but she’s like that, nature. she takes you in, then she spits you right out. in a split second, a journey of a dozen or a hundred or a thousand miles is over. as quickly as it started, it ended. leaving you wondering if it all even happened at all. you look back and stare at her in awe, trying to soak up the last bits of her beauty and clarity she so freely offers. she looks back at you, a mischievous flicker in her eye, she knows you’ll be back for more.
Read More“heal me, change me, use me, move me.” i mentally repeated to myself as i hiked. i wanted to be broken open. i wanted to be altered by the land surrounding me and the effort i put forth to move myself through it.
Read Morei 100% believe in doing things afraid. in feeling the fear and doing it anyway. that’s what being brave is, after all. and, my god, what a liberating, exhilarating, and surprising feeling it was to be doing something where i’d felt so viscerally frightened in the past, and now had been so present and comfortable doing.
Read Moreas i made my way towards the maroon lake trailhead, i was greeted by cotton candy skies and sweet messages. i replied back quickly before (happily) disconnecting from digital society for the rest of the trip. as i pulled in the parking lot, i went into auto pilot: check snacks, repack my bear canister, assemble my hiking poles, grab an extra lighter, keep the first aid kit accessible, lock the car, use the bathroom. the thought of heading home was long gone. how could i think of being anywhere else, when the views in front of me were already this breathtaking?
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