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:

Jack Thyen said...

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

James Robert Smith said...

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.