Mindful, Day 26, Bedazzled

Hiking this morning, I am going up one side of the ridge just as the sun comes over the top and bedazzles me. A great way to start the day. A reminder that every thing can look new again every day.

Mindful Day 15, Stone x Stone

A beautiful hike in Palm Canyon which runs for 15 miles through the Aqua Caliente reservation. What makes it special is the running water that has created a lush area of palm trees throughout the canyon. You walk down into the canyon and are greeted by cool air and the sound of running water. The recent rains have certainly made the stream bigger, you could see signs of what rushing water had done everywhere. As we reached the end of this part of the hike we took a different trail back that overlooked the canyon and you could also see for miles and miles in every direction. At the high point of the trail was a gathering of cairns - the perfect place to stop, look around and be thankful for the heart stopping beauty in the world.

Mindful Day 14, Love in the Desert

I got out for a good long hike up on the trails in the mountains nearby, reversing the hike I took last week. When you reverse things look very different. Something I did not see going one direction jumped right out at me this time. Thirty or forty feet off the trail I got to see love in the desert. As ever, I can picture different scenarios for this photo. Was it done by a couple? Was it done in honor of someone, was it a way to leave a message for someone coming by later, was it to express happiness just about being out in the warm air and beautiful space? You could write a lot of stories!

Mindful Day 7 - Silence

Today I went for a long hike in the mountains nearby. I went up the Homestead Trail and connected to the Hopalong Cassidy Trail and the Gabby Hayes loop. (Don't you love the names?) When you first start up there are lots of people and dogs and people talking but gradually as people spread out or turn back or take a different trail you end up pretty much on your own. And once you drop back over the first set of hills the thing I find most surprising is... the silence. What a treat to not hear cars, trucks, sirens, and all the other nosies that we don't even know we are hearing.  So I started to name what I could hear -  my boots on the gravelly path, the rustle of my sleeve against my jacket, the touch of my walking pole each time it came down, the wheeze in my breathing, my heart beating  (on the uphill pulls), once the cry of a bird, the rattle of stones along the edge of the path, the sigh of  slight breeze. And the silence - which feels like it is vibrating around me.  What a treat - taking the time to just stand and feel it around me.