"Gifts Within Gifts..."

"A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream... The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him... She did so without hesitation... The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime... But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman... 'I've been thinking', he said, 'I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious... Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone'...". Anon

A parable of meaning, within the context of the gift of a simple stone, amidst this season of sharing and giving..... DSD

"The Giver Should Be Thankful..."

"It is written even still... that the giver should be thankful; only then is it a sharing... Somebody accepted you through your gift...". Osho
"In becoming a giver... we establish an affinity with all creatures in the world...". Dogen
My sincere gratitude to you all Dear Finders, and Partners In Placing , for your having allowed me to gift you with a small Summit Stone..... DSD

"What We Sense And See....."

What we see in a mountain, is not just rock.
What we feel within a river, are not only the moving waters present.
That which we embrace of a coastal island, is not simply an isolated wild place.
Those depths we begin to realize about canyons, are not only about darkness and the unknowns.
That which we come to understand during hikes and treks, isn't reflective of just distances and times.
The messages given by a forested valley, are not only about the terrain.
How we journey among northern lakes, is not really about the travelling.
What we perceive within our mountains, is clearly not only about stone.
The truth of it is - that attaining our elusive summit, will not be the end of our ascent...
Adventure at first maybe seems to just be a word.
Yet, then, becomes an experience of so very much more than ever first realized..... DSD 

Dedicated to all those who Adventure For Another Reason .

"Solitude..."

"There is a potency in solitude that surpasseth understanding...".  R. Schultheis

"Into Truth..."

 

"It is in solitude, in quiet communion with nature, that we each reach most deeply into truth...".  S. Campbell

"Mysterious Wilderness..."

"All at once, without warning, two men emerged from that impossible country. They carried packs on their backs, and they were weather beaten and distilled to bone and muscle. But what I remember best of all is that they were happy and whole... Then they walked away and I was left, still awestruck, looking out over into the huge, black, mysterious wilderness...".  Colin Fletcher

"Questions Asked..."

 

"In the high country of the mind, one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty, and to the enormous magnitude of the questions asked...".  R. Pirsig

"The Mountain Spirit..."

"Shan: Mountain. The ancients believed that there was something called the mountain spirit...". Deng Ming-Dao

"Within You All Along..."

 

"You will not find all your reasons in these mountains or on those lakes. What you find out there you had within you all along. These places are just a trail towards those lands inside of you that have yet to be travelled...".  Grey Wolf

"Your Mind Opens..."

"Climbing can offer the same flood of newness, even after years of doing it, if you can let yourself be engrossed by what your experiences are telling you. Expectations become irrelevant. Your mind opens...".  Goddard & Newman

"The Gifts Of The Four Directions..."

"Remember... The gifts of the four directions. The East is the new day, renewal, innocence, hope, joy, and new beginnings. The South is learning, preparing, strength, sensitivity, goals, and reflection. The West is the unknown, of dreams, meditation, going within, and a place of testing. The North is about wisdom, moderation, teachers, elders, fulfilment, and memories. There is no ending in the journey of the four directions...".  Grey Wolf

"Already Happy....."

Those last adventure days, I was pondering a gentle awareness...
For how much we all so enjoy the preparation, planning, and training that we do.
Then I was reminded too about the endless fun within our adventures, how much the laughter always echoes out, and the embracing, rousing, excitement of it all.
Of course, there are the motivating inspirations, and the enthusiasms, that drive us to keep going. Even as the inherent challenges appear, which we gladly face into.
Then too, I recalled the invigorating energy that, even while we're tired, seems to grow within us along with our smiles.
I thought as well about the warming company of our friends, which is so valuable in what we share, as we journey long and far.
Recall how our thoughts spark, much like our campfires, about those enduring summit sensations, and how everything is just as it should be for a while up there.
Then we reflect upon those deep feelings, those heartfelt contentment's, that we bring back with us from such amazing experiences. This truly keeps us adventuring again and again.
Always remember, we've also each mused ourselves, over the endless, timeless, lovely memories, and among those forever moments, about which we are all so grateful for.
Then I opened my eyes...
With that dawning awareness of being so already contented within such musings, already so very happy.
For we adventurers know the depths and breadth of gifts from our wild places don't we my Friends.
It was then, time to get up, and go wander..... DSD

"Deep Inner Shifts..."

