day 45 - 04/24

from winter to spring in one day. there was still quite a bit of snow leftover from yesterday's freak snowstorm, as you can see from the pic below. it was so incredibly beautiful hiking today in a t-shirt and shorts with nice cool snow all around. such an awesome gift of a rare hiking experience. i have been struggling with a little, but very persistent shin/instep soreness in my right leg and foot, so hence the lower mileage. i decided to listen to some music today to take my mind off the soreness, which is something i rarely do. i don't and generally can't listen to common or popular "music" anymore cuz it just sounds noisy and angry and mostly just gives me a sensory overload headache. so there is music i have found that is of a higher consciousness, imho, of course, that really integrates with and even enhances my natural surroundings. thanx to zoe keating, emancipator, tom kenyon, and yo yo ma performing the bach cello suites for providing some real trail magic. i did venture into popular music yesterday by listening to mumford & sons, who have a great celtic influenced folk sound. they do have the requisite angry, hurt, sad, and devastated broken heart/unrequited love tracks on the album, but there are completely awesome spiritual, non-religious themes and i eventually happened upon "awake my soul" and was blissfully singing "awake my soul/for you were made to meet your maker" as i was strolling thru the forest. i think i had some songbirds chirping along and made more than one day-hiking couple grin from ear to ear. i finished my day by grabbing a couple beers at the lewis campground to enjoy just a mile up the trail at bearfence shelter. oh, and i passed mile 900! 20.6mi from pinefield to bearfence shelter. 907.8 total.