For me, hiking is my solitude. The moment my boots hit the dirt I’m entirely at ease, no matter how steep the climb is, I understand something new about myself in each location. For the Redwoods, it was the understanding of being raw. My brother and I hiked three locations of the redwoods, each entirely different in their style of terrain. Each I reflected differently.
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
The first one was about foraging and understanding the environment around you. We gathered wood for a fire; our legs sweeping through the moist grasses as we scavenged. It was nice to be finally at peace, the only thing we had to think about was the type of wood we were gathering, was it too wet, too large, the wrong species. Nothing else mattered. The fire crackled beside us as we read our books, and I began thinking about how amazing this ecosystem was that we were sitting within. The dirt, grass, trees, and birds all intertwined into one breathing entity. I thought about how I would cherish this time forever.
“Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
Chief Seattle
When we weaved our way on the downward path to our second location, and when the light broke from the darkness of the forest, we saw a stream before us. Along its banks, there were faint pops of color from other hikers, all on their own journey. We nestled into a spot that gave us easy access to the creek to soak our feet. We became aware of a hiker on the other side of the bank who had set up camp already. he was alone in the immediate sense—yes, but from the broader perspective—no. Although we never spoke a single word to this stranger, there was a sense of kinship. We jokingly referred to him as our river friend because it was the mere presence of him that gave us the feeling that we were all going through this journey together. By journey, I mean one of reflection. We were completely detached from the modern world of technology and pressure. Still, we were here in the moment enjoying the simpler things that life has to offer. This was my favorite location, and when I awoke the next day to see our river friend had moved on, I took comfort that he would find his way, as we would.
Finally, we came to our third destination, which was less off the beaten path, but that made it no less extraordinary. We set up camp on a beach next to the Pacific Ocean. We hadn’t seen the sun at all during our travels, but on this particular night, the rays breached over the cloud walls and created the most immaculate sunset. The waves ebbed back and forth on the wet sand and as I watched I felt as though I could hear every droplet of water in a soft musical array. I stood there on the beach as the red of the sky was soon consumed by darkness. I made my way back to our small camp and warmed my skin as we filled the air with soft laughter and stories of the past. This felt like a full circle, and I recommend every person to take this journey.