When we heard that the federal government was calling for further restrictions due to the covid19 virus–restrictions that last all the way to early May– Fixit and I decided that our hopes of “The fuss will be over by April 23” were maybe not going to happen. Then we got a long and detailed email from the ATC listing all the trailhead closures and AT trail closures. It was obviously now impossible to hike the AT without ending up in jail! So we cancelled our airline flight and our ride to Amicalola Falls–BUT we have not given up. If “the fuss” has died down by May 15, we will still go for it.

Before the fed announcement, I had already called all our planned mail drop locations to see if they were available at least to take resupply boxes for hikers. Every single one of them said, “Yes! We will take your box for you.” But none of them were open to stay overnight. We figured that was good enough.

Postholer.com has some very interesting maps of the covid19 situation across the USA, with the main trails (PCT, CDT & AT) clearly marked. And as Postholer pointed out–covid is found where there are PEOPLE, not where there are cornfields and wilderness. We still think that worrying about thruhikers spreading covid is a false fear, provided that those hikers hike the way we do, and also observe the recommended rules about distancing and hygiene.

We have all our supplies and are ready to go. We continue to train by walking around our town (which fortunately has some very nice STEEP hills) and we can still go out on the few trails which are still open because they are not on government land.

I (3rd Monty) am also volunteering at the local Salvation Army, giving out food to the increasingly long lines of people who are running out of money and need the free food. Fixit is working with a friend (via the internet) on materials to be used at the Sonoma County jail for prisoners who want to continue studying the Bible. The jail requested these materials and provided the “specs” for them. Under normal circumstances, Fixit and his friends would be making weekly visits to jails and prisons, talking with prisoners who are interested in finding out how God can totally transform the mess they have made of their lives, and meeting with them to study what the Bible says.

One thing Fixit and I have learned from longdistance hiking–whenever something happens that LOOKS LIKE it will really mess up our hike, in the end God always works it out for the best. And we are not in the crowd of well-meaning Christians who run around saying “God is in control”. Yikes! Only a Muslim would say that (I think their term is “Inshallah”). Our slogan is “God is with us, He loves us, and He is always at work”. Then we look for what God is doing in the situation and join in!

So we are very much interested in what God will work out from this whole covid19 mess that we humans have made.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.