There are many hidden valleys out there... waiting... just waiting...I am sure some hardly ever see the shadow of a human fall within them; hardly ever hear the breathing of a person among them...
Many such hidden places only the feathered and the four legged ones know about...
It was on a solo, just off the regular trail, while hand-railing a small alpine lake, that I was to enjoy the serendipity of discovering the remnants of a very old trail heading subtly north off into the trees...
It wouldn't have even been noticed if I hadn't stopped at just that spot to adjust my pack again as it often shifts about as if it has a mind of its own...
"I wonder...", are two words which have led me out both on amazing unplanned adventures and epics as well. I pondered these words again in my mind... and then just stepped out and started to follow where this musing and that trail might take me...
It was a very old trail; after an hour it only led to what seemed to be a narrowed section where two rock bands met and embraced each other... I 'wondered' again, and after some struggling with scree and scrub, made my way up and through this stony cleft... The trees beyond only thickened further, but after just a bit more persistent bushwacking, the rock dropped away... and a small hidden valley opened up...
There are times out there that brand an image within our minds as any tattoo upon the skin - so memorable, so vivid are they...
I wandered about there for hours... For such a small place there was much to explore... Trees to gaze upon, a small stream to listen to, polished rock to hold, lichen to wonder over, high cliffs on all sides to look up at, and tracks to study...
That was a very special day of wandering and wonderment... of simple exploring and enjoying... of reflecting upon summits and secrets and musings among that little hidden valley...
I have yet to return to that secret place... part of me kind of hopes no one else has discovered it since; but I am sure someone has. On those quiet reflective evenings, I wonder again if that old snow ever really melts in there, I ponder how much growth has taken place, and what flowers are out this season... I wonder too if that ages old cairn I found still exists, and I smile as I think of the little surprise I placed there...
And then I begin planning to return to that special hidden valley... There are many of them out there waiting still.....
DSD
1 comment:
That is why I love bushwhacking so much. Despite being "wild," much of nature is constantly accesable to thousands of people. I like to have a place that, at least, I think is all to myself.
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