One month of walking!

 In my walking and tracking of miles for the month of January, I have covered a total of 35.24 miles. I had hoped to go farther in each month, but I forgot that I’m not actually on a trail, living the life of a hiker who has nothing else to do except walk daily. I am a grandmother, and I spent a week with my toddler grandson. I am sure I used a lot of energy, but not many miles were logged. We walked to the local park from our house several times, bringing memories when my children were that age. Walking has always been a part of our family life. 

We also had our coldest winter since moving to Alabama, and one day I found myself walking in deep snow with our doggie. She was uncertain about this new development. I know she loved the cold, and she bounced happily in the piles of snow, but after a time clods of snow froze to her fur around her feet. I brought her home and had to work hard with a towel to free the frozen ice off her legs.  I’m not sure I have seen such good deep snow in years, not since living in West Virginia. Who knew it would happen in Alabama?

Yesterday’s walk was in the evening, after a gardening class. I took the dog with me to the park where I recycle. She and I walked around the baseball field then crossed the street to a new neighborhood. We passed many houses, each with their one front yard tree, similar porches and minimal landscaping. The houses were built close to each other, some with privacy fences for the backyard. At the end of the neighborhood I saw a stand of trees and walked towards that. As I got closer I thought I saw a boardwalk built into the trees, and I was excited. First, trees are kind of rare in my area of Alabama. This was an over farmed section of the state. Second, I hoped to find a long nice nature trail. Getting closer I saw a sign, and it did say Nature Trail!  Wonderful!  I reached the boardwalk. It was built into the woods, about 30 feet, widened to a view of the trees, and ended. I’m not sure how that qualifies as a trail, but that’s ok. We returned to the car as the sun set, just enjoying a nice night in short sleeves. Last week we were trudging in snow, this week short sleeves.

I have been watching Youtube videos of AT through hikers , and using them to trace my hike. Man, the mountains of N Georgia are beautiful in the winter. Rhododendrons line the trails, roots and rocks exposed along the way. Winter hiking in the south is fantastic, you can see farther. Tall dark trees create lines and shadow patterns on the soil, the fallen leaves and the trail. Clear creeks flow, and the trail crosses over them many times on narrow footbridges. The hikers all talk about being cold, they all are wearing gloves, jackets, knitted caps and more. Everything looks so familiar, as I have hiked a lot in these mountains. When a youtuber climbed Blood Mountain, saw the rock shelter and the great view from the huge boulder covered top, I remembered doing the same. For me it was summer, and extremely hot, and for this through hiker it was freezing and windy. Georgia has so many exposed rock mountain tops with lovely views.  From Springer Mountain to Neels Gap is 29.3 miles. I guess I have walked 6 miles past Neels Gap, the famous store along the trail. Let’s see how February goes. 

Walking, cranes, and gardens

 

Walking is a great time to think, but not so useful to think about things to write. I return from my walk and instantly forget all the great ideas and wonderful placing of words I had in my mind. Today I walked 2.48 miles, for a total this month of 19 miles. A through hiker would probably make 18 or 19 miles in one day. In my mind  have moved off of Springer Mountain and am working my way along the AT in Georgia, while I step along the park paths and roads around my home. I have walked in snow, wind and sunshine. Today I walked after taking my first Master gardener class, and I mostly thought about how excited I was to be starting this new adventure. Today we introduced ourselves and told what we wanted to get out of the class. I think every teacher, including me, does this. My goal was working with native plants, and helping local and migrating wildlife. Also I wanted to improve my home garden, and I loved the idea of garden education. Many people talked about service to community, learning more, and landscaping. We are all ages, male and female. I can’t wait. 

