"Under God's Umbrella"- Thoughts on Chapter 7- Shining Rock Wilderness

 

In chapter 7 of this book, I share about my family's life together while living in Indian Land, SC.  A great joy of the Indian Land years for both Nancy and me was raising up Robin and Jimmy to become the fine young men that they are today.  A large component of that joy for me were the many hiking, camping, and backpacking adventures I went on with the two boys.  A place called Shining Rock Wilderness became iconic of our times in the backwoods.  

Shining Rock Wilderness is part of Pisgah National Forest in the Great Smoky Mountains just northwest of the Blueridge Parkway which was easily accessible from our home near Charlotte.  When Robin and Jimmy were young boys, I would take them backpacking with me, and before I knew it, they were young men taking me backpacking with them.  These were great outings and great memories.

Robin took his first backpacking trip into Shining Rock Wilderness when he was first big enough to strap on a backpack.  Jimmy followed suit.  The thing about our venturing into Shining Rock Wilderness, however, was that we seemed to have a propensity for getting lost.  It didn’t mean we couldn’t eventually find our way to where we were wanting to go, but it could mean that a three-hour hike would turn into half-day hike to get to our planned campsite. 

Nancy’s brother Jim and I took Robin on his first backpacking trip to Shing Rock, and, yes, we got lost.  We followed one stream thinking it was a different stream.  We camped alongside the stream that night in a delightful spot but knowing that we weren’t at all where we wanted to be.   The next morning was a Sunday.  We climbed out onto the rocks in the middle of the stream, the air crisp and the sun bright, and we sat on those rocks, read scripture and said prayers to honor the Lord on the Lord’s Day.  I told Robin he could pick the scripture if he wanted to, and without much hesitation he picked John1.  I was a bit stunned at that, and at the appropriateness of the reading.  

We continued upstream that day and climbed a waterfall to get to our planned campsite for next night.  It was a greater adventure than if we had not gotten lost.

Once while backpacking in Shining Rock, Jimmy picked up an attractive looking rock. He was still young enough to believe some of my nonsense, so I told him that was no ordinary rock, it was an ancient Indian throwing stone.  Jimmy collected many rocks in his backpack that day until we had to stop and encourage him to lighten his load.  Thinking back, I realize that neither boy thought my Indian throwing stone thing was very funny.

A close friend, Bill Goodwin, has two boys matching the ages of Robin and Jimmy, and we would often go hiking, camping, and backpacking with together.  Bill and I loved cooking big campfire breakfasts, and one of the boys could easily end up with a cast iron skillet strapped to his backpack.  

Alex, Tommy, Rob and Jimmy are best friend to this day and Godfathers to each other’s children.