Growing older but not up
Growing older but not up
Experience a lifetime spiritual journey, backpacking to the same lakes for almost 50 years.
“Trees are the spiritual language of the earth.” — Gregory David Roberts Departure day dawned clearer than the day before. Most of the smoke was gone from Little Bear Lake basin, but the eastern sky is still a pallid yellow-gray. I emerged from my tent earlier than usual, before the…
“You accept the image and likeness of God, the perfect pattern image of the angel that you are. In that acceptance, you experience the fulfillment that is your mission and purpose in time.” — Ken Carey, Return of the Bird Tribes Last night I had company, and not the human…
“Something strange and wondrous begins to happen when one spends stretches of time in solitude, in the company of trees, far from the bustle of the human world with its echo chamber of judgment and opinions – a kind of rerooting in one’s deepest self-knowledge, a relearning of how to…
“Landscape has long offered us keen ways of figuring ourselves to ourselves,strong means of shaping memories and giving form to thought.” — Robert Macfarlane Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year… so far. 2024 has been the hottest year in recorded history to this point, taking…
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin The Eppsmobile rolled into camp around 2 in the morning, and our heroes quickly went to bed. Jordan and Sam gratefully occupied the funky tent I set up, and it…
With Dimari, Jordan, Miles, and Sam “Let us salute the silence And certainty of mountains: Their sublime stillness; Their dream-filled hearts.” — John O’Donohue Prologue Another year went by fast, and summer rolled in with the Bay Area fog. The magnificent “Epps Men” were all busy with their lives, but Dimari managed…
“To those who do survive Find beauty in your lives Don’t be afraid of love Stand up and rise above.” — Tommy Shaw and Styx Could we please talk about the future? Nobody really wants to talk about it, but it’s definitely coming. Whether or not we’re here, the Earth…
“As the crickets’ soft autumn hum is to us, so are we to the trees, as they are to the rocks and the hills.” — Gary Snyder Saturday dawned clear and bright: the most beautiful morning of the trip so far. I was up as soon as I could see. …
“Wonder is a bulky emotion. When you let it fill your heart and mind, there isn’t room for anxiety, distress, or anything else.” — Diane Ackerman I woke up to clear skies and alpenglow. The tents were still wet, but the ground was dry. Sleepy heads soon popped out of…
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt Here we go again… My intent was to experience two separate trips to the Bear Lakes in the same summer, for…
“This world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence… a single visible living entity containing all other living entities; which by their nature are all related.” — Plato, Timeus (4th Century B.C.) Since the last time I visited the Bear Lakes in 2021, humanity had expanded…
“Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.”— John Steinbeck Well, it didn’t rain anymore last night, but I still woke to drips inside the tent. I had stretched the rain fly over the tent itself, on top of the ropes I strung, so there…
“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.” — Robert Louis Stevenson At dawn, ragged clouds left over from last night lingered in patches around the basin. More snow melted; more water flowed…
“In each of you there is a hidden being, still in the deep sleep of childhood. Bring it to life! In each of you there is a call, a will, an impulse of nature, an impulse toward the future, the new, the higher. Let it mature, let it resound, nurture it! …
“Wildness is an energy which blows through one’s being,causing the self to shift in new patterns,opening up alternative perceptions of life.” — Samuel Coleridge While most of the country was celebrating its birthday by charring animal flesh and blowing things up, I was relaxing in the shade, cooled by a…
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Now that I had reached my destination, the wonderland I…