 

"Deep inner shifts may occur in response to disciplined contemplation, grave illness, wilderness treks, peak emotions, creative effort, spiritual experiences... The transformed self is the medium. The transformed life is the message...".  M. Ferguson

"Something Is About To Happen..."

 

"Climbs end, but the deep-stirred psyche never rests... Always there, human hopefulness resounds, the dreaming faith that, in a world of rock and ice, something is about to happen...".  D. Roberts

"Something Happened On That Descent..."

"Something happened on that descent, something I have tried to figure out ever since, so inexplicable and powerful it was...".  R. Schultheis

"Of A Trail's End..."

"We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know it for the first time...". T.S. Elliot
That adventure day, when I could see the end of the trail approaching, there was that sense of both contentment, and yet a gentle tired kind of sadness as well.
I recognize we all experience this occasionally. When we each attain a really elusive adventure goal out there, with all of those so special celebratory emotions. Then at times we sense upon completion a touch of those other feelings of, 'Oh, Its over'...
Pretty natural it seems, to truly experience both, when we invest ourselves so intensely and purposefully within our journeys.
So, I did what we wanderers often do and pondered this a bit, while allowing myself to experience all those musings and emotions all at the same time.
Then, as I rested upon a further mountain, after having had that similar summit rush of these sensations, I reminded myself of that very old saying, 'that when one trail seems to end, another path always opens up'...
I reflected too on another old saying that, 'while we may shed a tear about such an experience being over, we can clearly smile as well for having lived those forever moments'...
There are many manifestations of these wise and wild old ponderings.
So, then, if we keep ourselves open to what is always out there on the horizon; if we accept that there is always more within us than ever first realized; if we blend with the truths that there is never an end to the creation of amazing memories, possible connections, and shared wonderful stories - then our trails will forever keep on going so much farther, higher, upward, onward, and inward...
Seeming endings always then become new beginnings and as Muir reminds us as well, "This grand show is eternal... It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapour is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in turn, as the round earth rolls".
Happy endless trails my Friends..... DSD

"I Gave My Heart..."

"I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder into foam, smooth to green glass over sunken rocks, shatter to foam again... By such a river it is impossible to believe that one will ever be tired or old...".  W. Stegner

"So Elementally Attractive..."

 

"There is something so elementally attractive about a river stone, or a rock outlined against the sky...".  Deng Ming-Dao

"Of Teachings..."

"You will find more in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters...".  St. Bernard

"Of Echoes....."

Echoes all...
Endless soundings, meaningful longings, lasting remembrances, from our forever moments...
A raven's call.
Powerful ocean storms.
Huge winter coastal waves.
Crackling of a fire.
The quiet of a forest trail.
Crisp winter snowshoeing.
"On belay!".
"Just glad I'm here".
"We made it".
A canyon's deep mysteries.
Sleeping under countless stars.
A close friend's encouraging comment.
The crunch of ice on a northern lake.
Veils of moving mists.
A river's endless wanderings.
Wind through tall trees.
Thunder in the distance.
A wolf's lonely voice.
Creaking of a pack.
Touch of a paddle to water.
A loon's calling out.
Shifting of ancient rocks.
Silence atop a summit.
Echoes all...
So many others awaiting. To be heard even just once more.
From within our forever journeys..... DSD 

"You Will..."

 

"You will feel me beside you; see my face in the stone; hear me on the wind...".  Grandfather, Mountain Elder

"A Curious Encounter..."

 

"What a curious encounter between a man and the high places... He climbs it, signing his work... A rock as beautiful as any obelisk...".  G. Rebuffat

"Hello Altitude..."

"Hello altitude, my old friend; back to temper me, yet again...".  Mountain Guide

"A Kind Of Magic..."

 

"Every time I went up there, a kind of magic happened to me: I felt a nameless wildness flow into me, a strangely serene longing for tundras, unbroken forests, rivers and mountains without end... I changed, into a benign kind of lycanthropy...".  R. Schultheis

"Almost Mystical..."

"Being in such a place is unlike any other place you could be; the fact that a human being could be in such a place climbing, moving upward, being in control, still making rational decisions is just a very exciting and almost mystical feeling...".  R. Briggs

"All Around Us..."

 

"In some mysterious, inexplicable way, there are valleys and mountains all around us that no one has ever seen or mapped - a world hidden right here, as if in another dimension...".  E. Bernbaum

"Its Own Meaning..."

