On a bright and early morning, where the city still slept and the coyotes were yipping and howling on the fringes of the shadows and light, I stood huddled with a cup of hot chocolate awaiting to greet the rays of the dawning sun.
It was a special day as I checked my gear and loaded my pack. For the day brought the beginnings of a trek, the journey of traversing the entire National trail of South Mountain - 15.5 miles over the two ranges to meet the third range at the end of the trail. The trail started at Pima Canyon dirt road which led to the beginnings of the trailhead of the National Trail.
I started at a good pace and kept it steady throughout the trek. The trail is not difficult but the terrain changes going up hillsides, over rock boulders and desert pavement. The first part of the trail I have traversed many a time on smaller hikes when at South Mountain. On those hikes, I make a loop trail with the National trail and Mormon trail and visiting hidden valley among the rocks.
And on the trail continues.
I made several stops to hydrate, pause, and snack on energy foods. It is especially important to keep up with the continual energy so I may last for the entire trek and keep healthy. There are many people who came to participate in the National trail trek day. Many setting their own goals. It is no competition just a way to marvel at the beauty of it all and accomplish in the personal feats one pursues in such a journey as this.
At about 7.9 miles, I reach the halfway point by Telegraph pass. The views of the home stretch are in view but yet still many miles to go. At the halfway point, there is a stop where food for lunch is served for the hikers. I had started 7:40 and arrived at Telegraph pass at 10:30. I relish the much enjoyed sandwich and huddled close to the ground in my windbreaker. Even though it was clear and sunny with the clouds on the horizons and passing over, it was very windy with temps in the 50s. However, it is a perfect day for a ramble.
And so with still 7.6 miles yet to travel, I start again. Upwards I go onto the Gila range to where I spent most of the remaining miles traversing across the Gila ridgeline. The views are picturesque and sometimes I pause wondering just where am I. I seem to be in a place so far away. Or rather have stepped back into time crossing the dusty floor of years and years and years of change.
On a journey as a long as 15.5 miles, one must wonder what does one do to occupy time? Besides the obvious physical movements of stepping with one foot and the next and the next and the next. The mind comes alive or does it? I find my mind becoming quiet. Thoughts come and go but never remain too long. I find something deeper as I seem to go deeper and deeper. There is a rhythm in my walking and something in me finds balance, a tune to follow in step. For there is a tune within. It is song that is sung at the end of the movie, Never Cry Wolf (based on the Farley Mowat book, Never Cry Wolf). It is scene at the end of the movie where Farley and an old innut gentleman traverse a long ridgeline in the high altitudes of Alaska. It is that tune I hear whispering and dancing as I follow the trail.
For all else falls away, the daily toils of work and worries seem to hold no ground here. There instead in the emptiness of it all I am one, in being with myself, harmony. Joy and majestic just as the vistas unfold. And the journey unfolds. One step, two steps, always a step into the unknown.
And so the last roughly two miles crosses the wash and valley between the Gila range and Ma Ha Tuak range where the day's journey will end. The last mile is the longest mile I have ever walked. Never a mile was as long as this. Each moment felt, each rock I touched. The present moment unfolding into the new present moment seemed like an eternity from moment to the next. And who knows, perhaps a lifetime did pass as each moment came and went.
And rejoice. I finally arrived to the journey's end. I had completed the breath of the trail in five hours and 30 minutes. Much faster than originally anticipated for seven hours of hiking. I sat down while the park rangers were busy bustling to and fro and looked back from hence I come. Indeed it is the journey and not the destination that is the true goal. My feet are tired and it was good to unload my day pack. But my spirits elated with calm, quiet peace. I had arrived home.
On a bright and early morning, where the city still slept and the coyotes were yipping and howling on the fringes of the shadows and light, I stood huddled with a cup of hot chocolate awaiting to greet the rays of the dawning sun.
It was a special day as I checked my gear and loaded my pack. For the day brought the beginnings of a trek, the journey of traversing the entire National trail of South Mountain - 15.5 miles over the two ranges to meet the third range at the end of the trail. The trail started at Pima Canyon dirt road which led to the beginnings of the trailhead of the National Trail.
I started at a good pace and kept it steady throughout the trek. The trail is not difficult but the terrain changes going up hillsides, over rock boulders and desert pavement. The first part of the trail I have traversed many a time on smaller hikes when at South Mountain. On those hikes, I make a loop trail with the National trail and Mormon trail and visiting hidden valley among the rocks.
And on the trail continues.
I made several stops to hydrate, pause, and snack on energy foods. It is especially important to keep up with the continual energy so I may last for the entire trek and keep healthy. There are many people who came to participate in the National trail trek day. Many setting their own goals. It is no competition just a way to marvel at the beauty of it all and accomplish in the personal feats one pursues in such a journey as this.
At about 7.9 miles, I reach the halfway point by Telegraph pass. The views of the home stretch are in view but yet still many miles to go. At the halfway point, there is a stop where food for lunch is served for the hikers. I had started 7:40 and arrived at Telegraph pass at 10:30. I relish the much enjoyed sandwich and huddled close to the ground in my windbreaker. Even though it was clear and sunny with the clouds on the horizons and passing over, it was very windy with temps in the 50s. However, it is a perfect day for a ramble.
And so with still 7.6 miles yet to travel, I start again. Upwards I go onto the Gila range to where I spent most of the remaining miles traversing across the Gila ridgeline. The views are picturesque and sometimes I pause wondering just where am I. I seem to be in a place so far away. Or rather have stepped back into time crossing the dusty floor of years and years and years of change.
On a journey as a long as 15.5 miles, one must wonder what does one do to occupy time? Besides the obvious physical movements of stepping with one foot and the next and the next and the next. The mind comes alive or does it? I find my mind becoming quiet. Thoughts come and go but never remain too long. I find something deeper as I seem to go deeper and deeper. There is a rhythm in my walking and something in me finds balance, a tune to follow in step. For there is a tune within. It is song that is sung at the end of the movie, Never Cry Wolf (based on the Farley Mowat book, Never Cry Wolf). It is scene at the end of the movie where Farley and an old innut gentleman traverse a long ridgeline in the high altitudes of Alaska. It is that tune I hear whispering and dancing as I follow the trail.
For all else falls away, the daily toils of work and worries seem to hold no ground here. There instead in the emptiness of it all I am one, in being with myself, harmony. Joy and majestic just as the vistas unfold. And the journey unfolds. One step, two steps, always a step into the unknown.
And so the last roughly two miles crosses the wash and valley between the Gila range and Ma Ha Tuak range where the day's journey will end. The last mile is the longest mile I have ever walked. Never a mile was as long as this. Each moment felt, each rock I touched. The present moment unfolding into the new present moment seemed like an eternity from moment to the next. And who knows, perhaps a lifetime did pass as each moment came and went.
And rejoice. I finally arrived to the journey's end. I had completed the breath of the trail in five hours and 30 minutes. Much faster than originally anticipated for seven hours of hiking. I sat down while the park rangers were busy bustling to and fro and looked back from hence I come. Indeed it is the journey and not the destination that is the true goal. My feet are tired and it was good to unload my day pack. But my spirits elated with calm, quiet peace. I had arrived home.
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