Kanati Fork Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Saturday September 9, 2017, I did a solo hike up Kanati Fork trail to where it intersects with the Thomas Divide Trail. At 2.9 miles and roughly 2000ft elevation gain the trail promised to be enough of a challenge to make a body sweat without actually wearing one totally out. After my struggle with Newton Bald Trail only a couple weeks back I was wondering if my change in life circumstances and routine had led to a decline in fitness I should be concerned about. I wanted to climb and see how it went without setting the goal so high I would regret testing myself. It has been a long time since a climb has done me the way Newton Bald did. Kanati looked and then proved to be a sweet little trail. I parked at the trailhead where I was the only vehicle there. This was one of the very rare instances that I encountered no other hikers on trail at all. I was truly solo.

I crossed Newfound Gap road and started up. My concerns about my fitness decline proved to be groundless as I felt strong and capable as I climbed and there were some steep sections and some sections where the trail was cut into the bank and looked to be giving way. The wind was blowing a really nice cool breeze with the temperatures in the high 60’s. The combination of breeze and cool temperatures made for a most pleasant day. I had to roll myself over one substantial blowdown that blocked the trail a little ways in from the trailhead. It was angled steeply and I had to cling to it to keep from riding it like a slide down the steep embankment below. The sun shone and I was able to glimpse it through the heavy canopy along the trail. There were also places along the trail where one could stop and soak in a few delicious rays. The play of light and shadow in the forest makes the land an ever changing wonder. The trail was overgrown with weeds in places and washed out in places making for tricky footing. I was careful and was rewarded by the challenge of the trail and the beauty of my surroundings.

I came to one spot on the trail where I stopped and listened to the wind blowing causing the oak trees to moan and creak as they moved with the wind. The trees swayed and groaned and I watched and listened as acorns were shaken loose and pelted the ground all around me. The forest floor was littered with acorns. I was surprised one didn’t crash down atop my head there were so many falling. They hit the dry leaf strewn ground in a cacophony of sound.

What I was most pleased with were the happy little endorphins that flooded my body giving me that pleasing sense of strength and well being. Whatever was going on when I climbed Newton Bald I was having none of that this glorious day. When I topped out on Thomas Divide I was satisfied. I found a fallen log and took a short break to just enjoy that sense of accomplishment that is so addictive. The trip back down Kanati Fork did not take as long as the climb. When I got back to the Jeep I considered the little adventure a success.

Without a purpose life looses its luster. There must be a reason to rise, to get up and go out into the world. Each of us gets to decide what makes life worthwhile. And as the seasons of life change so also changes our motivations and purpose. Sometimes we just get totally derailed and we need something to keep us from rolling too far off course. The mountains are my go to place to get realigned when the crazy just won’t let up. I wrestle with my personal expectations that just are not ligning up with reality right now. The only place I can seem to set it all down and just let it be what it is while I be who I am is when I step away from it all to a place with no expectations. The wilderness strips away the mask of civilization and reveals to us what we are at our most basic level. It is, we are. Just walk, climb, exert physically, let your body work and exalt in labor. The world and its crazy will be there when you get back and when you have had enough of that well…the Mountains will be there waiting.