TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021 MOUNTAINS

 TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021 MOUNTAINS

I love mountains.  I like looking at them, driving through them, finding the little babbling brooks flowing over the rocks and cascades.  And, related, I like hills and rugged places.

As a child, I read about mountain climbing - the conquest of Mount Everest, K2, and other peaks.  In Connecticut, I was a “Giant Master”. I hiked all the trails (several times) at Sleeping Giant State Park.  Of course, in my last year at Quinnipiac, my faculty office was actually on the “Giant”.  I did the rugged Blue Trail, and that really did require climbing.  To me, the Tower Trail was so “pedestrian” - and not as scenic as those rugged, rocky trails.  

In South Dakota, there weren’t that many hiking trails around Madison.  But, on a family vacation in the Black Hills, I got the whole family to hike Harney Peak (now officially renamed as Black Elk peak).  Now that was a task.  I think Steve and I could do it, but when Connie and Becky decided they wanted to get to the highest peak in the Black Hills, the highest peak in South Dakota, and the highest point between the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States and the Rocky Mountains the whole family started out.  I’m not quite sure how we made it!!!  I think I carried Becky (who was about eleven or twelve at the time) for a while and helped Connie over the rocky places.  It took about 2.5 hours to get to the top - and everybody was tired.  Coming back, we got on a different trail that was going to come out at a different location on the Needles Highway. Sensing this, I jogged ahead of the rest of the family. got to the Needles Highway and then jogged about two miles to get the car.  They were all tired when I got back to the new location.  BUT we did it!!!  

Aside - friends - do go to the Black Hills someday.  Do see Mount Rushmore, and do take the Needles Highway.  Make time for it.  I’d also suggest going from southeast to northwest, so you can see Mount Rushmore framed by the tunnels.  And, watch for buffalo/bison on the roads!!  They definitely have the right of way!!!

But, today, I want to go back farther, to one of my earlier solo hikes.  Sometimes my brain says “you hiked that all alone?  Are you nuts?  What if you fell?”.

I was a freshman in college.  Winona, Minnesota is in the Mississippi River valley and surrounded by bluffs.   I knew I had to hike those bluffs.  So, I started out on an awesome Saturday morning.  First up was Garvin Heights.  I think the road to the top of Garvin Heights was a CCC (or WPA) activity during the depression.  But, I didn’t take the road - I had spotted the trail and went up (and up).  Garvin Heights is a wonderful place to look out over Winona and the Mississippi River valley.  But, I had been there.  No, I had to conquer the row of bluffs down to Sugar Loaf (pictured).  

But, before I got to Sugar Loaf, I was overwhelmed with joy.  Maybe one of the first times that it was so significant.   I sat on a rock about two bluffs before Sugar Loaf and broken into song (this was 1965).  I remember it ‘On a Clear Day’ song by Robert Goulet.

“On a clear day, rise and look around you

And you'll see who you are

On a clear day how it will astound you

That the glow of your being outshines every star

You'll feel part of every mountain, sea, and shore

You can hear from far and near a world you've never heard before

And on a clear day, on that clear day

You can see forever and ever more

You can hear from far and near a world you've never heard before

And on that clear day, on that clear day

You can see forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and evermore!

***

I sang that out - full voice.  There weren’t any houses, no farms, no people - just me on tha bluff singing “rise and look around you and you’ll see who you are”.  I did feel part of that hill that day.  It was magical.  

*****

I did continue (that was a lightly used trail) to Sugar Loaf and came back down to civilization again. (Later, I would climb Sugar Loaf - not an easy climb - and I ignored the “No trespassing” signs.)

Another aside, and on that hike, I met a ‘friend’.  I was singing and enjoying the day - and there was a furry black-and-white animal (skunk) who was on the same trail.  I went out of my way to avoid him!!

*****

Okay, Karen - thanks for sharing about a hike you did.  But, why did you waste our time reading about how you like hiking, hills and mountains?

Maybe the answer is in the lyrics:  ““On a clear day, rise and look around you

And you'll see who you are

On a clear day how it will astound you

That the glow of your being outshines every star”

I was glowing - “the glow of MY being outshines every star”.  Now, it is somewhat rare that the glow of my being outshines anything - not even the glow from my phone recharging.  I was astounded that day.  I was ALIVE.

I assume all of us have had some similar experience - a time when you were truly ALIVE.  Maybe yours came with your first child (or first grandchild - holding my twins for the first time was truly authentic and awesome!!!), or other events.

So, my thought today is to find (and remember) sometime when you were fully alive.  Let that memory engulf and surround you.  You are special, you are unique.  You are loved.  And, you bring that LOVE to others!!! 

Let “That the glow of your being outshines every star”!!!  

God is Good!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen