Return to the mountains after completing the 40 best hikes of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Where do all these hills come from?
“April is the cruelest month,” they say. Most of us don’t know anything more than this saying. But as I learned, TS Eliot and his wife caught the Spanish flu in 1918 and he wrote “The Wasteland” while convalescing.
On Wednesday I hiked from the Carolina Mountain Club to Green River Game Lands in the general Flat Rock/Saluda area. The day promised to be sunny and warm.
We started down, down, down. Game Lands trails are well maintained but rugged and not as well contoured as in a national or state park. We were here for the flowers and they did not disappoint – chickweed, fire pink, violets and sessile trillium – the latter being the brownish trillium.
Around one o’clock or so it was hot, with no shade as the trees were still bare. The trail was steep and dry and we had to climb up and return to the cars after lunch. I didn’t feel very well.
My symptoms were heavy legs, walking much slower than usual, and a little dizziness. I received electrolyte porridge from Karen, salted peanuts from Eva, and encouragement from others around me. I also drank a lot of water. I didn’t carry my usual hot weather Gatorade water because I wasn’t prepared for such hot weather.
I diagnosed my problem as mild heat exhaustion – very mild. This happened to me once before while hiking in April, but I blamed it on a heavy lunch of peanut butter. Most wilderness first aid courses touch on heat issues very lightly, preferring to focus on hyperthermia and cold weather situations.
By the time we all got back to the car, I was fine, with no lingering issues.
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star chickweed -
Yellow trillium -
Salamander on a rock
Yesterday (Sunday) I led a hike up Big Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. According to Professor Landon Ward, resident herpetologist at UNC-Asheville, the salamander we saw was a purple salamander:
“This is the purple salamander, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. They are usually found in the upper reaches, under rocks. They mainly feed on other salamanders, which is why they have that large, shovel-shaped head. I don’t meet them very often. Very nice find! »
But I was afraid of the possible heat. The flowers were different – a yellow trillium, a fringed phacelia and even a salamander on a rock. The weather was as good as Wednesday at the Green River Game Lands, but the trail was much better. We followed a river (Big Creek) which must have kept me cool. I was loaded with Gatorade, electrolyte packets, and salted peanuts.
So why is April the cruelest month? According to researcher TS Eliot,
Because, in non-Wasteland, it is a time of fecundity and renewal. It is (in the latitudes that Eliot knew) that the snow melts, the flowers begin to grow again, and people plant their crops and look forward to a harvest. April is the time when the hearts of young people turn to thoughts of love. And, truth be told, the hearts of older people are usually not very far away. April is the time when we dare to hope.
In the Wasteland, nothing is crueler than hope, for it can only lead to disappointment.
TS Eliot was probably not a hiker.