Halfway to the Sky by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Author:Kimberly Brubaker Bradley [Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-52971-8
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2002-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

March 26

Mount Collins Shelter (Great Smoky Mountains

National Park, Tennesee/North Carolina state line)

Miles hiked today: 13.5

Total miles hiked on the Appalachian Trail: 199

Weather: cold high up, muddy, snow melting

Springer walks and runs in my very earliest memories, but in all my later ones he is weak, far weaker than me. He couldn't push his own wheelchair—his arms were never strong enough. From the time he was eleven he used an electric-powered chair. Springer could not lift a regular baseball bat, let alone swing one, so when we played in the yard he used a hollow plastic one. He could not throw a regular basketball, but he could throw a lighter ball, though never high enough to make a basket. He needed help to get his schoolbooks out of his backpack. Using a pencil made his fingers tired.

Here on the Appalachian Trail, I grew stronger every day. I carried thirty pounds on my back, up and down mountains, over rocks, in the cold wind and hot sun. I no longer felt achy at night. Mom was as fit as I was, and we walked farther every day. We ate often, as much food as we could hold.

It was odd to think of someone like Springer, all the problems he had and all the things he could not do, and realize that he came from my mother, who looked so healthy and strong, but who carried Springer's disease in every one of her cells.

Odd to think how I might carry it in mine.

We had rested a day at the Hike Inn, until Mom's sore ankle felt better and the snow had begun to melt. Vivi stayed with us. Like us, she'd gone off the Trail for a few days: She'd flown to Baltimore for her niece's wedding.

“It was good,” she said. “Gave me a chance to see my kids, gave them a chance to see me. They're all for Mom's little adventure, but they can't help worrying some.” Vivi laughed. “My youngest nephew kept saying, ‘But you said you were going to be a thru-hiker!' He couldn't understand that thru-hikers didn't have to hike nonstop.”

Mom let out a snort. I didn't say anything. I tried to picture Vivi's kids. “Do you have grandchildren?” I asked.

“No,” she said, “but my daughter got married over Christmas. So maybe I'll get some soon, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.”

We left the Hike Inn to enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and right away it seemed like a different sort of Trail. There were rules to follow about where we could sleep and what we could do. The shelters were packed, and not just with thru-hikers, either, despite the still-chilly weather. The open fronts of the shelters were all caged with mesh fence, to keep the bears out, and even if we had to tent, we were supposed to store our food inside the shelters.

“Do bears make you nervous?” I asked Mom.

“No,” Mom said. “I saw bears the first time. They eat garbage. They don't eat people.

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