I enjoyed watching Ted and Barney get in touch with the earth yesterday as they plowed a field behind the Mast Store yesterday. But frankly, my own call to the wild today was oh so much more satisfying.
I was compelled by the forces of nature to go for a run/hike. I was not alone. In fact, like ants to a Parkway picnic, all of humanity in the tri-state region received the same inner calling as me: "Be outside-Go to any vacant spot to be found on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mile marker 290 and 305."
I listened to the voices and heeded them, as did everyone else.
I chose to run at mile marker 295 or there abouts the 2.3 mile path circling Price Lake as it felt like the right thing to do. As I climbed the trail I scurried around tree roots as my toes skipped rocks. Every once in a while a birch tree would be close enough for me to wrap an arm around it so I could catapult myself onto a switchback. As I focused on the path the rhododendron shadows offered me a 5 fingered wave as if to say, 'Remember us? We have also unfurled ourselves, released finally from last week's late winter grip."
I passed beaver fallen trees and maneuvered around storm-downed branches while my own limbs stretched in revival. Towards the end of my run I crossed a sunny purple patch a violets, bending their petals in my wake as if in a personal shout out: "See, you are in a renaissance, just like us. Welcome Back to planet Earth."
Quick and dirty info on individual Blue Ridge Parkway Milemarkers may be found Here.
