It has long been the woodsman's prerogative to sit under shelter and listen to the rain. In the past few weeks I have had ample opportunity to do so. Much like many of the woodsman who have come before me, I find rainy days a perfect excuse for sitting and thinking. It struck me that despite the many complaints I overheard about the miserable state of the weather, Montreat has always been a rainy locale. The past couple of years we have experienced long dry spells. The week of precipitation took me back to when I was a conferee and used to love to play frisbee in the warm summer rain. In fact some of the rain we got last week could well have been the same droplets of water that slicked the grass beneath my feet years ago. Water has a wonderful way of washing things clean and then, after being absent some time, falling again to cleanse the same place again.
The constant rainfall has also swelled the level of water in all of our many streams. I was up on top of Rocky Head last week and I could hear the mighty roar of the creek almost 2000 ft below. The spillway behind the General Store is flowing nicely. Most importantly the little spring by which I gauge the ambient water level in Montreat is flowing nicely. I have included a picture at the top of the blog. It is an unassuming body of water, but unlike so much of the water in this country, it flows clean . I have drunk from it many times over the year often much like one of Gideon's chosen men at the spring of Harod. I was so thankful for the rain when I went up to it earlier this week and saw a brisk flow heading down the mountain.
One wonders whether or not that spring was there when the Cherokee roamed this hills, but if it was, it is hard to imagine that the water was any purer or more refreshing to them than it was to me earlier this week. So the next time it rains, take some time and realize that it is not just another damp and dreary day, rather God is wiping things clean and refilling our cup.
* * * * *
Jason Nanz comes to Montreat from Roanoke, VA. He is a 2006 graduate of Roanoke College, an Eagle Scout, long-time Montreat Ranger and a highly experienced outdoorsman. Jason runs Montreat's Wilderness School and can be reached at montreatwilderness@gmail.com
Comments