The Hiking Preacher Part 6
October 26, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Big Poplar Loop Part 2-Sawtooth Trail
5.4 miles, 2 hours 15 minutes
This is the sixth in a series of posts about my weekly hikes on the Pine Mountain Trail.
Back on the trail again after another brief hiatus. Last week I had a meeting that I couldn’t miss, and planned to hike in the afternoon, but was just feeling lousy, so I took the week off. I’ve been fighting off some mysterious malady the last few weeks, but decided not hiking would only make me feel worse, so I went out on a perfect day, temperature-wise, in the mid-60s. I decided to go back and finish that piece of trail on the Big Poplar Loop that I missed, which is technically called the Sawtooth Trail. It’s only 2.7 miles from Fox Den to Mollyhugger Hill, so it’s not a bad hike on which to backtrack so you can avoid having to call in a pickup. Read more
The Hiking Preacher Part 5
October 12, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Mollyhugger Hill to Dowdell Knob Intersection & back
4.2 miles, 2 hours
This is the fifth in a series of posts about my weekly hikes on the Pine Mountain Trail.
View of the Lake at Montreat Conference Center
After a week away, I’m back! I spent the last week up in the mountains for the Diocese of Atlanta’s Presbyter’s Conference at Camp Mikell then up to Asheville, North Carolina for a meeting of the Happening National Committee, on which I serve. I got to meet a lot of new clergy colleagues at Camp Mikell, as this was my first conference in this diocese. As always, it was a pleasure as well to spend some time with Bishop Alexander and Bishop Whitmore. I was recently appointed to the Happening National Committee to fulfill another priest’s term. This committee is the governing body of the Happening program, which exists in many Episcopal dioceses all over the country. We meet all over the country and focus on being a resource for leaders of these programs, including a bi-annual Leadership Conference which will happen in July. This meeting was a scouting trip for that conference, and we went to the Montreat Conference Center to make sure it would fit the needs of the 150 youth and adults who will come to the conference this summer. Read more
The Hiking Preacher Part 4
September 29, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Big Poplar Loop Part 1
This is the fourth in a series of posts about my weekly hikes on the Pine Mountain Trail.
I got a late start today on the trail because Molly had a dentist appointment. So I ended up getting up to Fox Den Cove around 10:30 a.m. on a truly perfect day for hiking. This is the first of my two-part hike on the Big Poplar Loop, which stretches from Fox Den Cove to Mollyhugger Hill. Big Poplar is the longest loop of the PMT at 7.8 miles. Included is the 5.1 mile section of the PMT and the 2.7 miles of the Sawtooth Trail. My next hike will be the Sawtooth. Today, I did the 5.1 stretch which was really great. Read more
The Hiking Preacher Part 3
September 14, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Long Leaf Loop
This is the third in a series of posts about my weekly hikes on the Pine Mountain Trail.
The good news about Labor Day is that you get a day off. The bad news is that it throws your whole week off. It’s been two weeks since my last hike, and in fact, almost that long since I did anything resembling exercise. So needless to say, I was a bit out of practice today. God has a sense of humor, because this hike happened to be the longest thus far (and might be the longest in the series, depending on how I’ve split up the trails). Read more
The Hiking Preacher Part 2
August 31, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Gardens Overlook parking area to Mountain Creek Loop and back
Boy, I sure didn’t want to hike this morning. My 6 month old son has a virus, so he was up and unconsolable many times last night. My turn to get him to sleep came about 5:00 a.m. and it took about an hour to get him back to sleep. So, needless to say, I was not looking forward to hiking over 4 miles this morning. Read more
The Hiking Preacher Part 1
August 24, 2009 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
This is the first in a series of posts about my adventures on the Pine Mountain Trail. As I’ve posted before, I have been blocking off time each Monday morning to hike a bit of the PMT. This is a way for me to have some peaceful, reflective time of my own away from church and family life, to re-center myself for the week, and to begin thinking about next week’s sermon. You may be thinking, “What a cushy job that priest has!” Believe me, hiking is just as much work for me as is sitting at my desk. I have to make myself go most of the time, even though I thoroughly enjoy hiking and gain a lot from my walks with God. Besides, who says work can’t be enjoyable and beneficial for the soul?
So last week, I completed my first round on the PMT. It took me 11 hikes over the course of 4 months to complete the trail & it’s various off-shoots and side trails. For a beginner like myself, the PMT is very accessible and not too difficult. It’s quite doable, if one chooses to put aside the time to hike it (which is easier said than done in the course of our busy lives). But the trail is quite wonderful, and amazingly, God shows up every time!
But one cannot be completely prepared without the proper hiking tools. Read more
