"Stone Stairways....."

I have always enjoyed reading by a fire and later yesterday I took an old tome off a shelf which had collected too much dust. Paging through it gently, as such aged books need to be handled carefully, I found a note on a piece of paper I likely used as a bookmark way back when...

After reading the words there, I reviewed the pages where it had been found, then pondered who might have first said it. I do not recall the words as my own, could not find them in the tome, nor had any reference been noted.

The mysterious quotation simply said: "The mountains are stone stairways...".

Just these five words; nothing more.

As I gazed into the fire, many musings crossed my mind of how the mountains are indeed such stairways - ascending ways and paths of rock and ice, scree and snow, of challenges and trials, of directions forwards and upwards, towards profoundly personal experiences and meanings that we each discover all along the way.

Such beautiful stone stairways are our elusive high places that we each seek.....

DSD

"Romantic Realists..."

We adventurers are such romantic realists, when we turn and face that which we each have chosen, as we make our own way out among the wildest of places...

To be an adventurer is at heart, to clearly be a romantic, and yet it seems very much a realist too. We take our dream like visions and make them come true. We move past everyday life back here, and journey into the extremes and emotions out there; and then return with spirits, hearts, and perceptions renewed.

That which really matters become the elements we seek to embrace; what is within the true nature of an experience becomes that which we seek to engage.

As adventurers, we deal with things as they are, while following enthusiasms towards things that are yet to be...

We are so imaginatively practical in the pursuit of our wild passions. So often playfully serious about our fun and our freedoms. We blend risk with romanticism, and distinct objectives with subtle fulfillment's.

Such romantic realists are we, such pioneers and wanderers, poets and bards, explorers and philosophers.

We everyday adventurers.....

DSD

My thanks for the top image above to A.G. Belt.

"Circumnavigations....."

The circle is a powerful symbol. Many adventurers embrace the concept of the 'Grand Circle', knowingly or not. It blends with all of what we do out there as we enclose our wanderings within the language, ways, and means of such symbols. The circle has also been viewed as a continuous path in many cultures and histories. Circles upon, and within circles - or circumnavigations; are very potent adventures. Such voyages and journeys take us all around, all the way to the edges, and then finally back again...

We so circumscribe the elements, crossing meridians, and all points of the compass by doing so, in actuality and through the adventure metaphor as well.

I remember... Circumnavigating those many coastal islands, then returning again to the same point we launched and embarked upon, but not as the same persons at all...

We recall... Surrounding Mt. Temple from east to west, north & south and then back again, from trail head to scramble route, through hiking and climbing, and so much more...

We remember... Following the circumference of so many maps from wild places to further wilderness, then on to that internal terrain even more elusive...

I myself remember... The circuitous nature of returning, coming back full circle, to the very first mountain climbed, the initial river rafted, where a certain wild animal was first sighted, that place where the worst fall was taken, the lakes of my youth, the injury that almost ended these journeys, and those so special wild places where some selected little stones were gathered up and an idea was formed...

Such potent symbols circles are, such wonderful journeys circumnavigations become.....

DSD

My appreciation to M. Hill for the above images.

"A Misplaced Dream..."

There is a river out there I know well, but have yet to run all of it. It is not the longest, or largest, nor the most grand - yet it holds a truly unique beauty within its' remote fluid wildness.

Near this river is a small somewhat hidden valley. I so want to journey down between the high rock walls that embrace the older growth forests held closely there. Some of those streams from this valley feed the waters of that river which is the only way to access this undiscovered area on my map...

At the far end, at the very farthest point from this river I have yet to paddle, is an unusual mountain. Not the highest, but certainly the most aesthetic one nearby. It is a severe craggy rock, with old ice and deep snow upon it on a scale not seen on many high points now. The summit of this distant mountain may not likely have ever been visited, other than by the wind or the feathered ones, or so it feels when I dream about it...

A season does not go by where I do not also find myself again envisioning a journey upon that river, down that pristine valley, and then slowly ascending that elusive mountain...

We all have such wild places & plans, possibly misplaced dreams that we need to revisit, from deep within our hearts, where our spirit longs to wander... The energy of life is made up of such hope and dreams...

I hope to dream again of my secret adventure there yet again tonight.....

DSD

My appreciation to A. Jones for the lower image above and to K. Su for the top image.

"What Will It Take....."

What will it take, the Muses say,

Then too the storms call out,

What toll are we each prepared to give.

What will be asked of us, the shadows state,

What will it take, the echoes call as well,

For each to choose, then each to strive, with all they have,

On paths of efforts, and such trails of time...

Now let us commit, responds the ageless voices,

For then it seems, all the more surely, we will each discover,

Whatever it takes, to be on our way...

DSD

My thanks to F. Polimeni for the top image above, and to G. Wiltsie for the lower image.

"New Beginnings....."

"Prevalent in primal lore are stories of beginnings... Sacred myths and cherished legends narrate the origins of the cosmos itself, the earth and its life, and human beings and their purposes. Only if we know how things began, the primal mind seems to say, do we know how to continue..". P. Novak

Therein is one of our many reasons for why we muse about the origins of our adventures; for the very why we do what we do, out in the wild places. We often seem to grasp why it is we began; yet understanding too why we keep going especially when the trails become trials is certainly as important.

How & why & when did you begin to head out there - we often inquire of one another.

What adventures did you first start out upon we also share about.

Then, most interestingly, as the seasons pass, as the many years come and go, we just as often find ourselves returning to those times and places and reasons we began with...

Adventures within experiences,

Wonders within moments,

Returning to beginnings,

Full circle yet again,

This early new year.....

DSD