Home > Work > Three Hundred Zeroes: Lessons of the Heart on the Appalachian Trail
1 " A few birds sang in the distance; everything was still. We were truly alone. This was it, no turning back now. Even if we did, it was a long walk home. "
― Dennis R. Blanchard , Three Hundred Zeroes: Lessons of the Heart on the Appalachian Trail
2 " All of the authoritative books on bears seem to agree on one thing: if you're close enough to a bear to cause it to change its activity pattern, you're too close, and in possible danger. "
3 " Only on a few rare occasions, when I was either very tired or the weather was just terrible, did I sleep in shelters. The mice rule the shelters, and if there are no mice, that’s because there are lots of snakes eating the mice…take your pick. "
4 " Thousands of grasshoppers were jumping everywhere; I felt like I was walking through popping popcorn. These critters made me conscious of my surroundings, since many snakes eat grasshoppers. When it comes to rattlesnakes and copperheads, the locals there have a saying that the “Third person gets bit.” The theory is: the first person gets the snake’s attention, the second person gets the snake aggravated, and the third person gets bit. There were only two of us, but I didn’t feel like testing the theory. "
5 " Have you ever dreamt about doing something totally foolish, something so absurd that perhaps you were afraid to tell anyone except possibly those closest to you? I harbored such a secret for most of my adult life — I secretly wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail [A.T.] from Georgia to Maine. "
