Recent Recurring Trail Thoughts

I should learn to keep a pen and a scrap of paper in my pocket when I'm hiking (or at least remember I have a Moleskine tucked away somewhere in my backpack) so I can jot the thoughts that cross my mind while I'm on the trail. This isn't because I have epiphanies that require recording for fear of losing them forever. Rather, this is because I keep stumbling over the same mundane thoughts and the only way I can think of clearing them out is by writing them down.

To help the de-cluttering begin before my next trek, here are three pieces of mental riffraff I've repeatedly run across on my recent hikes. I've tried to pare each of them to a paragraph for the sake of conciseness and clarity.

1. "Meditation in Motion" - This phrase has haunted me since my scramble to Snow Creek Falls in Yosemite a month ago. For some people, meditation requires stillness and silence or sitting and chanting or body-bending poses on mats, but for me, it's the repetitive nature of walking in nature that most readily facilitates contemplation. Hiking is meditation in motion. I don't mean it in some pretentious or self-important way. Not every walk in the woods is an exercise in deep philosophical thinking or soul searching. I'm just saying it can be. The activity allows for the possibility. It's just another reason why I love to hike.

2. Day Hikes and Toe Dips - During my last two hikes in Henry Coe, I have been thinking about how little of the park I've seen because I limit myself to day hikes. It has been a source of growing dissatisfaction. I find myself wanting to spend more time in the park -- to see more and experience more. I have the growing desire to experience the park differently. It feels as though I've only dipped my toe in the pool, or at the very most, waded around the shallow end. It's time to swim out until my feet don't touch the bottom, which in hiking terms means backpacking (one-nighters to begin with), something I haven't done for a number of excuses. It's time to take the plunge.

3. Repetition of Experience - Near the end of every hike, I always ask the question, "Would I do this hike again?" I usually answer it with a simple yes or no without seriously exploring the reasons why I would or wouldn't repeat a hike. This weekend, I gave the matter 0.6 miles of thought and made a list of general reasons why a particular hike or place (like Big Basin or Half Dome) would be worth repeating or revisiting...

• Something is so spectacular about the place or view that it's worth the effort in lieu of a new experience (good ol' opportunity cost).
• Something about the place or view has changed, deeming it worth another visit.
• Something about the place or view is about to change, deeming it worth one last visit.
• Something about me has changed. For example, next June will mark five years since my last trip to the top of Half Dome. That's five years of accumulated knowledge and experience, which may enhance the hike or give me a different perspective on the way up.
• Sharing it with somebody else. I'm thinking of children in particular. I think it would be very cool to one day summit Half Dome with my daughter(s) and/or son(s). (How open-ended is that sentence?) It would be a blast and definitely worth the effort.