As I’m sitting in town after my first 97 miles on the North Country Trail, during which I’ve cried more than I’ve cried on most of my 2000 mile hikes, I’ve been thinking a lot about keeping things in perspective. Yes, my foot hurts with every single step I take. It’s like walking with two big, 8 inch blisters. Sometimes it sends pains like electrical shocks through my foot. One day it did this and my foot crumpled under me, sending me crashing to the ground. I banged my head, broke my glasses and twisted my knee. My knee has continued to hurt and I’m glad to be taking a zero day to rest it, but keeping it in perspective reminds me that at least on this fall I didn’t break my foot like I did on both the Florida Trail and the Pacific Northwest Trail. And my glasses were relatively easy to fix, so overall it wasn’t the worst of falls, although I do hope my knee improves soon.

As I keep reminding myself to keep everything in perspective, I realize I could be sitting at home depressed and having trouble getting myself to do anything because of the pain in my foot. Instead, despite the pain, I’m working on hiking my 11th of the 11 national scenic trails. I am experiencing new parts of the country and once again meeting some incredibly kind people who help me to keep life in perspective.

For starters, there is Glee, who made arrangements for Tammy to pick me up at the bus station in Bismarck and drive me over an hour to Lake Sakakawea, where the North Country Trail starts on the western end. After giving me a few snacks, including some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, Tammy drove an hour to put a gallon of water out for me. Then Glee spent countless hours dropping water about every 15 miles for the next hundred miles of Trail. This has been really useful because the only alternative I would’ve had otherwise was to drink out of the McCluskey Canal. In the desert, on both the Arizona and Continental Divide Trails, I drank out of stagnant, brown ponds with cows standing in them peeing and pooping, but yet I am loathe to drink out of the water here in ND because it is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff from the farms surrounding it.

The farms here are huge, especially by Vermont standards where an average farm is about 180 acres. In Vermont, many farms are small crop farms of a few acres. Out here in ND, it’s not uncommon for a farm to be well over 2000 acres. I find it interesting that both are called farms. There are similar things about them, such as reliance on weather, but in ND there are many acres of farmland that never get touched by a human hand. Whereas huge machinery driven by humans does the work on these big farms, when I farmed in Vermont, I was walking and physically touching just about every bit of land I farmed at least once a week.

Focusing on the beauty around me, rather than on the pain in my foot, helps me keep things in perspective. So far, this has not been a true wilderness trail, but it is as difficult as my foot can handle right now and has some beautiful sections. The views of the sky are stunning and I can see for miles. There have been some beautiful lakes, especially along what’s called the Chain of Lakes, which are formed by the McCluskey Canal. The canal runs more than 73 miles bringing Missouri River water into other parts of the state. I was thrilled that the days I was walking around the lakes were not rainy and the incessant wind wasn’t as strong as it sometimes was. I was able to enjoy tootling along, stopping whenever my foot needed a break, enjoying the beauty of the water and sky.

I’ve also been enjoying the birds out here. For about 12 miles, I walked through an Audubon sanctuary, but even outside of that sanctuary I’ve seen numerous bobolinks, pheasants, cliff swallows, king birds, hawks, ducks and many more. One day I was divebombed for about a quarter mile by a number of Marbled Godwits. It reminded me of when I was attacked by turkeys, hawks and swallows on the Ice Age Trail and grouse on the Continental Divide Trail. Keeping it in perspective, rather than really seeing these as attacks, I saw them as attempts by parents to protect their young which I assumed were in nearby nests.

Because someone had removed the last of the water jugs that Glee left for me about 12 miles before my first food drop in McCluskey, I decided I would push on and see how far I could get. I had already walked 12 miles when I reached the spot with the missing water. There were about 10 more miles to get to town. For most of the days leading up to this one, I had been carrying up to 8 pounds of water at a time. While I was thirsty, I did still have a bit over a pint with me. Rather than be disappointed, I put the lack of water in perspective. I didn’t have enough to comfortably spend the night and hike again in the morning. But without the water my pack was quite a bit lighter. Since it doesn’t get dark here until close to 10 PM, I decided to hike on and see how close I could get to town.

Although it was not easy and required a number of tear breaks, I did make it to the city park in McCluskey, where I was grateful to be able to spend the night knowing the next day I could walk a mile down the road to the McClusky Motor Lodge, where my resupply package was waiting for me. I was grateful for Laurie who runs this motel. Even though she was away, and there was no one else staying here, she made arrangements for a room to be left open for me. It has given me an opportunity to shower and rest up my foot and knee. I have also been doing some calorie loading.

Because I got here earlier than expected, I stopped at the café next-door where a group of six guys chatted me up about my trip and bought me breakfast. Then I ate another breakfast from my stash in my motel room. Soon after this, LeeAnn, who sometimes helps Laurie out, stopped by and drove me to town where I bought a “gourmet meal” at the grocery store. I expected to have it for dinner, but instead, I ate it as soon as we got back to the motel around 1 PM.

LeeAnn also washed my clothes for me, saving me the trouble of having to rinse them out in the sink.

It’s always amazing to me. How even a span of just a few minutes or a few steps can change my perspective and make something that seemed undoable, seem perfectly possible.

When I first got to McCluskey, I was wondering how much further I really wanted to go, but eating more, showering, having clean clothes and trying out the new orthotic, which was mailed to the motel by my podiatrist in Vermont in hopes that it will put less pressure on the really sore part of the skin graft, has given me a new perspective. I again feel that I can hike on and am looking forward to what this next section of Trail will bring me.

In fact, it has already brought me some magic through a Trail Angel named Michelle, who went out of her way to find someone to drop water for me in a few places which will save me from having to carry water for 57 mile to avoid drinking the heavily polluted river water along the way. It really is wonderful how in just a short stretch of time with things as simple as kindness, food, and a shower, my perspective can be so completely changed.

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