Monday, June 8, 2009

Nothing like a hike to clear your head.

Jonathan Rice, a triathlete I work with on performance and goal setting and I hiked up Kirk hill the other day. This doesn't seem momentus, however, I've been staring longingly at that hill for about a month, and wondering if the snow was still up there on the fire road or not. I haven't got the impetus to go up there and check it out, not wanting to do a short loop, not willing to commit to the fire road without the promise of being able to loop around to Leverich Canyon and make it a good long hike.

Jonathan came over for some coaching, we ate a nice breakfast of waffles and fruit with the boys and their sleepover friend, and then we decided to take a chance, go for a nice hike in the snow, and we shuttled cars to Leverich Canyon and Kirk Hill. The path was relatively dry, the snow was falling for the whole two hours, and we walked, talked, and processed.

It was a great first trip up there, the wildflowers were heavy and bent under the snow, the eagles that are usually circling above the drainage were no where to be found. Once we got up to the top of the loop proper, we didn't see another human until we came back to the cars at Kirk Hill.

Both of us were feeling slightly bent, confused about life choices and slightly cranky and hurt. Its amazing what making a healthy decision, like going for a hike even though its snowing, can do to clear your mind.

The snowflakes were falling slowly, melting when they hit the path, accumulating up to about three inches on the trees on either side. The wind was still, the cloud was enveloping us, there was the stillness of the snow, the muffled silence, but the color of spring as the bright yellow and purple flowers submitted to the weight of the snow. In a word? Bliss.

2 comments:

Jongira said...

That last paragraph... wow. Beautiful.

a said...

thank you!