Inspirations

It was an inspiration to read five posts in a row today from Alison Young, who’s thru-hiking the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand, a five-month journey, full of truly challenging trail bits that I can’t really imagine negotiating (hiking through a long river pass full of boulders? yet more muddy trails punctuated with numerous treacherous roots? trail segments passing through slippery scree?) etc.

The trail has included amazing scenery, too, worthy of the extraordinary effort and frankly, the dangerous, parts, too, but has also included industrial bits and roadside hiking that looked less than enchanting.

Admiring the view of Laguna de Cuicocha, in northern Ecuador

It's apparently one of the most, if not the most, difficult, thru-hike in the world, according to this trail description.  Hmm, I believe it after following Alison's posts for the last few months and seeing the remarkable images that she shares in her daily posts.

I've never done a thru-hike, nor really much backpacking since my high school and college days, but have continued to hike regularly in places throughout the world.  In our travels, my buddy and I always try to find natural areas to explore, whether we go on day hikes or for half-day excursions.

Alison has inspired me before with her posts;  this was one of my first post responses thinking about her journey.

There is something about mid-life that requires openness, I think, to new experiences, and continuing to stretch for new things. We can be adventuresome about many activities; what that might be varies according to our abilities and inclinations -- whether trying to learn a new language or cook something new or take on new sports.  Our stage of life and outlook play a role, as does opportunity beyond that.

We are truly fortunate and blessed to have the resources to experience new places with new gear;  here we are in Quebec, in a delightful snug historic house, next to a national park that we love, trooping off to X-C ski every day in our recently acquired base layers, snow pants, and micro-down parkas.  I'm fortunate, too, to have a companion (aka my husband) who shares similar traveling interests, but also is more adventuresome and physically inclined than I am --  that's an encouragement, too, to be out there.

I'm beat after each outing - my arm and leg muscles are still catching up to my aerobic capacity, but... I'm out there.  It's beautiful.  And I never would have thought about skiing as a regular activity again, before we bought this house last May, in a totally improbable way.  Hmm, and I certainly wouldn't have imagined kayaking, either, but our kayaks are ready for more outings next summer.  Ditto, for my bike!

So I've been enjoying reading Alison's posts, with her beautiful honest prose and wonderful photographs illuminating her journey.  I can't imagine doing what she's doing, but I applaud her spirit and determination.

In whatever way we can embrace pushing the edges, I think it's a good thing.

Her posts bolsters my resolve to continue being out there myself, in mid-life, too, albeit in much more modest ways.