I was only out there for five days, and I didn’t go in one direction — I went back and forth quite a bit. And I went very slowly; I got passed quite a bit. Which is probably why this poem occurred to me…

It’s great to hear about your experiences on the trail — I never get tired of hearing hiking stories. Some of the best days of my life have been hiking…

There is a saying that people tell themselves and others before, during and after the hike, but many of them don’t hold true to it. They say “hike your own hike” but when it comes down to it, it doesn’t happen. Almost everyone tries to “keep up” (in many senses of that phrase) and lose the sense of why they are out there at some point.

However, I do hope that you got to see some of the good side of being on the trail, too. I met some of the kindest, most trust-worthy people that I have ever met when I hiked the trail. My trail friends became my trail family. The lines about how they “ate together, And treated each other like brothers;” brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my day on top of Katahdin. Ah, the memories.

I can’t wait to hear more about about your hike.

My eldest daughter loves the myth of Sisyphus, although she is of the opinion that his punishment was too harsh.