Leaving My Soul in the Mountains

   

   Parched. Only a few drinks of water left in my once full 2 liter water pack. Every time I go to take a deep breath, I take 5 rapid and shallow ones instead. My clothes are soaked in sweat. My legs stiffen and buckle. The journey up and out from this hidden creek seems like it might be my last. 10 more gruelling miles and I'm back to the car. I made it out. 


   I'm lost. I've scrambled through enough brush to leave me exhausted. My friend has too. The sun hits us unrelentingly. We keep pushing on through the poking plants. Surely we'll find a man made foot path. We never do. We can both see the main trail in the distance. We've chosen something different this time. A mistake? A trail opens up from seemingly nowhere within the bushes. It's a deer trail. Before long we're face to face with the artists of this trail. We both part ways, with us silently bestowing our thanks. 

   We're almost there. We've just about climbed up a snowy mountain face, zigzaging our way across it to find stable footing. Just a few more torturous minutes up. A rock comes loose in my hands. It plummets down. I somehow do not. My finger is gushing blood. I tie it up with my bandana and pull a knit glove over it. 


   A long distance through hike. Park a car at one end and another at the other. Drive back when finished. I forgot my soles from when I cleaned my boots last. I did not realize this until about mile 8 of 23. By the time we reach the car there's not a spot of my feet that isn't swollen and hurting. 


   Hiking deep into the wilderness, charting my own unique path, and completing routes I thought were impossible was worth all the pains and close calls. Sometimes I am bewildered by the men and women who trek and quite often die in the Himalayas. Sometimes, when I remember these experiences of my own, I understand and even envy those Himalayan hikers. I understand that feeling of liberation. The feeling that societies movements and happenings are of no concern to you. There is only you, the mountain, and the people, creatures, and "inanimate" things that share this cosmic dance. So much of what I see in my society is soulless. My soul resides in the Mountains. There I am protected. 

   

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