"Paddling Towards Stillness..."

The friendship of winds,

White waves keeping company,

All of motion, momentum, and pace...

Directions without, becoming navigation's within,

Towards horizons of feelings,

Secret islands of wonder,

Journeys of being and place...

Moments above ocean,

Depths of calmness below,

While beneath sky's of mirrored beauty,

Among reflections we wish to become...

Such movement without time,

Paddling now so very slowly,

Towards our own special stillness.....

DSD

My thanks to B. Hatcher for the top image above and to S. Brown for the lower image.

"Our Position In The Raft..."

It was mostly class three, but a few amazing class four also, to really get our attention and focus out among those river rapids... Such cold waters, such a beautiful warm day... It was going to be an adventure experience of contrasts I thought as we loaded, tied down, reviewed roles, dry practiced, then launched out upon the welcoming river.

We often ponder our position along this meandering journey of life, and time out there, and I do as well when a person chooses their spot in our raft...

This young one decided to get their position in the middle of things, both hands holding so tightly upon the rope that encircles our small craft for safety. Often this arises from the novices' level of experience, and just as often from the shyness, and likely yet developed confidences.

Then we embarked upon just what each of us needed out on those fast moving waters - some to refresh themselves, others to practice skills, a few to get the rust off, and the spirited ones to discover themselves...

Such waters share wisdom, provide teachings, show ways and means to create and develop ourselves. We journey through our own passages and positions, just as the rivers do themselves. From turbulence, to calmness, from shallow to very certain depths, from unknowns to excitements...

As the sun began to cross overhead, and as the day evolved even further, so did this young one, from a position in the middle, then to further up where more can be seen, where more can be done - then later to the very bow, the very front edge of it all...

It is at this point where initial anxiousness becomes confidence, where nothing is now between us and the churning waters, where we can then reach out and grasp, and experience, and find something that was always there inside of us...

Such fluid elemental growth, such connection with others, all while sharing an adventure out upon wild place waters. And then I noticed what was surely to develop, what I had hoped for to see... That young one's face, such a great grin, looking over a shoulder, wanting a try at my guiding position away in the very back now too.....

DSD

"Hiking Among Ancients..."

To have such a hiking trail, with nearby rocky peaks to scramble upon, while being surrounded by Ice Fields and glaciers so very, very old, is simply wonderful and amazingly beautiful...

It's almost as if the elements have agreed that because so much of this area is so high, so extreme, and so far away, that one small point on this part of the map should be accessible to us. If for no other reason than to bear witness to what can most often may be only seen, never touched...

That seems to be true for the many who come to view the glaciers from far down before us on the highway below. Many cannot, or choose not to hike or scramble in this way, yet they are still afforded moments among such majesty of long ago...

Way up here though, as we gaze across at the distant Ice Fields, we can sense times long past, moments belonging to the Olden Ones and their ways. Everything here has existed, has lived, for so long that any kind of measure of their time lines becomes indistinct. These ancient peaks, these great glaciers, even the oldest windswept trees, among lichens of so many colors and ageless rocks of such different kinds surely holds the secrets of the eternities...

There are old stories to be discovered here, and told, of what existed back then, of the precursor's of today, of these beautiful monuments belonging to antiquity. They are so well preserved, and all so very prepared to pause for each of us - their former selves still in their continuing greatness in all its splendour, waiting patiently for we adventurers to venture forth and hike there among these ancients.....

DSD

My thanks to Adam for the lower image above.

"The Map Upon One's Face..."

Do we not all carry and display a type of map upon our faces... Are the lines, the contours, the images not unlike the symbols we find on the maps we use out there...

Our adventure experiences and the challenges & successes, trials & lessons, enjoyment & wonder of it all would seem to create many types of impressions upon one's face. When looking at each other during our journeys, we can see where we have been, can envision where we will now be going, almost as clearly as when we spread our maps out upon the ground. The title of a 'map' for any day of wandering may be of a hiker, a climber, then a kayaker, later a canyoneer, or river rafter, among so many other wondrous adventure pursuits. The legend of these maps - their keys, helps us to understand what is actually being represented there. We read it closely to envision what is being told to us... Again as we do when reading each others faces as we weather the elements, as we make our way among the wilds, when we look into that mirrored reflection upon those mountain lakes...

Maps need a compass too for knowing how to orient oneself to it, for clearly establishing north, and then understanding which way to turn and carry on. We enjoy mentally picturing such distances and heights, size and scales, depths and elements, both personal and of the wild places.

The maps upon our faces were not purchased though, but earned... They are as valuable as any ancient mariners chart, and have been sculpted not by ink, but by the elements themselves and through our efforts.

I so enjoy learning to read, to understand, to envision and embrace, the many challenges and discoveries that the maps on our faces and in our lives present for us.....

DSD