This pilgrimage to Mt. Greylock, (see http://www.libbyhome.blogspot.com/ 'Narrative of the Voyage of the Bloody, Snake Chariot') has been fraught with what at first seem to be disasters, and then turn out to be grace-laden deliverences from disaster in which I remain physically intact, in a relatively safe harbor, having lost nothing that couldn't be recovered or in the end wasn't needed.
This pilgrimage is permeated by meaningful coincidences - for there is no other kind of coincidence.
There is no telling who will come up or down the trail to share the Appalachian Trail lean-to on the crest of the Great Whale of the Berkshires. So far there has been a boy scout troop with the adult scout leaders, there has been fathers and their sons, there has been college freshmen engaged in their first adventure on the trail, there has been a singles' club from New York City, there have been firemen, professors, doctoral students, architects, there was an ascetic hermit and there have been thru hikers finishing their last hundreds of miles in the over 2,000 mile journey from Georgia to Maine.
Some of the long section hikers or thru hikers have become slaves of the trail, doing a static, stagnant repetitious, arduous ting, which is nothing but hard work. Others are deep into a mystical vison quest, having a great adventure into a realm of adventure which I hope they will never depart.
The Appalachian Trail is Walt Whitman's open road of which he sings. The longer a person is on the trail, the more their essential nature shines forth for all fellow travelers on the trail to see.
I resonate with the being of all who have shared the lean-to with me. And those who have shared the lean-to resonate with mine. I have enjoyed all of their company - even the most anti-social, even the most anxious.
Until now it has not been cold enough for the peak colors of the seasons to come forth. The changing of the color of the leaves is driven by cold nights and frost. These have just started. My camping gear is coming to its limits. The time to leave the back of the Great Whale of the Berkshires is coming soon.
I am glad I resonated in ITS Being.
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