hiking on Bear Mountain

I have a new hobby. Well, I've only been twice, so I don't know if I can call it a hobby yet. I don't know what the qualifications are for it to be a hobby, but that's what I'll call it. HIKING. Ahh, the fresh air, the mountain breeze, the little animals peeking out from underneath the brush, the hidden streams, the steep hills and rolling rocks underfoot, the MUD, the pain I feel the next day... Oops! I let that slip.

It was great though, as someone who always wants to do these things, but can't drag my mall loving, "where's the elevator", "what do you mean there's no bathroom" friends along on the whirl-wind hiking/camping adventures I'd always dreamed about. Although I do remember cursing my hiking cohort and asking if he KNEW this steep hill was here, and was just trying to torture me. Alas he didn't, so I couldn't be mad.

After all the tripping, sweating and trudging through the brush, it is all made apparently clear at the top. The view was gorgeous. As much as I wanted to leave it as a journey that was only physically straining, I can't help but think of the obvious metaphor. LIFE is like a hike.. You work so hard and can only see the next hill. You try so hard to keep up, but stumble still. It's not apparent what the purpose of it all is until you come to the top. Until you see the horizon, and the valley below, and know why you worked so hard and didn't stop. Why you suffered all of those times. It is so clear all at once.

While discussing "organized" religion one friend, whom I will not name, once told me that in nature he feels closest to God. That he doesn't 100% see the purpose of having to go to church or being part of an organized church. And yesterday I could kind of see his point. While walking through a dense brush, I saw a deer, and because he was uphill from me, he could not smell or hear me. And I just stood there for a few minutes. How beautiful. How close to God and all he has made I feel. I know what my friend was talking about...

I hope to have many more outdoor adventures. I have finally found a hobby that doesn't involve calories (eating/beer I'm talking about you). And it might even benefit me physically... and spiritually as well.