Up to where I love to go...

 The Cabin

 

 

There is a cabin a few miles up in the wilderness not too far from where I live. I have to drive up an old private road...and then ski for an hour and a half in to get to it. My legs always feel a bit stiff as I kick off...but almost immediately energy starts flowing through my muscles...a magical relief from stagnancy. My body feels better with every stride. After a little while there is a meadow and the valley opens up…I breathe in the vastness. On the far right across a river the trail goes into the woods.

 

 

The river is frozen over in the winter and easy to cross...though early in the season I can still hear the sound of the water flowing forth underneath. In some places I can see it rushing past under a thin ice layer....making the sound of Zen. Once across, the trail heads deep into the woods for an hour, I am skiing in the forest with not a soul around. It is only me with my thoughts, dreams, problems...all getting worked out in my head as I move through the woods, not even noticing my effortless kick and glide.

 

 

Trees line both sides of the trail, leading me down the white path. This is beautiful. Every now and then something catches my eye...tiny tracks of a little animal that has danced recently in the snow.  I roll back my shoulders. Clean cool fresh air fills my lungs, I breathe it in. A hint of pine, mostly dormant from the winter cold, awakens my senses. This is what calls me out here: the serenity of open space. Peace, quiet, me.

 

 

Then, there, over on the side of the trail, I notice a limb and hoof of a bigger animal and I am suddenly aware and reminded that I am out on an adventure far away from Main Street. Things can happen, I alert myself. Moose, deer, even mountain lions...bear in the summer, hang out here.

 

 

The wind picks up, the trees start to sway shaking loose snow, blurring the view, weathering my face. I push on...up some rolling hills. My waxed skis grip as I try to stay light on my feet and make it up to the top. Just a little further...up there ahead on the hillside to the left...is the rustic, simple, cabin.