Number 119 in Wanderings

On Saturday, the weather was perfect for my monthly hike. I packed my cooking gear, extra clothes and other essentials and hit the trail for a full day of hiking. After an hour I had reached Weathertop, making it 119 months in a row that I have stood on the summit. Next month will be a milestone as 120 consecutive months will make 10 full years (a number I have been eyeing ever since I reached number 100). I still had six hours before I told my wife I would be back to the cabin, so after a short rest, on up the hill I went.
After another hour and a half, I reached the place I call Rocky Top, a full 5 miles from and 2000 feet in elevation above the cabin. It is my favorite lunch place. The sky was blue and the sun felt warm, and with the temperature in the upper 40’s, it felt just about perfect. Here is the view to the north that I enjoyed:

I made myself some coffee and then cooked lunch. The recent nights had been below freezing which knocked down the bugs, leaving none to pester me, so after my lunch, I lay down on a bed of pine needles and took a nap in the warm sunshine.
As I drifted in and out of sleep, my feathered friends the chickadees came to visit me. Since I speak fluent chickadee, we enjoyed a nice conversation. I gathered that they loved this day as much as I did. I wrote in my journal about how good I felt and how happy I was (a feeling that does not come along very often). There were a few inches of snow all around (except where I was laying) and to me it couldn’t get any better.
After I was well rested and well fed, I hiked another mile or two up the trail, enjoying each new vista that came before me. When I was sufficiently far, and the afternoon was sufficiently old, I knew I had only a few hours of daylight left, so after one short rest, I hiked the entire way back down with hardly a stop.
One of my favorite Chicago songs filled my thoughts, and I sang it many times as I walked:
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Last updated November 19, 2015