Tuesday, March 24, 2009

hiking heaven






     Yesterday my good friend, Sharon Miller, went hiking with me in Long Canyon with Leo, the dog.  We made a day of it, starting out around ten thirty am and finishing around 4 pm.
Sharon and I grew up in India ,  and we both love hiking and mountains.  Sharon is visiting for a week and lives in Manhattan, so this is a rare treat for her.  There are many, many wonderful hiking trails here, and people come from all over the world to hike them in the exalting red rock country around here.   A lot of them were on the trail with us.  It was a bit busier than I like it.
But everyone was obviously hugely enjoying the beauty of the trail, as we were.  
     As we hiked, I felt reconnected to my childhood in India, when I was in boarding school at Woodstock school up in the Himalaya mountains.   On weekends, we were allowed to sign out all day Saturday with a buddy, and go hiking in the mountains.  There was a song we sang about that with a couple lines that go like this: "With a pack on my back, there is nothing I lack, with a friend who's true.  Let me hit the winding trail and go hiking along with you."
      That song still resonates for me.  There is something about hiking, being out in nature, moving along a trail that winds and has another vista around every curve that is entrancing to me.  I find that having my little camera along also keeps me more alert and aware of the beauty of the things along the trail....the bark of a tree,  a butterfly on the path,  the twisting beauty of manzanita bushes.  I fill my lungs with the clean, fresh, pine scented air, and stop here and there to play my flute.  Sharing the beauty of the trail with a friend doubles the pleasure as we see things from different viewpoints.  Some famous person once said "There is nothing that is as good a cure for what ails you as a good long walk."   It truly is great medicine for soul and body.  May you know the joy of a long walk in a beautiful place before too long.

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