#through hike

On a quick pause while hiking down the trail, Teddy found these twisted roots, demonstrating the constant battle between erosion and life fighting to cling on to the little blue green ball we call home. 

I wish I wasn’t in medical school and could have taken him up on his offer to hike the last few days with him. 

With a cloud overhead causing most of the surrounding pass to be shrouded in darkness, Teddy looked down to the glowing blue waters of Lake Ohau. He had just ascended from the shores of the lake, leaving the trees behind as he headed South. One patch of spear grass near Teddy, illuminated by a golden ray of sunshine, reminded him to look for the bright spots that are near by, not just those of places he had left behind.

Somewhere along the Te Araroa Teddy found a moss covered world. Rocks, roots and trees all enveloped in a green swath of sun-dappled softness.

In 1896, a man named Waldron Bates created a specific style of hiking cairn in Acadia National Park. The Bates cairns, as they became known, consisted of a rectangular stone balanced atop two legs, then topped with one stone pointing to the trail. These cairns were replaced by standard ones in the 1950s and 1960s. But the park began rebuilding the historic Bates cairns in the 1990s. Acadia now contains a mixture of both.

Complete Low-Cost Ultra-Lite Appalachian Trail Through Hike Pack Breakd...

Today, my little sister sets off to do the same.