My morning faded as the day moved on to dusk. I became aware of the distinct and pleasant scent of the spruce-fir forest through which we hiked and which surrounded our shelter. I noticed how alive everything seemed. Chipmunks scurried under and over logs and hopped from spruce branches. Small red squirrels tried to steal from our packs. But the life I felt was not just the woods and the animals. The forest floor, the air and even the quality of light itself pulsed with it. Wilderness had a heart and I was standing where I could feel it. The next morning, sunrise woke me, and from my rack I saw the golden ball rise over the ridges to the east. There was something essential in the moment. It was the glimmer of a lifetime of discovery that began with this awareness that there was something simple about being here and within in that simplicity something healing. Perhaps being in wilderness is some atavistic need we have or a familiarity that’s locked in our genes but I felt a deep contentment away from the distractions of the city. Away from law and politics, down to the basics, I began to feel the things I knew as a child.
------- From one of my short stories written years ago. Buz