One of the leaders of the master gardener in my county is also involved with the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. She had volunteered there yesterday, and I had walked and photographed yesterday, although we didn’t meet then. She told me they had counted over 20,000 sandhill cranes and 12 whooping cranes yesterday. I love seeing and listening to these birds, they make such a wild kind of cooing sound. I dreamed while walking of maybe getting the opportunity to volunteer at the Refuge. Also I just finished reading a book “Bicycling with Monarchs” and this book has really affected me. The author, Sara Dykman, is a wildlife biologist and adventurer. She biked from Mexico to Canada and back to Mexico following the general path of the Monarchs as they migrate. She stopped to teach classes at schools and to encourage people to protect the habitat that allows these butterflies to survive. She would get so discouraged as she watched people mow down milkweed plants, destroying eggs, caterpillars and the food source needed by the monarchs. She also ran into tons of people that cared, that were encouraging wildflowers, pollinator gardens, and native plants. Yesterday when I walked I saw no birds, no insects, hardly any people. I was passed by a yard care truck and trailer filled with chemicals. But when I got back to my house and sat on my porch I saw cardinals, wrens, a woodpecker and lots of other birds I can’t identify. My mood improved. 

Today after meeting the lady that volunteers with the sandhill cranes I saw a post on facebook from a person I know. He had just completed a bucket list, and killed two sandhill cranes. He proudly held up their bodies for the camera, grinning. The juxtaposition of death and conservation overwhelmed me and I felt sick. Deep down I understand hunting for wildlife management, and I have defended the practice many times. I love to eat deer jerky, and elk burgers are wonderful. I am not anti-hunter. At least I don’t think I am. If I had to feed my family I hope I would have no trouble killing. I’ll never be vegetarian, blame bacon and barbecue, but I can’t understand, can’t abide, hunting for sport. What is the sport in shooting an animal out of the sky, taking a life just because it is fun, challenging? I love being out in nature. I hunt with my camera. I try not to judge, hunters go and do what you want following the rules and laws, but I don’t want to see the dead bodies on the same day I am celebrating the survival and growth of a species. Yikes.

Walking is great! Sometimes the thinking isn’t so good. But, usually the walking helps the mood, and moves the thinking to good things. I need to get out into woods, and on mountains, for some of the walking. Hope to do that this weekend.

Snow and Cold on my 2nd week of walking

 

Walking the AT from home

This week I walked almost 6 miles.  On the first day I walked from my house out to a not too busy road but  a road with a yellow line, and I do have to watch for cars and keep watch over my dog as we explore. First we pass a few houses, then the homes are more rural in nature. Each yard is bigger, and two of the homes have ponds in their front yards. Next we pass a field with a horse and a couple of goats. My dog is always concerned here, not sure how to react to such odd smelling and large animals. While walking I could hear the sandhill cranes, but I didn’t see any flying around. At the end of this street is a house that is a true regular farm, with a pig, chickens, a cow and large garden spaces. I love to walk by, listening and looking around.This street dead ends into another, slightly busier street because the high school is on it. Today I see about 15 cranes feeding in the field. I walk close enough to get a picture, but I don’t want to upset the birds and make them fly away from a feeding ground.  We turn and walk back, making some circles around the neighborhood to get a few more steps in.  I have now walked 8 miles total, and can say I am at the start of the AT.  Dog and I finally measured enough steps to be on Springer Mountain.

When our kids were small we drove down a lonely dirt road full of potholes and washouts to find the entrance to a short 2 mile trail that would take us to Springer Mountain. We parked, and walked out to the lean-to and the sign signifying the start of the AT. Most people who hike to this spot start at Amicalola Falls and walk the steep 8 miles.  While our 3 kids played around on the summit, a couple of men hiked in, obviously tired and thirsty. After they refilled their water bottles from the natural spring they looked at the children with almost unbelieving eyes. 

“These kids hiked up here?” One guy asked. He looked a little deflated.

I laughed. “Yes. They did really well too.  Of course, we took a short cut, and parked about 2 miles away.”  The men laughed, relieved they hadn’t been out hiked by small kids. 

I walked over to the spring and filled my water bottle. It had been years since I had really done any hiking, and I wanted to see if natural spring water really tasted as good as I remembered. Oh man, it did!  

January 10   9 miles for the year.  At this rate I will never see even the midway point of the AT.  Today I walked 1 mile, circling the park near my home. It was snowing heavily, and my deep south doggie wasn’t quite sure about this. I guess we had less snow than Springer would, anyway. Right now it is 21 degrees up there, and snowing hard, according to the internet. I am sitting on my couch writing and watching our snow fall from the warmth of our home. At least if I can force myself to walk in all weather types, I can at least imitate some of the experience of an AT hike. On the trail a hiker has weather every day. It’s easy to forget we have weather every day when we live so much of our lives inside. My walking this year will help me remember that.

