Finding a Path

Wanderer, there is no path,

        the path is made by walking

Antonio Machado

This quote came in my emails just a few days ago and it reminded me of a hike that I did with a group of people many years ago.  A group were planning to hike Killdevil Mountain in Gros Morne Park.  They had acquired a guide and were looking to add a few more people to the group.  My DH thought I would love it and signed me up!

Here we are...

about halfway and you can see how small the road is already

 

The Top... just joking we have not yet reached the summit.  

It was merely wishful thinking!

This is truly the summit, mountains in the background and 

the water has gotten considerably smaller

I got a little more hike than I had planned on.  You have to understand that there is no trail up this mountain you meandered up the caribou trails, made your own path across a mountain that had an approximate seventy degree ascent.  Rumour had it the climb would take a couple of hours ... I wish! I remember that we kept going and going.  Eventually we would reach what I would think was the summit and think we are at the top, only to discover there was yet another level to go.  Two hours turned to four and finally I was at the summit.  It was quite a hike.  The views were spectacular.  It is at those particular moments a bit of pessimism sets in for me.  While I gloried in the achievement, I was also thinking of that journey down and was not looking forward to it.

The key to going down was to walk back and forth across the mountain so that the decent would be less steep.  Some members of the group sat down and slid down the lichen and moss.  I confess I was tempted but it looked like a bit of a rough ride.

The answer is YES!  

This is as steep as it looks and see no trails

Like many of the journeys in life sometimes we have to plod our own path.  The path is not always clear but one thing is for certain if we do not make the attempt or start to move there will never be a path.  Life with all of its challenges and journeys is exciting.  Each day brings new possibilities, new explorations and new paths to explore.  Some will be well worn and familiar and I think it is here we take comfort and rest.  Others will be brand new, unexplored possibilities where we have to find our own way.  Face challenges. Find inner strength.  Realize that life is filled with all sorts of experiences.  Know that each of us has a unique path that we can only truly experience if we are willing to walk and sometimes make a new trail.

“First, he says, you have to go out into the world. This is not a simple matter of going outside one's door. No, that is simply going out. That's what one does when one is on the way to the store to buy a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a bottle of wine. When one goes out into the world, one is shedding preconceptions of past paths and ideas of past paths, and trying to move freely through an unsubstantiated and new geography.”

― Jesse Ball, The Way Through Doors