT next year. (Guys, you got me thinking…)
Y’know that moment when you drive off, and your belongings are still on the roof of the car? And then because gravity isn’t a quitter, they deposit themselves all over the roadway behind your car? Yeah, that. Unfortunately, I saw the whole thing unfold in that kind of cinematic slow motion where you reach out, saying “noooooooooo…”
But fortunately… (Both for them, and for anyone else.)
I tried to get their attention, but it didn’t seem to work. Failing at that, I did the next best thing, and fetched said stuff from the roadway. At least it was safe from harm, bears, the gloom of night, and other craziness. Everything else could be managed, including returning said stuff to its rightful owner. Ideally in the short term, mano-a-mano, but I was prepared to invoke next-day shipping if need be.
But how to say “oh hey!” and perhaps also “and I’m still nearby, so ring me quick!” so that shipping could be rendered unnecessary? Oh wait, Dunk’s has free Wi-Fi, and they’re everywhere. (OK, not the summit of Owl’s Head, but I’m not sure that would be A Good Thing.) As a bonus, they also serve coffee. Mmmmm… coffee…
Hence, the cryptic blog post that has since been deleted from this website, but likely not my subscribers’ email inboxes.
Most of my readers have gotten a small card from me with the URL of this blog, if you’ve met me face to face on the trail. These wonderful people were no different. And of all the odd things, we’d been chatting about trail magic this afternoon. I hoped, hoped, hoped, that they read that URL and plugged it into their phones, seeing that cryptic message that they’d immediately understand. And then shot me a quick note so we could rendezvous.
Things have a habit of working out in the end. This (mis)adventure was no different. All’s well, thankfully.
And so, my dear readers… if it’s you who met me on the trail, and you’ve realized at the last minute that you left stuff on your car’s roof when we’ve parted ways at the trailhead, have a quick glance at this blog. I might be trying to reach out to you, with your stuff safely in hand. I make no guarantees, but crazier things have happened.
