The Beauty in the Basics

Me and my dad love to hike. If you asked me to explain why, I would have a hard time trying. Most of the time you’re either too cold or too hot, you might be walking with 30 pound packs, and you’re sleeping on the cold, hard ground in a tent. On this particular trip, I was feeling very happy to get on the trail. It was mid October, and I found myself very busy with work, being behind in school, and trying to juggle all my commitments. My head was filled with a lot of things. I set out to clean out the closet of my head, file everything away neat, and leave only the priorities. Hiking trips have always done that for me. Hiking brings life down to its simplest form; Eat, Sleep, Walk.   

We got up early in the morning, ate some breakfast, and packed a couple things we forgot to the night before. We through the packs in the back of the car, and were on our way. The sun was just rising, and the nighttime fog was just starting to burn off. The light streaming through the trees made for a brilliant sunrise. As I watched, I thought of how many times I miss this display, never waking up early enough to witness it.

An hour later we pull into a gravel parking area and see our trailhead. We park, sling our backpacks over our shoulders, and begin the hike. We hiked for about half the day, and then came to a spot with the most magnificent view. It looked beautiful, like a piece of landscape art you’d see in a museum. It reminds you of something once seen in a dream, and makes you reach out, almost expecting to touch a screen or a painter’s canvas. The hawks glide below you, and you finally get a taste of what it’s like to fly. You fill your lungs with crisp, cool, fall air. The smell reminds you of a time back when you were a child, innocent, laughing and jumping into a pile of freshly raked leaves. One can hear the wind as it smoothly caresses the leaves on the trees. There’s nothing to say to each other, nothing to do, just look. After awhile you stand up, breathe full and deep of mountain air, and move on.

Nature is my favorite place to retreat when life becomes confusing or foggy. I think man was created with a desire to explore, and sometimes, just be still. That is something often forgot in our success driven society.

            As we were walking back from camping out the night before, my dad asked me a question. He said, with a little chuckle “If someone asked you if hiking was fun, what would you tell them?” I replied, “I would say, ‘I don’t know, but it’s worth it.”