House Mountain Hike #181, 5-4-2023: May the 4th be with you! (published 5-5-2023; article #411)

Introduction

Howdy, fellow hikers! This is the third article today. The first “two very serious articles on family and heritage” were in honor of my mother-in-law and my adoptive mother. This one is for the joy of hiking in those contexts!

Please hike along with me, as we hike House Mountain for the 181st time! Yesterday was “may the fourth be with you” day. Yes, I've made the same lame jokes. May the fourth has a deeper meaning to me.

The Hike Up

The weather was sunny and warm, about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. We touched the post to mark our start at 1:12 PM. If a meal could be made of poison oak, we would eat our fill. Just don't touch it!

On our hike up the west trail, we passed a group of three ladies with their friendly dog. They arrived at the west bluff a few minutes after us. We enjoyed the conversation and petting the nice doggy. Our time was delayed, while I shared my “bionic” story that started on 3/29/2016.

Nearing the bluff, having taken all the right turns this time, a young lady passed us on her way down. Otherwise, the woods were not crowded with other hikers on that trail.

We arrived at the west bluff at 1:55 PM. The hike up took 43 minutes! That's too long! Aside from the conversation with the three ladies, nothing except my careful and lame mountain-goating slowed us down. The above photograph taken at 2:09 PM looks east. The west bluff is behind us. The rock that I touched to mark the time is visible. The tree beside the rock is growing back from healthy roots. A couple of years or so ago, a strong wind must have snapped the original tree, where I used to hang my canteen and cap.

A few seconds later, I took the photograph below looking south. That tree had been split a while also. It's where I place my canteen and cap now. Our sweaty T-shirts and bodies dried a while with a warm breeze coming from the southwest.

The Podcast

A young man was sitting on the west bluff rock outcropping. It's a big rock, on which I've stood and taken many photographs over the years. He didn't speak, while we were at the bluff. It looked like he was playing with his semi-intelligent phone.

We hiked a little farther east along the ridge trail. That's when I recorded my fourth hiking podcast, which is the tenth episode of Appalachian Irishman – Podcasts. It's just under four minutes long. The episode is House Mountain Hike 181, 5-4-2023: May the 4th be with you (published 5-5-2023; episode 10).

The podcast explains that this hike was dedicated to my mother-in-law, who went Home on 4/30/2017. Last Sunday marked six years. It was also dedicated to my adoptive mother, who joined my mother-in-law and so many others on Wednesday, 4/26/2023.

Of course, since Mrs. Appalachian Irishman drove me home, after 36 days in two hospitals, on May 4, 2016, I had to hike “My Mountain” on that “may the fourth be with you” day. May the fourth has deeper meaning to me than all those lame Star Wars jokes!

By the way, don't forget to read the full written remarks that describe the podcast episode! Once we started back down the same west trail, I spoke with the young man at the bluff. He was sitting on the “viewing rock” and drawing! He's an artist! The view inspired his art. Don't assume. You know what that makes out of you and me!

The Hike Down

We started our hike back down the same west trail at 2:28 PM. Still near the ridgeline at 2:36 PM, I paused to take the photograph below. The lower trail is a cutout that ignorant hikers started years ago. The upper trail is the correct one. Always take the upper trail, closest to the top. Dwell on the deeper meaning of that hiking theology!

The photograph below was taken two minutes after the one above. The “defiant tree,” as I call it, shows on the flat area under the rock ledge. I always touch it. I still wonder how that tree grew in that location. Of course, the tree seemed to have petrified years before I started hiking House Mountain. It remains defiant.

Another hiking theology message is: Don't allow life to destroy you! Grow where you are planted, even if it's not in a good spot. Even if you grow at an angle, your growth will be toward the Son, who gives Light, to help you grow.

By the way, just after that photograph, we met a man, about my age, hiking up. Coming down behind us was a younger man. The older man and I talked a while. The younger man knew the older man, so they got to talking. As we started to continue down, the younger man noticed a tick on my cap. I'm glad that he saw it. I flicked it off easily. I still haven't had a tick stick to me on a hike on House Mountain.

Conclusion

On our way back down, we met only one young couple on their hike up. I touched the same post as I'd done to start our hike. The time was 3:38 PM. Two hours and 26 minutes in the woods is better than not having been there!

There's my 2006 Nissan Frontier! He was waiting on us in a shady spot. The front tag is the same as this website's heading, without the description under the title. The odometer showed 187,214 miles at the parking lot.

Thanks for hiking with me again! I hope that Mother's Day, upcoming, is good hiking weather. Of course, VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) in World War II will be next Monday. That might be a good hiking day, if it's not raining.

This is the Appalachian Irishman signing off for now. I hope that you read the other “two very serious articles about family and heritage.” The podcast and the hike are dedicated to my mother-in-law and to my adoptive mother.