San Jacinto

Flecks of light drift through the air between the towering pines. Each branch, every needle is encased in pristine white; My feet stop moving and my heart expands in my chest. I break the silence with laughter because the joy inside me demands manifestation; I am overwhelmed.

Jacob and I are going for the summit of San Jacinto, 10,834ft: the highest peak in Southern California. Our feet are clad in insulated boots and crampons--there is roughly two and a half feet of packed snow, and one foot of fresh powder on top. Jake leads the way (having hiked this trail numerous times) and we follow the boot prints of only a few other crazy hikers. We pass through meadows and up hills, through forests of ponderosa pines that smell so sweet I feel intoxicated. The sights, smells, and sounds are so invigorating that I don’t notice how sore my legs and back feel. Nothing precedes the wonder and awe in which I am joyously drowning.

Jake tells me that John Muir hiked this mountain and had said that, “The view from here is the most sublime in the world.” In the world! If John Muir said it, it must be true, right?

When you are in the mountains you forget about the menial and unnecessary stresses in your life. You are able to focus on the here, the now, the present: this moment, and this moment only. As Jake said, you reach a kind of Zen, a focus and meditation, that would take a Buddhist his entire life to reach. Each step taken is made with purpose and precision. Point being, if you need to find yourself, challenge yourself, or simply re-focus your life, go to the mountains.

This whole snow and ice thing is new to me. Jake had to show me which way to strap on my crampons, which way to hold his ice tool, and a few time-tested ways to walk on steep, icy snow. I worried that I wouldn't enjoy the below-freezing temperatures or the ceaseless incline--but I loved it! I was never hot while hiking, but I wasn't cold, either.

And being surrounded by clean, bright snow gave me a sense of hyper-innocence. Jake and I were both all smiles, all laughter, and filled to the brim; this is what Joni Mitchell must have meant when she said, "I'm going to camp out on the land, I'm going to try and get my soul free."

I could spend any given time outside with a friend, but this... this brings my expectations to a whole new level.

"People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering."

-- St. Augustine

relaxation, blood, and a Harley

Blurred.

The landscape is a blur of browns, tans, and stubborn green.

I'm smiling irrepressibly while on the back of Jake's Harley Davidson. An orange, black and chrome piece of fury roars beneath us. So this is the freedom of the road, freedom to be force-fed air, freedom to be thrilled.

My arms are in a knot around Jake; I duck my head down behind his shoulders to breathe on my own terms. I laugh: he accelerates.

Red tailed hawks in their winter color phase reel above us in a sky fit for dreams.

We climb in the shade of a boulder that could hide a house. A massive crack runs through the center, splitting the rock, and its very existence challenges us to climb it. We hang upside down from our [taped] wrists, our [bare] fingers, our ankles, our toes. He moves with precision and power. I falter and chuckle as the rock rejects my efforts. He reaches for his water bottle and drinks. Two deep red smudges of blood remain on the sides of the bottle and dry there. We comment on the happy insanity of masochistic climbers. The athletic tape on my hands smells of sweat and chalk.

Cactus wrens call out in the yucca-studded distance.

"I live not in myself, but become portion of that around me; and to me high mountains are a feeling, but the hum of human cities torture."

-Lord Byron

I like the juxtaposition of riding a Harley and then climbing boulders in the middle of the desert. Both exude freedom and something uninhibited, yet one is natural and the other mechanical. Each is an expression of the human spirit. The spirit of ambition. Born to be unrestrained. Born to remain untamed. The bike; the climb. The biker; the climber.

I love that Jake exposed me to something new, something I did not expect. I will always crave the wilderness, but from now on I can say that riding on the back of a Harley is a different kind of release--a new way to feel wild.

wealth

A friend of mine at Camp Cuyamaca, Andrew, and I had a few minutes to sit back and talk today. As we munched on Girl Scout Cookies (Samoas and Thin Mints: the only GS cookies that matter) we spoke of our future plans. He might have enough saved up to simply live as a bum near the ocean. A fantastic choice! Especially in San Diego. I told him my only plan was to hike about 50 miles of the John Muir Trail with two of my best friends, Camille and Tyler, this upcoming summer.

He surfs. I back pack. And our conversation wove in and out between things that make us happy and why. I've been studying the things that make me smile recently. People always tell me how happy I look, and I know I am more than happy; I am joyful.

I finally said something to Andrew that solidifies what I have been observing in my life:

"Well, I live to experience life, but there is more to it than that. There is a time and a place to be alone and to see things on your own, but the most important thing to me is experiencing life with others. That is how I define being 'rich': the more experiences you share with a person, the more memories you have with someone, the wealthier you are. I like to get rich every day."

I went on to rant as I always do about media-fed materialism and how it eats away at the values that this current generation has... but the heart of the conversation was this: I am rich. I am wealthy in my own definition. I am filled with a joy that comes from the interactions I have with these amazing people around me.

The road I walk is only as bright as I allow it to be. It would be completely dark if I shut my eyes. Or it could glow and shimmer with the radiance of those who give my life meaning.

I walk a road lined with memories and experiences worth more than gold, and it shines even truer...

friend

please stay

please please fight

please please don't give in

please find more

without looking

waves of moments that connect you

and them to your life

which is worth living.

please stay

please keep fighting

Coffee!

Today in our Pine Village meeting, our Village leader gave us French Pressed Coffee! Coffee!! That I had to stir with a spoon because I kept chewing the grinds at the bottom. Everyone in Pine Village is now bouncing off the walls: Literally. No really--look at the picture of Holly and I bouncing off the hallway walls!

I love this place!

Persistence

I breathe, but not to breathe.

I drink, but not to drink.

I let the cold numb my fingers

The sweat dry from my body

The chill seep through my tissue,

But not to wait for warmth.

I walk, but without destination.

I eat, but not for pleasure.

I live, but only to live, to live.

I am because I am, because I must be.