Trails
Posted on | December 27, 2008 | 1 Comment
There was a bond salesman who owned a sailboat on Lake Dallas in north Texas. A 27′ Catalina. I had always wanted to sail, and Jim asked me out one day. He was the kind of fellow who was exactly suited to help a novice learn a new skill. He foresaw what needed to be done. Explained it. Described the actions needed, and the best way to make them happen. And why they were needed and why they were done the way he described. And he never blamed. Ever. We would sail all day. All night. I never tired of it.
The first time we went out, he gave me the tiller (controls the rudder for steering) and went forward to hoist the jib. And he told me that he would give me a signal to kill the engine, and another signal to pull the tiller towards me, and let the boat fall off the wind just enough to get lift. I did as I was told. And when I first felt that lift, I knew I wanted to sail boats anywhere and any time I could.
William F. Buckley wrote a book titled Airborne. In the forward, he described the lift one experiences on a sailboat. And suggested it is the defining element of joy one finds in sailing. It is not often I agree with what Mr. Buckley wrote, but I do agree with that. And a lot of what he put down in Airborne.
And in my experience, it is the trails themselves which suggest the same pleasure and joy for a long distance hiker.
A trail in Joaquin Miller Park which I hiked today.
I can look at a picture of a trail and feel a yearning in my core to be on that trail. Feeling the ground. Hearing the “plop, plop” of my feet. Reveling in the rhythm of my stride. Sensing the power going to my legs as I head uphill. The jazz of a fast hike over hilly terrain. I can hardly sit here typing this.
When Green Machine and I hiked the John Muir Trail in 2003, there was another fellow on the trail who took pictures of every trail type of tread he walked. He never put the camera away. There are so very many types of trails. Sandy, rocky, leafy, dirty, muddy, icy. Trees across them. Crooked; straight. Flat or hilly. Scenic, or like the one in the picture, covered like a tunnel.
I live in Paradise.
Walk well. God is love.
Comments
One Response to “Trails”
December 30th, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
JJ – Your description of the excitement you sense when you see a hiking trail is uplifting and enlightening. It is also infectious. I can read your words and feel the exhilaration and euphoria that I also experience when hitting the trail. Any trail is a good one, but I have a particular vision of and affinity for a trail that leads to and through a vast expanse of gradual climbing where you can see for miles into your future. This normally happens above timberline, so your panorama is open and visibility is unobscured, with nothing but beautiful rocky plateau, furnished with random leftover glacial boulder droppings of all sizes and a few hardy shrubs, finally leading to a horizon of craggy peaks, with the pass somewhere up there that will lead to the next similar but different alpine vista. Please pardon the pompous presentation, but – as you know – the high country inspires feelings that cannot be captured by words. We try, but fail. Happy 2009! OG