I’m writing this watching the sunset from my truck. Parked in a field as usual. It’s getting cold in New England and with this trip over, summer is over. I’m glad I could’ve been here for it.
Jimmy and I woke up early in the forest, today was a cloudy day. The fall colors dazzled us for the entire five mile walk out to Crawford Notch. We climbed one last peak on the way out, Mt. Tom. We left the leaves below in favor of skinny New Hampshire pines and mossy carpet. Halfway up we were sore. Our shoulders and hips were marked with reddness. We sat down in fatigue. Jimmy was learning what the thru-hiking life is really like, and he loves it immediately. Often times, when a tired moment of weariness consumes you, a spark of magic happens. A gray jay flew through the branches to land right next to us, and looked at us with friendly curiosity. He posed mere inches away from me, modeling for a photo shoot. This intelligent bird brought us great joy and we decided to feed him, compensate him for the photos. I know it’s very taboo to feed the wildlife, ‘a fed bird is a dead bird’… but as Jimmy pulled out the granola the bird landed on his hand and ate right out of it, which was undeniably magical.
The bird soon brought a friend and the two of them followed us, flitting though the melancholy forest all the way up Mt. Tom. I’ve seen pictures before of birds landing on people in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. These gray jays are unique to this region, and part of what makes the great northern woods special. From the top we saw stormy clouds darkening above the mountain vista. As the trail descended, the trees were tall and majestic on the steep slopes. Soon the ground was a carpet of the orange beech leaves, and finally we met the highway where it passes through Crawford Notch. There was my truck, we had done it.
We victoriously climbed into the truck, I drove Jimmy to his car at the Liberty trailhead where our hike began. The two of us then drove in separate cars about two hours to get to Pinkham Notch at Mt. Washington. The sun came out to shine gleaming on an orchestra of autumn leaves. We dropped his car off in the Mt. Washington parking lot, and I drove him back to Crawford Notch. The drive had me possessed with the countryside’s beauty, we actually saw better fall color driving on the roads than hiking! Again to higher elevation in the notch, and the cloud cover was back to dim the vibrant land. Jimmy found his trail, and packed himself up properly.
“Thanks for making this a gradual change,” he said to me as I walked him down the first steps of the trail wearing just my socks. It was time for me to go home, but he was continuing on to hike to his car and summit Mt. Washington along the way. We hugged goodbye, unexpectedly a dramatic and emotional parting as he went off on his own! I watched him walk down the trail and disappear from sight.
I sat in my truck and contemplated a view of the colorful, dusky hills at Crawford Notch. This is my last adventure in the northeast with my family for now, it’s time to wander out into the world again. Not exactly sure where I’ll make it to, but in my heart I know where I will try to go. For now, I’m starting with running from the cold, and taking the opportunity which has placed itself before me. Twelve more days from when I write this, I’m leaving on a sailboat from New York and going to Virginia, from there to Florida, then to Cuba… Eventually to Cartagena, Columbia, god willing and I don’t know where from there! It’s a terrifying endeavor and extremely exciting.
I’m sure I’ll encounter many adventures on the trip to write about, and find many opportunities for nature photography. While I have all kinds of crazy plans in my head, I actually have no clue how long I will be gone for or where I’ll end up. But, I am going to blog about whatever happens, good or bad, to whoever wants to listen.
I left Crawford Notch and drove through a place I’ve never been called Bear Notch. The fall colors were sublime and I became obsessed with trying to photograph them. The sunset came on the Kancamagus highway and left me sitting here writing. Now it’s time to drive home and go watch TV with my mom.
