Finished Packing

All except for the electronics. I am not taking the laptop, so we’ll see how that goes.  I might go nuts or I might come home and think, “You know… It’s been nice not being connected…You know, I like the quiet, the time, the nothing…”  (stay tuned.)

I am anxious to feel mountain-y again.  What is “mountain-y”?

Mountainy is when you stride through Safeway in your boots and you still have the long, steady rhythm of your hike.

Mountainy is when you pass someone on the trail and say, “Howdy” instead of “Hi” or “Hello.”

Mountainy is feeling dog-tired at the end of the day in the body, but all clean and clear and lit up inside.

Mountainy is when the crunch of gravel under your boots and the warm dry smell of juniper take up all the space in your mind and there is no space left for worrying or fretting or obsessive chewing.

Mountainy is cool blue skies and warm gray rocks and birds with songs that you’ve never heard before.

Mountainy is tiny alpine wild flowers, and marmots, and prairie dogs and the glow of a orange you take out of your pack and wonder at before you eat it.

But most of all mountainy is really, really quiet…

This could be the last post for a week, or I could manage to post from the road.  We’ll see how it goes.  We’ll see how mountainy I get…

See ya!