Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.-Bob Dylan “My Back Pages”
I got up at 6:00am prepped my gear very quickly, and skipped breakfast. I had no water so i couldnt cook. Totally dehydrated i pushed Jon to get going towards the other end of Silers Bald in search of water. My mind was also worried about how Robert was doing. We encountered a trail angel up at the top of the bald who had a satchel of water she let me hit. I crushed it. It tasted so good, with a hint of her lip balm on the nozzle. I felt bad having drank so much. We chatted for a bit and ran into Steve another hiker who we encountered yesterday. He hammocked down the mountain some. Jon stopped to take a crap, so i moved ahead, not wanting to see that, and made great time the reat of the morning. I got to Wayah Bald by 10:45am and hung out there till Robert and Jon showed up at 12:30pm. The sun was very warm and i soaked it up and chatted with hikers all the time, including a nioce SOBO from Maine by the name of Cargo Pockets. A family up there, brought me a couple of bottles of water, which was real sweet. I knocked those two out real quick, and was a bit embarressed by my gluttonous display. i did cook some lunch up there and that was real nice. We took off at 1:30 and made our way to Cold Spring Shelter only to find about a dozen mice on the fireplace dead. UGH!…. we moved up about 100 ft in elevation and camped. i slept very well again. I am feeling younger than i have in years, in mind, spirit and body. I had that Dylan lyric in my head all day, i think its about renewed innocence, a spiritual rebirth, but in reality i think Bob was beginning to see the radicals that were using him as their savior, and spokeman for what they really were: what he would later refer to them as “Napoleon in Rags” in Like a Rolling Stone. Still i felt good, and independent of all the junk we are accustomed to, and looking forward to tommorrow.
