A Hike is Not Just a Hike

Go from the city to the town, the town to the mountain. Take a little bit of water, some peanut M&Ms, a few friends. Apply rubber to cement and let your car roll out onto the pavement – away from the suburban sprawl, away from the strip malls, away from the organized, synthesized parts that have been set up for you. You’re going to the places where the ground is soft and muddy, the houses few and far between. The turns may be hairpin, you’ll have to be aggressive with it. Laugh deeply with every passing mile. Go where the crackle of electricity is incongruous. Where it’s strange to see a soda machine and where the view makes your eyes bulge. Stop there. Stop at the border between the pavement and the dirt: look at the details. The fine-grain gravel sneaking into your socks and the bees making soft beats with their wingtips. Close your eyes and pretend that you are someone else; step over the line and walk away from yourself. Laugh at the trees arching forward to touch you, speed up and down hills as you take off. Talk and talk and don’t stop. Fill the nature with your sound, your political views and history. Slow your steps as you follow earthen trails – manmade natural. Let yourself be caught by a willow-net of words. Heave and toss. Like water roaring down hills, mountains sporting double rainbows. Stop for a musical moment that involves no time pieces, no tuning out, no multi-tasking. I’ll watch you from right over your shoulder – take the picture, speed away.

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