Remembering a certain day in which I took two non-hikers up Old Rag Mountain.
We left in plenty of time to go up and down in just a few hours but I did not count in the fact that they were not regular hikers. The hike, which is supposed to take about 4-5 hours, took 11 hours. Too many breathers and rest stops were taken and so the hike took even more time.
We should have been off the mountain by 6PM but we were just coming off the summit headed for the fire road at 5:30. We still had .7 miles to go to the fire road and 2 miles more on the actual fire road to get back to the trail’s parking lot.
As we were hiking down the back of the loop toward the fire road, we hiked by a tree that was shredded from about 4 feet to about 7 feet up from the ground. The bark had been shredded off the tree and deep cuts were in the tree. It is a given that they were the work of a black bear. Black bears are prevalent in this area of the Blue Ridge. As I walked by the tree I placed my hand on it and found it to be very wet. The wounds in the tree were fresh. I really did not want to meet that bear or any other bear in the dark!
Trying to urge my hiking companions to keep a faster pace to get off the mountain before dark, I pointed out that the November sun was quickly sinking and when it dropped below the ridge of the mountain on the other side it would get dark very quickly. Yes, the adrenaline was already pumping from anxiety about getting to the parking lot in the dark. I kept reminding myself that I walked this fire road many times in my childhood at dusk. However, I don’t ever remember doing it in the pitch dark of night.
Several issues were on my mind.
First, I did not want to miss the T in the fire road.
Second, I did not want to miss the Y in the fire road farther on ahead of us.
Third, two of us had to keep the third companion walking at a steady pace and not let her give up. Her feet were already blistered from having worn “new” trainers on this hike. (FYI: never wear new shoes to hike in!)
We made it to the T in the fire road as it was getting darker. I took out the flashlight so it would be handy. The sunlight faded fast and we soon found ourselves hiking in the dark. The darkness settled quickly and I knew we still had more than an hour of hiking to go at the rate we were moving.
So there we were hiking in darkness. The only light was from a single flashlight that only put a circle of light on the ground at our feet that was about 5 feet in circumference. Not much light for three grown women. We walked along with our companion with the foot trouble in the middle, leaning on us as though we were crutches. Every so often I would shine the light up the road in front of us to check for Y in the road so that we would not miss it. Having walked in the dark this way for more than 45 minutes I flashed the light up the road and not ten feet in front of us was a huge buck with a full rack, looking at us. Thankfully he quickly disappeared off into the darkness at the edge of the road.
It is at this point I began to whistle as loudly as I could. I whistled every hymn I could think of. My friends began singing along often singing the same verse over and over because the only one coming to mind was the first stanza.
With every snap of a twig in the darkness the adrenaline saturated my system even more.
There were animals there that we could not see but I figured at this point if they could hear us coming from the noise we were making, they would be clearing off and not challenging our endeavor.
The flashlight was growing dimmer and dimmer. I praise Jesus that my mom had handed me two packs of fresh batteries along with that flashlight as I walked out the door that morning! We stopped and I set out the fresh batteries in the order in which they would go into the flashlight knowing that as soon as I turned off the light to change the batteries we would be in total darkness.
With the batteries changed and the circle of light we were walking in a bit brighter, we found the Y in the fire road. Finding the Y brought some comfort but knowing we still had over a mile to go brought the realization that we would be walking for at least another hour.
We walked on singing and whistling and praying for safety.
Suddenly the flashlight reflected off the water of a stream going straight across our path. Convincing the friend with the sore fee that the water was no more than 6 inches deep took some doing. The way the light reflected did not give any hint as to how deep the water was. I knew that the bridge to the parking lot was just on the other side. Flashing the light across the stream lit up the bridge.
You would have thought it was the bridge right into Heaven.
Walking through the stream proved it to be only about one to two inches deep. Prayers of thanksgiving bubbled out of us. We had finally made it to the parking lot.
Often times our hike with Jesus is like this experience. We find ourselves walking in the dark, so to speak, not knowing what is in front of us or around us just out of our line of sight. We must be reading our trail guide and trusting Jesus, our hiking companion, that He knows the way we are to take. He DOES know, and he will direct our steps, telling us to continue putting one foot in front of the other. “Just do the next thing,” Elisabeth Elliot is always urging in her writing. God will open and shut the doors, we just need to keep walking in obedience to where he points us.
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Walking in the dark (physically) is like walking in faith (spiritually).
First, you cannot see how far you have still to go. You may be on the last hundred yards or you may have a hundred feet or miles to go. This presents an interesting dynamic of being forced to focus only on the step you are momentarily taking enabling us to just BE in the moment we are in. This allows us to face the moment, focus on the moment, feel the moment, absorb the moment, and evaluate the moment.
Secondly, you cannot see the potential dangers that may lurk in the dark nearby. As we hiked in the dark, we knew there were potential dangers nearby having seen the result of the slashed tree. We have seen in the past “slashed trees” of others who have made the same choices we are making and many of them are thriving even though they have been hurt deeply. The Lord has brought them healing of their wounds even though there are some scars left behind he has brought them into areas of greater growth.
Oh, and that marker in the trail telling which side of the Y to take… Jesus is such a faithful dependable hiking guide.
He has shown us which direction to go.
Though there may be lots of rock scrambles and crevices up ahead we are confident that as we walk in obedience to him, because he is leading us: he takes full responsibility for us and fulfilling his will in us and through us.
Though we know which direction we are hiking in, we are still hiking in the dark and it seems we will be for a while longer, thankfully we have that circle of light to walk in and he will bring us out into the brightness of morning eventually…
Joy comes in the morning.
