Lily's ALTAR

While everyone else was either running or crewing, I drove to Poppies in Brevard to pick up a bottle of La Fin du Monde for Matt's Christmas gift, and then back to the boy scout camp. There I started hiking up the same Art Loeb Trail everyone else would be running down in a few hours.

I enjoyed the climb. Early on, you round a bend and there's Cold Mountain, and it's big and darker than all the other mountains around. I admired its symmetry and thought that was why everyone says it's a beautiful mountain. I also saw Deep Gap, which is where my trail was heading, but I wasn't sure because it looked such a long ways off. I kept climbing, sure that I would reach the top in just a little bit, but the mountains have a way of playing with you, because the higher you climb, the higher the slopes seem to rise. I wouldn't ordinarily have been so anxious, except my stomach had started to talk and I hadn't brought a rainjacket on this fickle weather day. I met a bear dog and had his company for much of my hike. The trail up to Deep Gap was further than I thought, but up and back, and I still beat the rain.

I came back to Vance Lodge, ate three plates of leftover spaghetti, and pulled my red down sleeping bag onto the porch for an afternoon nap. I was deep in dreams when footsteps on the porch let me know the runners had finished.