A Near Death Experience
Did it happen to me? Yes- But not in the way you would think. A little over dramatic blog post, but let me explain and share the details.
Recently,a couple of friends and myself recently decided to go hiking. A typical Arizona weekend activity. Drive up north from Phoenix for a couple of hours and choose one of the many trails that are nestled between stunning pine forests and streams and cool mountain winds. A landscape that can be at times the polar opposite of what Phoenix is- dry, almost barren and hot.
I'm not the one for short intense hikes. Ideally i'd prefer a longer, gentler hike up a mountain with time to take in the scenery around. The place we decided to go was the latter. Having done the hike before (about 8 miles) i knew i was in for a long day.However, the trail was closed by the time we reached there. The park rangers told us that there were too many people on the trail(too many people is not a phrase I've heard a lot in Arizona- there is abundant space here!) and with the conditions conducive for a wildfire, the decided to limit the number of people there. Disappointing, after having driven for almost 2 hours!
However, we were able to find another trail close by that a bit off the beaten path. I did not want to go back all the way without having done at least some hiking. We had to drive off the highway for about 30 minutes on a very dusty unpaved road. This was truly off the beaten path. It did take a while to reach and i kept wondering if it was worth it. However, we pushed on and finally made it to the base of trail. We then waited for a friend, who never made it because he got lost!
Talking to a few hikers who just got back from the trail we learned that the descent down the mountain was very steep and very rocky. The uphill climb as you can imagine would be even worse.They all sounded pretty exhausted. These were, as we could see experienced hikers.
Anyway, we soldiered on. I was getting pretty apprehensive looking at the climb while going down. I'm not used to such hikes, where it is very steep and no place to rest or keep your foot upright. My friend was nonchalant about it and was doing much better. I moved on, down the mountain, boulder/rock/log one foot at a time. I was perspiring a lot. Given the cool mountain air, it was a real indicator of how i was faring(Jude you should have been exercising more these past couple of weeks and laying off the food!!).
I managed to avoid slipping and tumbling off of the mountain altogether. And then finally i saw a clearing through the trees and at the bottom was a small creek passing through the base of the mountain. With trees all around and sunlight hitting all the right spots it was quite beautiful. As we rested on the rocks taking in the scenery we tried to come up for the perfect metaphor for this. I'd recently watched a NDE movie and joked that this is what it was. The journey down was synonymous with the earthly journey. And so too would going back. However , being there was inspiring and worth doing all over again.And so it stuck!
The hike back up was much easier than what i thought it would be, we did it in almost half the time going down. I guess i was truly energized. All in all a great end to a day that began with so much uncertainty.
Sometimes though the way is unpaved and unclear and difficult keep moving on for there are places that give you a glimpse of heaven and the energy to move on. The same path then becomes easier.
Take it easy..
Did it happen to me? Yes- But not in the way you would think. A little over dramatic blog post, but let me explain and share the details.
Recently,a couple of friends and myself recently decided to go hiking. A typical Arizona weekend activity. Drive up north from Phoenix for a couple of hours and choose one of the many trails that are nestled between stunning pine forests and streams and cool mountain winds. A landscape that can be at times the polar opposite of what Phoenix is- dry, almost barren and hot.
I'm not the one for short intense hikes. Ideally i'd prefer a longer, gentler hike up a mountain with time to take in the scenery around. The place we decided to go was the latter. Having done the hike before (about 8 miles) i knew i was in for a long day.However, the trail was closed by the time we reached there. The park rangers told us that there were too many people on the trail(too many people is not a phrase I've heard a lot in Arizona- there is abundant space here!) and with the conditions conducive for a wildfire, the decided to limit the number of people there. Disappointing, after having driven for almost 2 hours!
However, we were able to find another trail close by that a bit off the beaten path. I did not want to go back all the way without having done at least some hiking. We had to drive off the highway for about 30 minutes on a very dusty unpaved road. This was truly off the beaten path. It did take a while to reach and i kept wondering if it was worth it. However, we pushed on and finally made it to the base of trail. We then waited for a friend, who never made it because he got lost!
Talking to a few hikers who just got back from the trail we learned that the descent down the mountain was very steep and very rocky. The uphill climb as you can imagine would be even worse.They all sounded pretty exhausted. These were, as we could see experienced hikers.
Anyway, we soldiered on. I was getting pretty apprehensive looking at the climb while going down. I'm not used to such hikes, where it is very steep and no place to rest or keep your foot upright. My friend was nonchalant about it and was doing much better. I moved on, down the mountain, boulder/rock/log one foot at a time. I was perspiring a lot. Given the cool mountain air, it was a real indicator of how i was faring(Jude you should have been exercising more these past couple of weeks and laying off the food!!).
I managed to avoid slipping and tumbling off of the mountain altogether. And then finally i saw a clearing through the trees and at the bottom was a small creek passing through the base of the mountain. With trees all around and sunlight hitting all the right spots it was quite beautiful. As we rested on the rocks taking in the scenery we tried to come up for the perfect metaphor for this. I'd recently watched a NDE movie and joked that this is what it was. The journey down was synonymous with the earthly journey. And so too would going back. However , being there was inspiring and worth doing all over again.And so it stuck!
The hike back up was much easier than what i thought it would be, we did it in almost half the time going down. I guess i was truly energized. All in all a great end to a day that began with so much uncertainty.
Sometimes though the way is unpaved and unclear and difficult keep moving on for there are places that give you a glimpse of heaven and the energy to move on. The same path then becomes easier.
Take it easy..
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