Some from the trails

As I have hiked through the forest of East Tennessee, the rugged terrain of West Virginia, the Cumberland Plateau's concealed beauty, or the Spanish Peaks and Bridger's in Montana, I have been provided at times, the gift of awareness. Awareness in the sense of the need to accept differing weather and trail conditions and adapt to those particular elements of the moment.

Becoming aware of these needs to adapt are also parts of everyday living. Hiking, as many of you I am sure have experienced, provides the opportunity to see and experience things most of the people in developed countries will never see. The moments are only for you for that moment. Be it some funky bug crawling across a leaf beside you; a bee frozen in the petals of a flower after a late freeze (picture), the sun light colored as it filters through the trees and moist air, or a some funky plant you've never seen, that moment will never be experienced again.

However the nature of the experience will happen the next time a hiker notices the mushrooms which popped up along a trail that were not there yesterday or the next time a hiker is able to only see the next few feet in front of them because of fog, clouds, rain, and/or snow and knows that his or her 3 day trip has just started, or you see a new bloom. The next time any of those unique moments in time occur and I hope I remember to say, "yes,that's why I love doing this!"