 

"Treat each few meters as a smaller summit so that each small ascent is a victory... Each step has its own meaning and is important in its own right...".  N. Shulman

"Mystery Under Rocks..."

"It meant going deeper into places in yourself that had to be found and conquered... Turning the mirror inside out and backward. It's sports under a rock. And the rock must be turned over to find it is inside each of us... All I know was that I was moving forward, and where I ended up was a question that would have to answer itself...".  K. Johnson

"So Many Truths....."

"It is what the mountains truly reveals about us that has any lasting value...".   D. Breashears
The wild places, and especially the high places, hold so many truths...
Those real honesty's from out beyond, which are also very accurate for each and every one of us as well.
These are trustworthy perceptions that our adventures always reflect back upon ourselves.
The sincere meanings for why we do what we do out there, and then back here too.
They are the elemental priceless promises for who we really want to be.
All truly revealed by our intentions and efforts, our endurance, our connections with one another, and our willingness to embrace the essence of such adventurous meaning, direction, and purpose.
Then the actual eventual memories created themselves, from our long wanderings, also become such truly and deeply held personal beliefs.
Seemingly a simple thing of rock and snow and ice, of winds and height and light.
But what our mountains slowly reveal about us - such eternal gifts of truth they are..... DSD

"Fortunately..."

 

"Fortunately, more distant summits are always being discovered... Man throws a stone - his desire - into the unknown, then throws himself in pursuit...".  T. Cesen

"This Is Where..."

"During a momentary pause in his climb, the wilderness sends him a reassuring message. As he becomes aware of the splendid series of waterfalls beside him, his tiredness falls away. The water slips effortlessly through smooth chasms and tumbles over immense granite outcroppings. This, he realises, is where his quest truly begins...".  M. Mardon

"Expression..."

 

"For me, climbing is about expression. It's the key that unlocks my spirit, the clearest representation of who I am...".  S. Allison

"In Search Of Something..."

"Why do people spend time, money, effort, to touch a rock and move up it? They are in search of something... The door, well, we know that it probably opens inwards... Know that whatever trials they are going through looking for it, it will be so sweet that it's worth years in the searching...".  T. Skinner

"The True Result..."

 

"The true result of any endeavour, whether on a mountain or in any context... The real measure of success... The true value of the enterprise - lies in the example to others of human motivation and human contact...".  J. Hunt

"That Which Is Truly Important..."

"What you do on your own scale for your own soul is all that matters... Walking skillfully along the top of the world we may receive a priceless vista of our lives and that which is truly important to us...".  J. Salz

"Of Remembrance And Freedom....."

 

"A mountaineer is one who seeks the freedom of the hills, full wilderness citizenship, with all its privileges and rewards, its responsibilities and demands."
The Mountaineers
The freedom of the hills we all love and know,
Echoes with many brave voices now long gone,
So let us pause wherever we are on our shared trails,
To listen quietly in remembrance.......  

"So Glad We're Still Listening..."

 

We were not talking so much at this point way back then. A very long hike to an elusive high place that day, with much laughter and discussion about life's journeys all along the trail. We almost hadn't gone, such was the weather and the other distractions back here. But out there now, in those moments, I found myself not saying as much, but rather simply listening more attentively again...
Just simply hearing through my memories - for what our Outward Bound Leaders, those old wise Mountain Guides, and especially for that so very experienced Sea Kayak Instructor, who all seemed to be saying one clear thing: "Take time to listen", they all said in their own unique ways...
'Listen' for those so quiet voices from out over the waters and waves; for those voices of encouragement and commitment.
'Listen' for those special personal sounds among the trees and the winds; for whispers of motivations yet to be discovered.
'Listen' for your own music within the storms; as they will always share their wild secrets.
We each will surely experience our own adventure audibles, as we quietly listen in those many ways with our ears, our minds, and our spirit too. We each will truly hear personal messages as well from deep within our individual desires, dreams, and intuition.
I guess that I am very glad, just so happy that in remembering to hear their voices echo in my mind again, now I am simply listening yet once more...
Because I sense that if we stop listening so, then we might just lose our way.
We might possibly miss our wild callings, then not really hear the whispers of our adventure longings, for why we go, and why we do what we do within our wild place wanderings.
So grateful we are all still simply listening..... DSD 

"Remember....."

"Remember... Each kind of country and also each season of the year and each hour of the day - has its own special enchantments... When I open my own mind and let the memories spill out, I find a many-hued mosaic...".  Colin Fletcher

Simply pondering over remembrances this quiet adventure day... DSD

"As Ephemeral As....."

