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#119396 - 08/14/09 04:34 PM The trail is...
jpanderson80 Offline
member

Registered: 07/28/06
Posts: 292
Loc: Memphis, TN
Let's do some deeper pondering on what the trail means to us and how it affects and changes us. Just write something that you've thought of in the past or something that hits you now. Anything at all. Let's hear the philosopher in you.


Complete this sentence:
THE TRAIL IS...
_________________________
I always forget and make it more complicated than it needs to be...it's just walking.

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#119403 - 08/14/09 06:44 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Bushman Offline
member

Registered: 07/01/09
Posts: 122
Loc: California
a place where you find out how small we all are in this world.

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#119406 - 08/14/09 08:43 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
sabre11004 Offline
member

Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 513
Loc: Tennessee
The trail is most likely where we all are supposed to be... crazy
_________________________
The first step that you take will be one of those that get you there 1!!!!!

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#119408 - 08/14/09 09:27 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: sabre11004]
bigb Offline
member

Registered: 07/05/09
Posts: 124
Loc: Maryland
where you find out who you really are.
_________________________
"In the beginers mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
Shunryu Suzuki

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#119410 - 08/14/09 10:21 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
MattnID Offline
member

Registered: 06/02/07
Posts: 317
Loc: Idaho
Life.
_________________________
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.-Aristotle

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#119411 - 08/14/09 10:30 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
lori Offline
member

Registered: 01/22/08
Posts: 2801
The trail is where I walk away from what I have until I have a better understanding of what that is.
_________________________
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

http://hikeandbackpack.com

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#119412 - 08/14/09 10:56 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Glenn Offline
member

Registered: 03/08/06
Posts: 2617
Loc: Ohio
The trail is, and that's enough.


Edited by Glenn (08/14/09 10:56 PM)

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#119416 - 08/15/09 12:34 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: Glenn]
MountainMinstrel Offline
member

Registered: 12/27/06
Posts: 107
The trail is the place where I am reminded how big God is, and how small I am.
_________________________
Just an old newbe

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#119417 - 08/15/09 02:17 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Dryer Offline

Moderator

Registered: 12/05/02
Posts: 3591
Loc: Texas
Happy! grin (happy trails, to you!)
_________________________
paul, texas KD5IVP

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#119418 - 08/15/09 02:51 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
kevonionia Offline
member

Registered: 04/17/06
Posts: 1322
Loc: Dallas, TX
I had to look back in my journal of a bp on the Berg Lake Trail, Mt. Robson Provincial Park in BC, Canada five years ago to fill in the blanks JP has provided:

Doing, hiking, completing . . . THE TRAIL IS . . . not about conquering the wilderness. That is never the goal. The goal is to be a part of it. To step up the hill with a pack on your back. To wander farther upstream to a place accessible only to those willing to make the sacrifice and to withstand the pain to get there.

The reward? To witness some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. To paint images in your memory of a flower, a creature, an insect, a rainstorm. And to be a part of it.

I wish it was me (as do others with a bent toward inhumanism), but it was Robinson Jeffers, the early environmental poet, who wrote:

“A severed hand is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars
and his history... for contemplation or in fact...
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that,
or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken.”


On every step of the trail, I feel as if I'm happily treading water, NOT drowning in despair.

.
_________________________
- kevon

(avatar: raptor, Lake Dillon)


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#119438 - 08/16/09 11:03 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Folkalist Offline
member

Registered: 03/17/07
Posts: 374
Loc: Fredericksburg, VA
The trail is . . . where God is not hidden behind recessions and government and material things.

The trail is . . . where I must learn who am and how to live with myself.

The trail is . . . how I bring balance back into my life.

Great topic, jp.
_________________________
Why am I online instead of hiking?

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#119444 - 08/16/09 01:52 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
theepdinker Offline
newbie

Registered: 05/29/05
Posts: 7
Originally Posted By jpanderson80
Complete this sentence:
THE TRAIL IS...

