On the JMT to Devils Postpile

August 20, 2011

So far my experience with bears in the last few days has proven to me the Bearikade was a great idea. It fits great sideways in my Osprey Aura 65 and has proven itself to withstand the efforts of two sets of bears.  It also made a great seat while cooking.  I was more thrilled with the can than my pack.  By this point I have discovered the limitations of this light backpack’s shoulder straps and was cursing their stiffness.  Lucky for me I found a pair of brand new thick synthetic backpacking socks in my camp left there by the previous camper.  After short consideration I chose to cut the bottoms off and use the tubes to pad my shoulder straps.  It paid off, my comfort was greatly increased.  Other than that the pack had so far proven itself to be easy to organize and fit my gear perfectly.  I have also discovered I love the Honeyville powdered eggs. 

Due to the mystery illness I have been suffering from for the last two years, I was determined never to get stuck hiking in the heat. If I could avoid this, I could complete the trip without numb feet and dizziness. After a breakfast at 4:30 am of powdered eggs, grits and coffee I hit the trail about 5:15. I already discovered if you want to have some alone time on the trail the best time to hike was early in the AM, most didn’t seem to leave their camps until about 9 or 10. Sometimes adversity turns into a blessing, it forces you to do things differently.

It was on to Devils Postpile to meet up with Irene who was resupplying me and actually going to hike the next leg to Eddison Lake VVR with me as her first backpacking trip.

Coincidence?

Sometimes strange things just happen and you wonder what the meaning is.  After my MRI, the search for the proverbial needle in the haystack lesion, I had treated myself to a cut and color with my hairstylist.  She is personal friend of mine and the wife of a coworker.  The two of us were alone late in her shop which sits on a quiet old fashioned street.  We were chatting away about everything and nothing waiting for my husband to meet me there, when in walked a short dark middle aged Hispanic gentleman wearing a black knit cap, a jacket and sweat pants.  In a jovial voice he announced, “I want you to make me look like George Clooney!”  I just busted up laughing and said something like, “I wanted to look like Sophia Loren, but that aint happening and your shit out of luck.”  He then remarked how he would settle for looking like Johnny Depp as he took his stocking cap off revealing a bald head with a ring of hair around the base.  I just died laughing and told him he needed to accept that Johnny probably wasn’t going to be possible either.  My girlfriend/hairstylist started in on the poor guy too and we were all laughing. 

After a few minutes he glided out of the salon almost as quickly as he entered. After a couple minutes of verbal exchange we both realized neither one of us knew the guy who had walked in and out of the salon so swiftly.  I had thought he was her next client and bantered with him as many of her clients often do to each other.  She had thought all along he was my husband.  It was pretty shocking to each of us to realize neither knew him.  A few minutes later in walks my husband, ironically also wearing a black stocking cap. 

I bring this story up because on today of all days in a split second in walks a seemingly ordinary man who oddly fits right in to the scene and happens to mention two male actors I happen to like, he then splits as fast as he came.  I am left wondering if he was real.  I don’t believe in coincidence. There is no such thing as coincidence.  Life is not that disorganized.  Reincarnation, Karma, God or whatever you want to call it obviates coincidence.  When I think back on all the odd things of my life and those around me, anything I brushed off as coincidence in the past later came back as obvious signs that there is a master plan. I wonder who/what he was and what it means.