Saying Goodbye To A Friend

5/2/2013

Saying Goodbye To A Friend


I had stopped to gab away with someone on the trail last week......as usual.  Yes, I would rather chat than hike.  When movement above us, on the hill, caught my eye.
It was "JP" coming downhill.  It was "JP" going the wrong way.  "JP" was Southbound!  I knew something was wrong immediately.  "JP" was Southbound!
I shouted out a cheerful greeting..... and waited for some kind of bad news,  as "JP" made his way down to us.
The person that I had been gabbing with accepted the dropped conversation with grace, and continued his climb, passing by "JP".
"JP" was hatless...... and his face was tan....... and I realized that I had not seen "JP" for a long time.......not since we shuttled out of Gatlinburg, Tn, in the NOC Van,  back up to Newfound Gap........ to finish our hike in the Smokies.
I asked "JP" directly why he was going backwards.... as cheerfully
as I could.  I could see in his sad face that the news was bad.  "JP" is not a talker, so his response was short.  He was going back to Marion....there was Greyhound Bus Service there.....he had checked the night before......... from up on the mountain.
"JP" was going home.
I was shocked.  "JP" is the first person..... for me personally.... to say directly,  that his hike was over.....that he was done.... that he was going home.
I know people quit the trail.  Usually people just disappear.   Then one of the better informed hikers..... people who follow Trail Journals.com,  or White Blaze. com,  or simply who know the latest trail word of mouth .....tell you so and so got off the trail.   Had foot problems......Got a rash.....ran out of money....missed his girlfriend,  or boyfriend.....lost too much weight....are reasons that I have heard.  When I do not see someone for a while,  I always figure that they are hiking faster....or even slower (fell and separated his shoulder, so they're going slower for awhile.("Dumptruck" and "Clever Girl", for example.)
"JP" is a quiet man.....very quiet.   I got to know him a bit because
I pushed my friendship onto him and he accepted it.   "JP" is a good sized guy........with a real pair of legs on him.  He is built for hauling a pack up a mountain.   I first realized that his pack was filled with lead, when I tried to move it out of my way, one day.......after the blizzard...... in the Smokies.  I could not lift his pack with one arm.  That pack was an immoveable object!  That was before "JP" resupplied for the first time in Gatlinburg.  Yes, resupplied for the very first time.    "JP" hiked all the way to Gatlinburg before resuppling!  He got on the trail to hike, he explained to me, not to spend time in town.  There are a very small number of hikers,  who hike the AT this way.  They all have legs of steel.  "JP" had those legs.  The day we came out of Gatlinburg.....the last time I saw "JP",  before today...... he was hiking uphill,  directly in front of me.  He sort of rocked from side to side, with each short step he took up that steep, slippery, snow covered,  slope.  "JP"did not use hiking poles.  He was 47 or 48 years old.....not a kid.  But his legs were strong,  and his knees good.  He had no use for poles.    In spite of a pack..... just resupplied.... a lack of poles..... and his short rocking steps,  "JP" pulled away from me going up that mountain.   I assumed that I would see him at the shelter, where the rest of us who had shuttled in the van together from Gatlinburg up to Newfound Gap, spent that night.  But I did not.  "JP" had hiked on.....
"JP" told me why he was going home.  I did not disagree.  He needed to be home,  more than he needed to be on the AT.   I know that he did not share his reason with the people on the trail behind me.  He is a private man.
He told me,  because I am his friend.   "JP" did not quit the AT....."JP" simply had to be home.
I reached out my hand and shook the hand of my friend,  for the first....... and the last time.
"I made it 500 miles."  He sadly stated.  And we both knew that he could have hiked..... all the way.
For a moment, I watched "JP" ease his way down the hill.....in familiar short steps..... rocking back and forth...side to side.
Then I planted a pole,  and stepped up that hill.... with tears in my eyes....heading North.