Our Easter Weekend Services

As I’ve mentioned before, Nature is my Church. I used to hike alone, a solitary pilgrimage through my sanctuary. When Tucker entered my life, he proved to be just as spiritual as I am when it comes to our place of worship. On those final miles to every parking lot, his cries and moans and general sing-song whines indicate he can’t wait for service to begin. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s my kid and me on these ventures, but every now and again, I get to bring a guest. This Easter weekend seemed fitting that Tucker and I share our spiritual journeys with our equally spiritual friend Krystal, who drove up from Atlanta.

On Good Friday, as she made the vehicular voyage northward, Tucker and I had our private outing at Pink Beds Trail Loop in the Pisgah National Forest. We haven’t been hiking in some time, and it was evident that Tucker’s patience had grown quite thin. He barked the entire time I was in the ranger station getting maps as if I was leaving him out of some grand adventure and forgotten about him.

Once we reached our designated parking lot eight miles from the station, Tucker jumped out, eager to hit the trail.

I’m curious to know what the path will be like in summer, as now in the transition from winter into spring, it is a network of magical brambles. Each tree twisting and turning, each in their own original way.

And then there was this one: proving that sometimes simplicity can make you stand out in a crowd.

As we came to a T in the path on the edge of a stream, I accidentally stepped into an invisible butterfly garden. Their closed wings were white, so I didn’t see them until I took a step closer to the stream, and a flurry of purple-winged butterflies alighted around me in what I can only describe as a Disney Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah moment. No bluebirds, but lots of butterflies. I tried to capture the moment, but only caught Tucker’s reaction.

It was a great first outing here, and nothing makes me happier than seeing my boy so joyful at the close of our afternoon.

And then equally exhausted.

But despite his exhaustion, Tucker is always ready to welcome guests—even to a place we’ve only called home for seven days. And having our guest come along with us for another Church service was even more pleasure. Tucker even made it into Krystal’s ongoing positive picture campaign of Krystalisms while I stepped out of the vehicle to get gas:

Dupont State Forest was the destination, a place where you need to return a number of times to hit every mile of the trails they offer. We began with Hooker Falls.

Not terribly impressive, but a waterfall nonetheless. The parking lot was crowded and people aplenty. This was the opposite of our hike the day before.

Tucker was more impressed with Triple Falls.

Although after two photos, his intent was clear: Can we cut it out with the photos please? There’s a lot more trail to cover.

By the time we hit High Falls, the third on our climb up the mountain, Tucker’s focus was on the crowd, not nature.

A dog friendly hike where responsible owners brought their dogs and kept them on leashes in the busy crowd was a welcome and surprising element to this adventure. Tucker was quite polite to others, although his excitement made him pull me more than usual. Given the slippery rock surfaces, I made him use the Gentle Leader which depresses him to no end, but it definitely ceases his pulling.

Once the Gentle Leader is off, he’s all smiles again.

On the covered bridge at the top of High Falls, we made a deal that he didn’t need the Gentle Leader as long as he didn’t pull. We shook on it, and he promised to do his best, but we both acknowledge that he gets over-excited sometimes.

At the end of the day, we returned to home base to nap on the couch, where Tucker once more proved to be the gentleman host, making our guest feel welcome to cuddle up on the couch and catch a few z’s with him.

All and all, a beautiful Easter weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A service alone and a service with friends in this grand sanctuary gave us balance and perspective. With 47 more hikes in the book to check out, and even more online, Tucker and I have many more adventures awaiting us in the coming weekends.

We hope your long weekend was just as spiritual and satisfying whatever your beliefs are and however you chose to spend your time.