 

"Find a group of puzzled people with a tiger by the tail, interested not so much in mythology as in touching and holding an experience as ephemeral as spider silk, ghostly as morning mist over a Montana river, an experience made of equal parts muscle, adrenaline, and a mind...".  M. Bane

"Meandering A Coastline..."

 

"For every place that we've visited there are dozens more where we would like to go. Every map or chart depicting our meandering coastline draws us in, leading us to ask what's down this stretch of coast, what can be found paddling into this estuary, up this inlet. And then there are the places that we have visited, the places we swore we would return to: bays with untouched beaches, abandoned villages with their ceremonial poles, the jagged cut of untouched rocky coastlines. All told, a true paddler's paradise, inviting us back and compelling us onward...".  G. Rasmussen

"Again And Again..."

 

"To those who have struggled with them, the mountains reveal beauties they will not disclose to those who make no effort. And it is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly to those who wrestle with them, that people love mountains and go back to them again and again...".  F. Youngblood

"To Enter Another World..."

"To canyoneer... is to enter another world. One with cold water, slippery rocks, tight narrows, and tall sheer cliffs. A little Narnia world locked into its own...".  E. Van Tilburg

"Every Step..."

 

"Every step in mountaineering is a debate between what you are and what you might become...".  G. Meredith

"After All..."

"We are, after all, climbing a mountain and, by definition, the trail goes up...".   M. Bane

"Life May Be Short....."

 

Those mountains of ours are very high.
But, life is short.
So we go and climb them.

Those trails we share appear daunting.
Yet, as compared to what.
So we get out and hike them.

Those coastlines simply go on forever.
Though, we do not.
So we ensure to keep wandering them.

Those canyons and caves appear quite dark.
Quite seemingly full of all the unknowns.
So we bring much light with us.

Those river waters move through very fast.
Yet, so do our kayaks and rafts.
So we go and run them.

The weather often might not cooperate.
Still, always are there whispers of what could be.
So we go and laugh among the winds and rain.

Adversities out there are apparently inherent.
But, there are valuable lessons for us as well.
So we go and learn them.

We may be even a little bit afraid.
That, so far out we could lose our way.
Still we go anyway and find ourselves.

Challenges are naturally and clearly present.
Yet, our close friends smiles are too.
So we go and share them.

Sometimes we may also go by ourselves.
That, is another farther kind of adventure.
As we embark on discovering even more within.

Our dreams may feel like they are fleeting.
But, they are all too important to walk away.
So we go out an envision them.

We think that there may always be time for this.
Yet, that is not something anyone can ever predict.
So we decide not to wait for the magic to appear.

Adventures at first can seem misty and ephemeral.
But, their echoes are always awaiting there.
So we go and experience them.

Life may at first appear quite short.
Still, our choices are very far reaching.
So let's go and create our forever moments right now..... DSD 

"The Real Goal..."

 

"The real goal... It wasn't, oddly enough, the summit of a mountain or the top of a cliff at all. That's because the goal wasn't really a place, but a feeling. It was an emotion deep inside him, and inside all of us; a sentiment we all search for, but which always seems so elusive...".  A. Hobson

"Sheer Joy..."

 

"What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy and joy is, after all, the end in life. We do not just live to eat and make money, we eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means, and what life is for...".  G. Mallory

"Sharing Your Wonderful Inspiring Images..."

Thank you once more my Friends for allowing your wonderful inspiring images to be shared here!
My intention with including such images & pictures of beauty and awe, is in support of all the links on my blog under 'Giving Back & Passing Forward'. There will never be anything commercial about these musings.
I have always acknowledged that the vast majority of the images shared here were not created by me, as I am not talented in that way. Many have been suggestions provided by fellow adventurers, so I am unable at times to give specific acknowledgements unfortunately. If I can do this it will always occur as best I can right when such images are posted. I will also certainly acknowledge others work if you let me know, and then I will attribute creative efforts where they clearly belong.
It is with deep appreciation that your sharing images in this way is felt in support of those who are Adventuring For Another Reason . My whole adventure blog speaks to these initiatives.
You have such amazing pictures and metaphors within them, reflecting these links who give back and pass forward with their ongoing enduring efforts.
Please accept my sincere gratitude for your sharing and understanding in allowing for such support of them.
Thank you all so very, very much! DSD