It is complete.
You just got the punctuation wrong.
THE TRAIL IS !!!

theep

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#119474 - 08/17/09 12:54 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: theepdinker]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I agree--the trail IS, and it's the place to be, no matter what is going wrong--bad weather, crashing dead trees, barfing dog, millions of hungry mosquitoes--no matter what, the trail is better than anyplace else this side of heaven!
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#119487 - 08/17/09 11:06 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: OregonMouse]
jpanderson80 Offline
member

Registered: 07/28/06
Posts: 292
Loc: Memphis, TN
Great stuff so far.

The trail is...
freeing.
insightful into walking "the trail of life".
a wonderland of creation, beauty and glory.
never under my feet enough!
_________________________
I always forget and make it more complicated than it needs to be...it's just walking.

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#119493 - 08/17/09 12:57 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
GrumpyGord Online   content
member

Registered: 01/05/02
Posts: 945
Loc: Michigan
The trail is where you discover how simple life can really be. Just the basic necessities without all of the extra baggage of Babylon.

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#119497 - 08/17/09 02:16 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: GrumpyGord]
hoz Offline
member

Registered: 10/31/02
Posts: 138
Loc: midwest
Originally Posted By GrumpyGord
The trail is where you discover how simple life can really be. Just the basic necessities without all of the extra baggage of Babylon.


Rainbow?
_________________________
We don't stop hiking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop hiking. Finis Mitchell

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#119589 - 08/19/09 11:50 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: hoz]
Hutch Offline
newbie

Registered: 08/06/09
Posts: 3
Loc: Tennessee
Thinking of what "the trail is," reminds me of the feeling I get when I think of my favorite quote....

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it"
--Norman Maclean (1902-1990) American author.

A thought of peaceful contemplation kinda washes over me. I have always thought I was born 150 years too late.

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#119666 - 08/21/09 05:29 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
sparkyy Offline
member

Registered: 09/18/08
Posts: 20
Loc: southern california
I am only truly alive and in the moment when I am alone in the wilderness.

The trail is a natural high.

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#120289 - 09/03/09 10:33 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
wandering_daisy Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/06
Posts: 2865
Loc: California
The trail is like a highway. Major trails feel like being on an interstate route - quick but somehow not quite wilderness nor satisfying. Secondary trails feel like state roads - local and more interesting, but still not wilderness but a bit more satisifying. The real wilderness feeling comes only when getting completely off the trail. You now follow the path of the deer, elk, bear. Your mind engages in every step. This is not only walking, but thinking, strategizing, and not without some anxiety. No guarentees. You dead-end, back up, rethink. I prefer my wilderness off-trail; I prefer my life off-trail. I do not want to walk a path constructed by a trail crew; I do not want to live a life path set out by society thinks I should do.

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#120768 - 09/12/09 01:28 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: wandering_daisy]
jasonklass Offline
member

Registered: 08/27/05
Posts: 551
Loc: Denver, Colorado
...over there!
_________________________
Gear Talk There's no such thing as having too many sporks!

Backpack Flyfishing Tight lines,light packs


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#121483 - 09/25/09 11:18 AM Re: The trail is... [Re: Folkalist]
Spock Offline
member

Registered: 01/10/06
Posts: 679
Loc: Central Texas
The trail is... the restoration of the world... refuge from the dead world... the path back to reality.


Edited by Spock (09/25/09 11:21 AM)

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#122275 - 10/12/09 10:09 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: Spock]
Good Day! Offline
newbie

Registered: 09/19/09
Posts: 11
Loc: Bay Area
where I regain my sanity.

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#122395 - 10/14/09 02:51 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Trailrunner Offline
member

Registered: 01/05/02
Posts: 1835
Loc: Los Angeles
....after this storm.....covered with snow.

Yahoo!!!!
_________________________
If you only travel on sunny days you will never reach your destination.*

* May not apply at certain latitudes in Canada and elsewhere.

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#122489 - 10/16/09 01:00 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: ]
frenchie Offline
member

Registered: 10/05/05
Posts: 461
Loc: Lyon, France
...where I've not gone yet...

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#122502 - 10/16/09 05:04 PM Re: The trail is... [Re: jpanderson80]
Bradwick Offline
member

Registered: 10/08/09
Posts: 16
Loc: Bayville, ny.
soap for the soul. I always come out of the woods the very opposite of how i look.
_________________________
Sleep in a Hammock.

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