Alone in a crowded field

It was cool that morning. I was in Colorado and going for a day hike along one of Pikes Peaks less used trails. The plan was to hiked alone that day, as I have done many times and I was looking forward to spending some alone time. There is something about being the only living human for miles to allow you to breath easier to open your awareness to nature and your surroundings.

As I walked that day and our so called beloved civilization faded father and father behind me I began to find myself again. Each step transporting me toward my still unknown destination and away from all the troubles of the world. From here on there would be no technology, no phones, no interruptions. Just the sound of my own breathing and the slow steady thump of my boots on centuries old soil. Minutes turned into hours and still I walked. Finally I reached a break in the aspens i had now been walking through for the last hour. As i reached the center of that opening in the wild, i stopped for a moment, taking time to rest and look at what now surrounded me.

The sky was the purest blue and as it reaches its fingers down into the tree canopies each leaf seemed to bask in the warmth of the sun it provided. The tall grasses seem to move in slow waves from the edge of the trees out into the open and then dance and swirl with all the freedom nature could provide without direction or purpose.

How perfect it was to be alone here, finally far enough from the trail head that i no longer heard any signal than man existence.

As i stood absorbing the sights around me i decided that sight alone was not enough to truly experience the peace and tranquility that existed here and that i should give other senses a chance to experience this wonderfully peaceful space. So i closed my eyes and opened my awareness. Probably for the first time in eons i let all my guards down and simply opened myself to the earth. At first all i heard was my own breathing and beating heart, still slowing from the exertion of walking at higher elevations. But now listening to it i was able to bring the calmness that surrounded me deeper into myself.

Time no longer existed, nowhere to go, nothing to do but become part of what I had been so adamant about finding. A chance to become something more than a blind passing stranger. So i waited and waited and finally I felt my senses begin to melt out father from me as if they were tendrils of smoke escaping the confines of gravity, letting my once hard defined outer shell expand and merge into the mountain.

It was then that nature seemed to accept me. The grasses began to whisper far off to my left then passed its secret from blade to blade thousands at a time moving across to the right and then sweeping back to the left and rushing through me as it continued on its journey. Still father out, reaching to the edge of existence the Aspen leaves clicked quietly as they twisted and twirled in the mountain breeze. Tapping each other as they twist.

To be continued..