10/23/2024
🚨 📚 🥾 Book excerpt from 52 Weeks, 52 Hikes: A Reluctant Hiker’s Life-Changing Year on the Trails 🥾 📚 🚨
Many times that year, I passed by Noccalula and the waterfall while heading to the Black Creek Trails for my training hikes. The terrain with its small hills and elevation gains, provided the perfect setting to put some miles on my legs. Following the advice of the stranger I had encountered on the Internet, I began adding weight to my pack and increasing the distance of my treks with each outing. These hikes were bonus sessions, not included in my official tally of fifty-two hikes in fifty-two weeks.
On a sunny afternoon in late spring, after a five-mile training trek, I stood on the bridge over Black Creek, watching the water swirl over polished rocks before plummeting over the edge of the falls. To my right, a small chapel marked the trailhead, while to my left, the statue of Noccalula stood stoic and timeless.
A voice from behind jolted me out of my thoughts. “If you leap, a net will appear," whispered a man.
My heart raced as I turned around, half-expecting to see a familiar face. But to my surprise, it was just a random stranger already fading into the distance. His words were strange. Unsettling.
I considered his cryptic message. If you leap, a net will appear. I could practically hear Noccalula herself scoffing at the idea. Shaking my head, I brushed off the encounter and returned to the parking lot.
As I meandered through the countryside on my way home, the stranger's words echoed in my mind. Was it an enigmatic piece of advice? Or a metaphorical nudge to take a leap of faith? Most likely, it was a nonsensical utterance from a passerby. Yet, his words lingered.
Wasn’t that exactly what I was doing? Or at least trying to do?
Was this stranger suggesting that taking a bold step forward would somehow be supported or rewarded? If I acted courageously, would an opportunity or solution present itself to help me overcome any challenges? Was he referring to my hiking goal, my work, or, on a grander scale, my life?
The longer I dwelled on them, the more the stranger's words resonated with me. There might be something to it. Maybe a net was waiting to catch me if I dared to leap.
