Day of Soli-two-d

From Bartram Trail 2010

I had set aside this past Thursday as a Day of Solitude. I try to get away every now and then, alone with God. My plan was to head up to the mountains and spend some time in the woods, backpacking, camping, and listening to God. My day of "solitude" turned into a day of "soli-two-d" when Kara ended up going with me, which was great. We had an awesome time!

We left Thursday morning and drove about 3 1/2 hours to Highlands, NC, where we filled up on an excellent lunch in town. Then we drove another 4 miles down dirt roads until we finally ended up at the trailhead. The plan was to hike about 5 or 6 miles down Bartram Trail, setup camp, then hike back the next day.

It was beautiful. The weather was perfect. The skies were clear and blue. The scenery was absolutely amazing. There were hundreds of different types of plants. It was a perfect day for hiking.

We setup camp around 5pm, got a fire going, and began cooking our meal. I had wrapped chunks of steak, potatoes and onion in aluminum foil. When the coals were just right I placed the two packs of food in the fire to cook. We waited patiently for the amazing meal to be finished. I pulled them out, unwrapped the foil, only to find that I had completely burned our dinner. Fail! So we had trail mix...thankful that we had eaten such a big lunch!

By 8:30 we were both ready for bed, so we climbed into the tent, read for about 30 minutes, then went to sleep. We both slept long and hard. I haven't slept that long in years!

We got up around 7:30, heated up water for coffee and hot chocolate, packed up camp and hit the trail by 9am. Another beautiful day for hiking. All kinds of birds everywhere. It was a great time.

From Bartram Trail 2010

From Bartram Trail 2010

From Bartram Trail 2010