How is the weather?  It’s always weather here!

Travel and nature books!!

 

On this blog I plan to write about my walks and nature, share recipes and also talk about books.  Travel books and nature books fill my soul when I can't get out. Yesterday I stopped at a used bookstore, and came home with several excellent choices, including The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Biking with Butterflies by Sara Dykman.  

I loved Braiding Sweetgrass, and hope everyone will read that book. The Serviceberry is much shorter, but seems to touch on some of the same themes.  The subheading of the title says "abundance and reciprocity in the natural world. First I'm going to read the Bicycling with Butterflies book. This is a 10,201 mile journey following the monarch migration.  The writer started in 2017, traveled to Mexico and then rode her bike along the same pathways the butterflies follow, from Michoacán Mexico to Canada and back again. This book has everything I love, nature, lessons about the butterflies, and the enjoyment of the travel. I will report back as I finish this book.

This picture shows a small section of some of my favorite reads. Do you have any more suggestions, or questions about some of the books here?  Stay tuned for more book discussions!

Welcome to my new blog! By Shelley Hopkins

 I’ve been reading about keeping chickens, about homesteading and better garden practices.  We garden, have gardened in the past and grew up with gardens.  I love nothing better than fresh tomatoes, and I will eat my weight in them.  Working outside in the dirt is therapy, and eating and cooking the veggies is the reward.  This year we grew tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, rattlesnake beams, sugar peas, potatoes, turnips, beets (barely), corn,(barely) and onions.  We failed with garlic, purple hull peas, and black beans. Right now we have cabbage, and broccoli plants.  Every gardening experience is a learning opportunity, and sometimes the lesson is simply unpredictability of weather and insects.  Every gardener is a dreamer and lives in a world of hope and possibilities.  I’m already planning next years garden, and my plans don’t include drought, heat, or plague.  I see abundance, a full freezer and bounty of harvest for us and for friends.  I hope. 

If we decide to keep chickens, I am sure my large poodle dog will love and accept them.  She won’t chase or harm the little egg laying buddies.  I know my neighbors will be tolerant, and we will not have trouble when we need to travel.  Even more importantly, I will know how to keep them alive.  I hope.

My homestead land is a one acre spot in an older neighborhood, with mostly brick ranch homes and the sounds of a busy highway intruding on our peace during the rush hours.  I can walk past the houses, circle a park and walk in other similar neighborhoods.  A few of the homes have chickens, after all they are gaining in popularity and we are in a tiny town, nearly country, but we are still in town.  My dream for isolation, mountain views and only the sounds of wind and stream will never become reality, and I have to become comfortable with this.  I can walk out my back door, pick tomatoes for sandwiches, and let my dog run inside the fence.  I can rest under a giant magnolia tree, swinging in my hammock, and I can take decently long walks without traffic issues or dangerous narrow roads.  We have houses all around us, but we aren’t on top of each other, and all our neighbors are fairly private or busy people.  In all, it’s not the dream, but it’s not bad either.  I like my small house, my large yard, and I enjoy the daily walks with my dog.  The best part of it all is we can drive just down the road to a Nature preserve, walk all day and observe so many birds.  Whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, pelicans and geese are here all winter.  Bald eagles spend the year here, along with ducks and songbirds.  There are worse places to live.

I wish to be a mountain homesteader, but I will find my peace and my dream wherever I land.  Walks, books, food, garden, these are my passions, and these will be the subjects of my blog.  If  you enjoy such things, I hope you will join me and enjoy, share your ideas and we can learn together.

Friends, 

Shelley

Walking the AT in my mind

 Week 1, Jan 1-6

“Yesterday was so last year.”  I wrote that in my journal before starting the walk that cheered me up after a bad ending to 2024.  I went to bed that night depressed, after a disagreement with people I love.  The next day, the start of 2025, I decided to walk before breakfast.  My in-laws live on a busy road, but behind their house is a short L  that never gets traffic.  I walked out, and looked up at the tall loblolly pines and deep blue sky.  It was cool but sunny, and the trees reached up to the sky.  I hadn’t even reached the bend of the L before my spirit soared, and I knew I would be ok. My shadow reached before me, and the woodsmoke of a fireplace cheered me.  I instantly texted my dad, “I’m going to walk every day and measure my steps on the AT, the Appalachian Trail!”

