Hiking has always been my zen. It’s the only time everything makes sense, the only time I can really get my head clear. When I get outside in the middle of nowhere, away from people and noises, I can tap into those thoughts that are otherwise too small and quiet to be noticed. It’s the only time I really get relief from everything. And so, over the past six months, when I have not been hiking very much, my mental well-being has really suffered.
Last year, I hiked over 300 miles… closer to 400 actually. Half-way through this year I was at maybe 30. It’s so low I lost count. It’s not that I’ve lost my passion for hiking, I’ve just been busy with other things, and for a while, they were worth it. But then I started to lose myself… a little more with each day. And then I went to Jackson, which was so clearing to the head in so many ways, and I went on four hikes. I felt good again… well, a little sore, but happy, and peaceful. Then I got back home, where it’s so easy to fall back into routine, and I wasn’t going to let routine keep me from feeling good. So I kept hiking, and it’s kept me sane, happy actually, in this time when I probably shouldn’t be feeling happy or sane.
I’ve always wanted to hike around Navajo Lake. So rather than make excuses not to, like I’ve always seemed to do the past few months, I decided Friday night that I’d wake up and do it in the morning. So even though I went to the bar that night, and got drunk while playing pool with friends, I woke up bright and early and headed out. Haley and I did a nine-mile loop around the lake, putting us at over 40 miles in the past two weeks. I officially got my groove back. I guess it’s not just the hiking though. It’s all the other things that got pushed to the backburner with my hiking… all the things that I’ve brought back, all the things that keep me happy.
