last august, i went backpacking in glacier national park with four friends. it's been more than six months since that trip, but i'm finally ready to share some photos. here's a preview of what's to come.
this photo was taken after a grueling climb up the peak i'm standing on in this photo. i was not myself during that climb and my friends were worried because i had such low energy. it wasn't until later that i realized it was a calorie issue and my blood sugar was far too low. but regardless, we made it to the peak, went through the tunnel and came out to this view. it took my breath away and birth new energy in me. nature has a way of affecting me in that way. after our lunch break, we trekked down to elizabeth lake (the one in the photo), where we camped at the foot of the lake. this is where i met two very interesting groups camping at the same site, saw a moose, and possibly contracted giardia.
...we stood there, admiring every bit of beauty we could. meanwhile, my camera managed to breathe in the humidity. this made for a very foggy photo, which in turn captured the dreamy feel of the space.
more to come on a recent trip to the dominican republic.
my right ankle flared up again on wednesday night after our 10 mile hike in. so the next day, i ended up staring at havasu falls for four hours while waiting for the rest of the ladies to come back from picking up our permit in the village.
sometimes the gift of physical pain is that it forces us to be still. our bodies will have it no other way. it's rare these days to be given the luxury to just sit and stare at something beautiful. i soaked in that time by either staring at havasu fall or dangling my feet in the water, thinking much about nothing, just being there, feeling the rays of sun on my arms.
murphy (the campground ranger and local havasupai) eventually came by to chat. (we met earlier that day.) i asked him questions about his life on the reservation, his family, the tribe, the struggles of life on the res, etc, and he shared candidly what he could. from our conversation, i hope to never forget how he responded to my question, "what gives you hope?" it wasn't so much the words that followed, but the intonations in his voice, the blank look on his face, the obvious inward journey he was unexpectedly thrusted into. murphy repeated, "hope?" my heart broke a little bit in that moment.
after he left, i spent some time staring at a couple who stood on solid rock, just holding each other. the husband's gentle caress, the wife's trusting embrace, touched a part of me that longs for a partner like the one they've found in each other. compassionate, not demanding anything, instead generously giving and receiving, and comfortable to just be with each other.
i later talked to the woman by saying to her, "can i share an observation?" a big smile and an open heart said, "sure!" i told her, "you two seem like you're very much in love." this sparked a longer conversation about how she's been married for over twenty years and that it is (as in currently) not easy. they've had many struggles and have been working hard at their marriage, most recently going to counseling 1-2xs/week for a year and a half. "we're still learning," she humbly told me. it was such a gift to be witness to such a real process of loving.
as we hiked deeper and deeper down havasu creek, her glory intensified. at first, it felt like a dream, but after spending all those hours together, it was clear that what i was looking at was as real as life gets.
the word "exquisite" keeps cycling around my head when thinking about my recent backpacking trip in havasupai. i have a lot to share, including a post dedicated to the campground's composting toilet! ; )
i've been playing with video a bit...here's a little something i put together with some of the footage from this weekend. it's a bit of a teaser, except this is all of it. you'll see what i mean... and fyi, the music is by brooke fraser and it's called faithful.
i went to a river this weekend. met a gold miner. jumped off ledges. got creeped out by a old naked hippy man. hiked away from the old naked hippy man.
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