6 Hours of Snowshoeing
In case you don’t feel like reading too much of this story, you may want to scroll down and watch the 4 minute video that pretty much summarizes the whole experience.
There is something to say about stepping on snow. At least for me, it has always been a feeling like walking in a fancy carpet. I must say that I enjoy the sound of the snow as my feet compact it in each step.
And talking about stepping on snow. I realized that I could do more snowshoeing in the winter, this would be the best way to be easy on my knees as that is one of the reasons I sometimes don’t do as much hiking as I would like to, specially going down hill.
This does not mean that during this 6 hour hike, there wasn’t any portions of the mountain that I wish it was completely flat. There are times when you take one step and the snow returns to you two. But I guess I have to admit the fact that life is not easy.
And this may be a good reminder that just as it gets tough out there while trying to go up in the middle of the snow, so it gets tough in life and sometimes in the moments least expected.
When those steps we take are so hard to take, we may think for a moment that that’s all there is and that we are to be like that all day long. Well, there is always a reward. And for me it came as having such a good experience overall. The views are impressive, but most importantly, there is some quietness when you are out there in nature that you can’t simply not find in your every day life!
In the end I have to admit that all the effort was worth it. Nature is, I think a much better way for entertainment during the weekend OR, any other day.
I remember as I was going up and taking steps, one at a time, that I didn’t really had to see the top of the mountain all the time. All I had to do was focus on my next step.
It is interesting when I to think of something as a whole and not realize ALL those little steps that it will take to make it there. I guess that is how motivation works.
But one of the things that I tried to practice was not if I was going to make it to the top, but just to focus on the present moment of controlling my legs so that I could take the next step in a safe manner so as not to fall down, which at some point I did. But hey, aren’t we supposed to just getup and keep going when that happens?
Certainly I had many insights during this outing and I could write quite a number of them, but the most important one is that: it is good to have friends that go along the upward trek.
Originally published at upward.armandoduran.com on January 11, 2015.
