Bluebird



Finished for the day!

 

Today’s walk can be summed up in two words: wet and cold! It was in the 40’s and started raining about five minutes into the walk. Thankfully we didn’t have far to go and the scenery was beautiful even in the rain. Our trail ran along Greenbriar River, one of the six rivers that flow out of Pocahontas County. 

 

After reaching Marlinton we dried out at the laundromat and ate some good country fixins’ (pinto beans and cornbread for me thank you!) at a local restaurant. Ben got to sample his first liver, which he really only half-sampled because most of it didn’t make it to his stomach. Currently, we are at Allen Johnson’s library which is the only one in the state to loan out fishing poles and binoculars. (This library also won an award in 2003 for being the best rural library in the US.) Tonight we are participating in a meeting similar to last night’s where we will meet and speak with members of the community.

I think we are falling in love with West Virginia. The past two days have been filled with so much good—good walking, good people, good food, good conversations, and good sights. Yesterday morning we departed from a town called Summersville. The walking was mostly on a two lane road with part diverging onto an old railroad bed. In the morning we worshiped at a little Methodist church which welcomed us warmly (even though we hadn’t showered in a couple days…). West Virginia is filled with churches. There’s just about every denomination you can think of and they all start at 11 o’clock. We probably passed at least ten during the fifteen miles that we walked.

After our full day of hiking we ended in Richwood where we met up with a new addition to our group-Elaine and also our host for the night-Bob Henry Baber. Bob took us up (literally) to his farm which lies above 4,000 feet and along with another friend Ronda, served us a delicious meal. One of the highlights was getting to dig up ramps from the woods. Ramps are a type of leek and are celebrated in West Virginia. In fact, Richfield boasts the largest ramp festival every spring. Apparently, ramps also have something to boast about—their lingering pungency on a person who consumes (large?) amounts of them!

Another highlight of the evening was sitting around Bob’s table sharing each of our stories. Bob is an especially gifted storyteller. He told us about his work on reclaiming a clear-cut mountain and shared with us beautiful poetry that he wrote about the coal industry.

This morning, we were very blessed to spend the whole day walking through the Monongahela National Forest. The foliage changed from tulip trees and sycamores to birches and hemlocks as we increased in altitude. This preserve is interesting because there is a little pocket of northern-like biome with cranberry bogs and trees that normally only grow in higher latitudes.

We have also been blessed today with good conversations. Walking is an excellent way to get to know someone and a perfect opportunity to discuss pasts and goals. We learned that Elaine wants to be trained in leading silent retreats and we helped Ben discern what he should pursue in grad school.

The day ended at a Methodist church in Hillsboro where a full spread awaited us. We feasted! Afterwards Mitch led a talk with some community members on our call as Christians to care for the earth and how we can do that in our own churches and homes.

Our final treat for the day was seeing our lodgings for the night. A mountain lodge complete with a glowing fire (yes, it’s cold here) and lofts greeted us and we responded with “wows” and wide eyes. Susan Burt runs a camp for girls here at High Rocks. Susan is a visionary and has a contagious spirit. She started High Rocks as a place for young girls to be encouraged in faith and character and to equip them for college feeling smart and beautiful. I wish we had more time to stay here but tomorrow we’re off to Marlinton!