He texted back his standard reply, a thumbs up emoji.  He and I are always trying to encourage each other to get out and walk. He is the reason I love to walk. We grew up hiking, backpacking, and in general enjoying nature and the outdoors.  Even so, it can be hard to remember, to step outside and take a few minutes to do the things we enjoy. I walked the L two times and returned to the house uplifted and ready to handle anything. Later that day, my dad texted he had gone out to walk as well.  

The next morning I did the same, two times on the L.  The following day I drove over to a local college and walked the path that circles the campus.  It was near sunset, and clouds were threatening from one side, while deep colors decorated the other side of the sky.  I thought about my moods, my inability to sometimes control my emotions. I have spent a lot of time reading Stoic books, and I understand there are things I can control and things I can’t.  If someone has a bad opinion of me, I can’t control that. If people I love hold opinions I can’t relate to, that isn’t a reason to get upset.  I can control me. I can control how I react, how I choose to behave, but I can’t control the opinions of others. Politics and worldview ideas are no reason to destroy relationships. I sigh as I walk.  I want the people that think differently than me to understand I’m not choosing to be contrary, I’m not brainwashed, I’m a person who has thought long and hard about my ideas. I want to be a person who listens to other ideas, considers them and then decides what to think. I didn’t do that on New Years Eve. I felt attacked, I reacted sharply and I escalated the problem. No more. It is my duty to be respectful, to approach myself and others with grace. I can do this. I choose walking outdoors and loving people over fear and anger.

We drove back home, through sunshine, followed by heavy clouds, snow and limited visibility. I watched snow fall on a field, horses galloping towards the barn. It was beautiful but also a little scary as we drove over slick spots. Eventually we left the snow and drove into a brilliant sunset.  The next two days I had no walking, but finally we made it home. This morning, day 6, I was in the kitchen when I heard the beautiful call of Sandhill cranes.  I ran outside in my shirtsleeves to watch the cranes fly over my house, in groups of 20 - 30 birds. They circled over the park down the street and headed south.  Shivering, I grinned, watching them fly.  Before walking the dog I put on my heavy coat and a hat, and out the door we went.  Dog was so happy to be out walking. The wind blew, and my cheeks grew numb. 

My favorite part of the walk is on an alleyway like road behind my house. My yard butts up to the empty lot of the neighbor, and on the other side of the road is simply trees, both pine and hardwood. As we walked that section snow began to fall, just little spits of snow. Maybe the cranes knew something I didn’t, as they headed south.  We walked from our neighborhood to the circle of a nearby neighborhood, and saw no other people.  The wind was cold, and the sky grey, but the walk was perfect.  I passed a sign in front of a house, declaring Trump 2025, Take America Back. I wonder who he thinks he needs to take America back from. I bet he watches Fox News. If so the sign owner probably thinks we are under attack from “others” and “liberals.”  This is the kind of thinking that makes me sad and angry. I walked a little faster, then breathed in deeply the cold air.  I was not going to let him and those that think like him destroy my day, or my country. Love and Optimism, that will be rallying cry for 2025.

I will walk, I will love, and I will bring optimism to the discussion.  I have walked 6 miles, rounded.  At this rate my mood will be great, but I won’t even finish the approach trail to the AT.    

The approach trail begins at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia, and many people say this trail is one of the hardest parts of the hike.  It’s a good shake down for the longer hike, as it climbs up a steep grade.  The trail begins in the park, and is mostly wooden steps that stop at the top of the waterfall.  If you wish to make it to Springer Mountain and the start of the AT, it is 8 long miles.  Years ago I was walking this trail and I passed a man struggling with an overloaded backpack.  He was stopping every few feet, and breathing hard.  I asked him if he was going to Springer and he said he planned on going all the way to Maine.  I hope he made it. Today I am nearly at the top of the approach trail. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll make it to Springer.  Will I make it to Maine?  We shall see.

Total - 6 miles.