August 29, 2004

I hiked out of Grafton Notch, Maine this morning with threatening skies. The elevation map for ME resembles an electrocardiogram, steep ups and downs.  I climbed Baldpate Mountain, the West Peak at an elevation of 3,662 feet and followed the Grafton Loop Trail, soaring some 3,810 feet to Baldpate Mountain's East Peak.  My hike took me through a very eerie, cloudlike mist making visibility very difficult to navigate the white blazes. The winds were strong and the boulders were slippery due to a wet fungus covering the rocks. 

I hiked to a cairn, a man-made rock pile used to mark the trail in lieu of a blaze, stopped to find the next cairn, and hiked on.  It was tough to see beyond the next cairn.  As I descended down the mountain, the skies cleared and Maine's beauty unfolded with each step.  I am hiking in my 14th and final state and taking it all in.  Each day is a masterpiece and each step a milestone.  Today, I thanked God for guiding me through this incredible journey over peaks and valleys.

"I have learned that love does not end, not even with death;

it continues to express itself in ways ever new." -James E. Miller