Celery Farm August 10, 2019

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trail walker

Grandma Gatewood walked through Hartland, Vermont

Invited to stay the night one fine day in August, 1955

As I learned all these many years later reading a book

Telling the story of how she hiked the Appalachian Trail.

I was there in Hartland at the time nine years old

On vacation with my family staying at a special place

A grand brick house with the stately name of Great Oaks

On a country dirt road with dairy farms all around.

I would have liked to see Grandma walk through town

Had I but known what was going on back in the day

And even today what I don't know would fill many a book

Like the people I learn that I missed when reading obits.

But that boy just turned nine was having the time of his life

Playing by the brook and swimming in the pond

Visiting the cows in the pasture and the farmer in the barn

Catching frogs and snakes in a world of wonder.

I remember climbing the trail up Smarts Mountain to the fire tower

Unaware we were following in Grandma's footsteps

Never imagining someone able to walk all two thousand miles alone

The way she showed what's possible to all who came after.

These days I enjoy walking a few miles on the trail

Greeting the through hikers hurrying north

Happy to see their energy and excitement in their stride

Proud of their achievement having come so far along.

I'm never going to complete that challenging trek

Though I'm no older than she was when she stepped out

As I climb the foothills of very old mountains an old man myself

I don't have to go very far to find beauty in nature. 

Ringwood Skylands August 9, 2019

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Mountainside Park August 8, 2019

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