Friday, October 01, 2010

6,000 feet


If all goes as planned, I'll finish my latest novel in a few days. If I do, I'm going to treat myself to a one-night backpacking trip. I know exactly where I want to camp.

A few years ago I was hiking on the Mountains to Sea Trail near Mount Mitchell, the USA's highest peak on the east coast. Along the trail I came to this view on the shoulder of one of our 6,000-foot peaks:

For reasons I can't exactly name, I have wanted to camp at the top of this rocky face ever since I saw it. From my vantage point far below, I even saw a spot I'd want to try to set up my tent. It's right here, at this enormous boulder below the summit:


I don't know if there's room for a tent there, but if there is that's where I want to pitch my camp and spend the night, watching the sunset and waiting for sunrise. I have talked to a friend who scrambled up the cliff face in the first photo and he says that it's pretty easy to do.

It's my reward to myself for completing a long and difficult task.

We'll see.

2 comments:

  1. I hope you reach your goal! It is about time you finished up that novel! Looking forward to reading the finished product!

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  2. Yeah, it's driving me bats. I'm so close to finishing the book, but I keep having to do revisions to keep the story logic intact.

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