Oh, those moments...

[montezumawell]

May we revisit that great post which caused us all to reflect on 'those moments?' You all know what we mean. If you don't, here's 'Boy And His Dog's' and 'GTG's' thoughts on the matter. Afterwards, you will find mine.
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Boy And His DogI was busy. The window of opportunity was open. After six mapping sites across the state I had to refuel. The fuel truck was empty and was being filled.

I had hundreds of more miles, another mapping site, an office visit and an errand on the way home. I was in a hurry.

I looked out across the desert and it did not look particulary interesting but somehow I was drawn into it. Down a low ravine and there it was. A beautiful little desert stream. All of a sudden I wasn't in a hurry anymore. I only had ten minutes here but somehow those other things were not as important anymore. I took this feeling with me.

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<b>GTG</b>I love it when I can just stop hiking for a moment and soak in all the environment around me.
It's a point where I reach a kind of zen-light.
<p>Trail location makes no difference. </p>
<p>Being able to take a picture of it all is the greatest. </p>
<p>Then I have to move around to try and get my shadow out of the picture. </p>
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<b>montezumawell</b><p>These are the kind of words which make reading a hiking book worthwhile. Now, they come here on this Internet hiking list. It doesn't matter from where such words come. They ring eternal. They resonate to the soul. They spark kindred feelings humans surely have felt since they huddled around fires under some sandstone overhang. I cherish these words. And I hope that some of you on this list may feel free enough to speak from your spirit in words like these again. For it is those soul-felt words which echo forever in the minds of wanderers. As we travel between the rocks and the trees and across the flowing streams of the trails of life, we hear those echoes. They ring like well-wrought bells in our hearts, calling out the clarions of beckoning. Over here, over here, over here, over here!

Your friend at Montezumawell

[BoyNhisDog]

Okay I'll try. I was overcome by this unforecasted snowstorm in Grants, NM early in January. It snowed for nine hours and after being room bound for most of that, I called my partner and told him to put on all his cloths and get ready to go out into the storm. We ran through it until we were exhausted. The next morning I rose before sunrise and went outside to wait for our sacred star to rise. This is what I saw when it did.

Thirty Seconds After Sunrise in Grants New Mexico

When I view this picture now I think of GTG's words. 'It's a point where I reach a kind of Zen light.' GTG

There is beauty everywhere. It stays hidden though and can be hard to reach or explain, even to yourself. Photos don't do beauty justice. They only help me remember.

[Cakewalk]

see what you did?

Now I have to go back and try to get that digi-cam interface working again...


Crap!

[montezumawell]

You may, perhaps, know of Sharlot M. Hall, arguably the most historically significant woman ever to call Arizona home. This forum is not the place to recount Sharlot's biography. However, one of her classic books, 'Cactus and Pine,' contains some memorable imagery of some 'those moments' from the perspective of a pioneering single woman around from 1900-1925. I am posting the first stanza of her six stanza 'Spring In The Desert.' Most libraries have copies of 'Cactus and Pine' and we think you would enjoy Sharlot's skillful descriptions of many other of 'those moments' in her book.

Spring in the Desert
Sharlot M. Hall

Silence, and the heat lights shimmer like a mist
of sifted silver
Down across the wide, low washes where the
strange sand rivers flow;
Brown and sun-baked, quiet, waveless--trailed
with bleaching, flood-swept boulders;
Rippled into mimic water where the restless
whirlwinds go.

If anyone wants the remainder of the poem, send us a 'private message' via this board and we will forward the other five stanzas to you.
Also, we would appreciate it if others would post SMALL excerpts of notable writing of this genre here so that we, too, may broaden out perspectives through the eyes, spirits and words of others. Thanks!

John and Susun in Rimrock

[Snick33]

Here’s to all hearts of that cold, lonesome track,
To the life of the wanderlust…free
To all who have gone and have never come back,
Here’s a tribute to you and to me.

With our feet in the dirt we’re the grit of the earth,
Heads aridin’ the heavens o’erhead.
And they won’t find a nickel of value or worth,
When our fortunes are tallied and read.

But no richer clan has there ever been known,
Since the times of all ruin and wrack,
Than those of us lost to the dust outward blown,
Who have gone and have never come back.
M. J. 'Eb' Eberhart

Once more I am roaring drunk with the lust for life and adventure and unbearable beauty . . . . . .Adventure seems to beset me on all quarters without me even searching for it . . . . . . . .Though not all my days are wild as this, each one holds its surprises, and I have seem almost more beauty than I can bear.
Everett Russe

[Lizard]

I've collected quotes like these for a long time. Here are some of the better ones.




'For the first time I saw quite clearly that what mattered in The Walk were the simple things- snow and vivid light and sharp-grained bobcat tracks.'
Colin Fletcher, The Thousand-Mile Summer

'Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares drop away like autumn leaves.'
John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

'To See the World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.'
William Blake

'I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.'
John Muir

'Then love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth ... the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need -- if only we had the eyes to see.'
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitude

'Man always kills the things he loves, and we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some might say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?'
Aldo Leopold, A Sand Country Almanac

Moments
Of Silence
Are Part
Of The
Music.
Unknown

[BoyNhisDog]

OMG these are powerful words. I don't have any words to compare right now so I'll just leave this.

Sandstone in the Falling Light

Took this shot last Thursday near Page again. I walked through this fantasy land till past sundown........ again.

[Cakewalk]

well....


I guess Im going to Page!

[Randy]

My best personal memory was in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico. We were south of Center Baldy on the divide trail, 10,000 altitude, Aspen and Engelmannn spruce country. Typical 'Sky-island' summer day. It was pouring, raining cats and dogs, lightning, fog and wind. My partner Ev had either a 24 hour flu or something wrong with the previous night's Taco Bell. Fever of about 103, vomiting, cold and shaky. His wolf dog Rama, the Goretex-free model, was wet, muddy and crabby. The nearest spring was another 2 miles away, on a steep slope with no flat place to pitch a tent and it was four-ish. Around the bend there was a sign for a side trail, saying, 'Apache Spring 1/8'. We decided to detour and check it out.

The spring was good, and just beyond was a small one room log cabin. We assumed it was locked and Ev suggested we could lean our packs under the eave and pitch the tent next to the stock rail. But surprise, it was open. A sign inside stated 'This is the last cabin in the Gila Wilderness. It is left for the fire crews. You are welcome to use, but please leave it as you found it. If you use the wood in the fire box, please replace it one-to-one. It would be right nice if you replaced it two-to-one. -Gila NF'

A cast-iron stove with chimney, a lantern and kerosene, a table and two chairs, and two canvas cots. Small rodents in the corner for company. A Hilton no doubt! After some hot soup and fresh clothes, Ev felt better. Just before dusk the sun came out and we sat in the doorway and watched the fog lift. Ev nudged me,'As your personal care physician, I suggest you drink this.' A small nalgene bottle with cold B&B. We polished off the B&B and watched the lights twinkle on in southern New Mexico 6,000 feet below.

In the wilderness, surrounded by only nature and beauty, small simple pleasures like a dry place to sleep, and a warm fire that are so matter-of-fact in town give us so much comfort and pleasure, like that simple cabin did. We recalled the words of Ed Abbey's friend George Hayduke, in 'The Monkey Wrench Gang': 'There's lots of things better than sex. A really good torque wrench. A winch that works. A cabin in the woods where you can p**s off the porch.' I hope it's still there. -R

[ck_1]

Wow Randy. Sounds amazing..thanks for sharing that one!