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It was five
degrees when I started out and the sun was peaking over the mountains.
.....I looked up and I watched the sun as it cast it's light on down
the Mountain until it exploded all around me. The snow crystals that
fell over night were gleaming on the ground and in the trees, they
were sparkling different colors, nature's light show. My ski takes me right at the mountain then it veers off to ride up it's eastern flank. Once up a little rise it levels off and the trail begins a slow rolling up and down. The sun is on my right, the hill falls away and through the trees I can look out across the Au Sable valley to the Jay Range on the other side.
I feel the heat
inside my body, churning, urging me on. My heart pumps my perfect
blood and it courses along it’s own path The heat rises and I feel
the glow extending itself out to every inch of me and then cycling
back for another ride. I stop on the
trail and stand quietly, first I hear a woodpecker somewhere off in
the woods, then a tree creaking as it rubs against it’s neighbor
tree. I squint into the sun pouring through the trees making long
morning shadows that cover me. A breeze comes along the valley and
rises up the slope that I am on, I follow it’s path My skis move me along this forest trail that loggers created once and that hikers and skiers now maintain. Everywhere you look are signs of deer and rabbits and smaller creatures. I come across a deer highway that goes right up the mountain, then I come across a deer that leaps across my path just in front of me. I follow it’s white tail on through the woods, as it leaps along it’s way weaving in and out of trees until it slowly blends into the landscape. I wonder what
it’s like to live as a deer in these woods during winter. They must
know these woods very well, they follow the same paths to their
favorite trees to eat and have made comfortable out of the It’s a glorious morning here, where I am, and I feel magnificent in my understanding of it. I feel the life of the winter forest all around me in every snowflake and in every frozen tree. I feel the karma of every unseen animal in the snow steps they’ve left behind. I’m surrounded by the vision of their life, heat, pumping heart and survival. I know this time, I seek it out as it seeks me, we fulfill our destiny together, I am never alone. |
This
has been a great winter for skiing, I’ve only missed one day in
January and I look forward to many more like today was.
The
gliding of the skis is excellent today, the crisp air makes for
wonderful swishing, the sound of one ski extended and then the other.
I kick my feet out and increase my pace along this roller coaster part
of the trail, when I begin a long slow descent towards an iced over
creek. I bend my knees and crouch down marveling in my free ride and
the sensation of cold air across my cheeks.
as
it goes through me and up to the mountain top and over.
way places to spend their nights. I’m
sure on mornings like this they stand tall somewhere in the forest and
face the rising sun just as we do. Feeling the heat gently massaging
them awake. Feeling the new
day as it too finds its way in and around the trees of the forest.