Skip to main content

I walk alone.

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography

After a short week at work and some planning on my part I was set and ready to hit the trails.  Throughout the week I had confirmations from fellow hikers that eventually all fell through.  I decided Sunday morning I need to get out so I did.

I arrive at Mt. St. Francis at 9 am on a 17-degree morning.  As crazy as you think I am, I saw 3 runners, 2 walkers, and 2 dogs already heading out on the trails ahead of me.

I hopped out of my car, threw on my jacket, hat, backpack, and gloves.  I checked the map, started my Garmin watch, grabbed the camera and off I went.  Like a few times before I headed down the gravel path past the water tower and on to a narrow dirt path.  To the left was a field of tall grass and to the right a dense patch of forest.  I proceed forward and eventually hit the trailhead of Trail 11.

As I entered the woods and started my descent down the path it was like I walked through a waterfall.  I could feel the stress immediately start to go away.  My breaths got deeper, my body relaxed and I felt a deep resonating joy, which I can only get from being immersed in the woods.  Every breath I took filled my lungs with the cold crisp, dry air.  I supposed it should have hurt, but it felt like a pure shot of adrenaline.

My mind immediately began to race as it often does in daily life.  What will I write about, what shots will I get, and what will I title my post.  I forced myself to stop.  Stop I did.  Right there in the middle of the trail.  I screamed as loud as I could (internally of course).  I took yet another deep breather, composed myself and reminded myself why I was here.  R-E-L-A-X!

An advantage of being alone is I don’t have the sometimes mindless chatter with others, nor the need to fill that silence with conversation.  I was there, along with my thoughts.  Why, because I wanted to be.  So I started again.  This time with no expectations, but to enjoy where I was and who I was with.

I continued on and soon could see the white of a frozen creek ahead.  I made my way down the path and approached the creek.  As I reached the creek I saw a man and his dog approaching from the top of the hill heading my way.  I said hello and then ducked into the woods lining up this shot.

Continuing on I made it to the back of the property where again I saw more frozen water, both in the creek and on waterfalls flowing into the creek.  I stopped, walked around took a few shots, and sat on a log.  I sat there about 10 minutes in silence just soaking up nature, and reflecting on how wonderful this place is.  For those moments this was my world, my time and I felt an overwhelming calm rush over me.  As a lifelong Catholic, I have been to church more times than I count but personally battle with the concept of ‘organized’ religion and the expectations that come along with it.  Here and now at this moment, I was in my church.  It was me and God.  And that calm I felt, I know what, or who I should say, that was.  I wish I could have stayed there longer.

I headed back to the trail.  The frozen creek was now to my right and a dense set of woods was to my left.  The trail meandered back and forth and eventually, I reached a wooden bridge.  I crossed, smiling, as I recalled my last trip across this same bridge when I asked the group if anyone checked for trolls.  I did not.

Another half mile or so I came to a newly built bridge in the area I have seen many times before.  Today it was a little special.  I saw some footprints on the ice in the creek and had to get the shot.  I gingerly walked out onto the creek and took my shot as seen below.  At that moment I knew the title of my post.  A single set of prints from someone else who walked (or slid) alone.

Soon I was again approaching another hiker and his dog.  The dog reached me first.  I was greeted by a collie with a wagging tail, tongue hanging out and her heavy breathing filling the air as only seen on cold days.  I bent down to pet her and was soon approached by her master.  He saw my camera and remembered me from a previous hike.  He chatted for a few while his dog ran around us, in and out of the woods, on and off the trail.  Wishing each other a nice day we soon headed off in different directions.

I headed up a steep hill and then came across the best site of the day.  A large frozen dam was straight in front of me.  I took several shots from different angles and even ventured across a wooden bridge and out onto a dry spot on the dam.  As a very small stream of water flowed over the dam (everything else was frozen), I heard an eerie sound emanating from right above my head. The sound was like a whale off in the distance, but I quickly realized it was the ice shifting.  As I continued to shoot and then headed back to the trailhead I could still hear the echoing sounds of the shifting ice in the nearby lake.

I soon saw the water tower and new I was approaching my vehicle.  Along the path was some dried dirt but in that dirt, I saw not only a set of deer tracks but right next to them a set of shoe prints.  I wondered which was there first, or could magically a human have been walking their pet deer?

Robert Browning once said, “Man’s reach should exceed his grasp.”  Today instead of staying in a warm house, sitting on the couch and doing nothing.  I reached beyond my grasp to get out and do something uncomfortable for me (being alone).  In this sense, it was beyond my reach, but now that I have done this, I will no longer be uncomfortable with hiking alone.

Until next time,

Tim

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nobody's Listening

  I recently had conversations with two people I know that had experienced a sudden rash of acute anxiety. One was medication related, the other was situational. Both stated that they now had a better understanding of what I have been dealing with. With the recent changes to my medication, Although I still feel anxiety, it no longer takes control of my emotions like it did in the past. However, I know acutely that it still lurks on the fringes, patiently awaiting its chance to pounce on me. During my recent visit to Dr. Erin, she assigned me an exercise where I had to jot down three things each day that I felt I excelled at. This is proving to be difficult for me. The parameters are straightforward and easy to understand. “Anything I do well that day,” she said. As I continued with this exercise, I began thinking of a song by Linkin Par called Nobody’s Listening. I got a heart full of pain, head full of stress Handful of anger held in my chest And everything left’s a wast...

Waiting for the End to Come

  I have been in a funk lately. I am adjusting to my anxiety medicine, and I feel it is working, but maybe too well. Last week I met with Dr. Erin. She, of course, asked me how I was feeling and honestly, I told her I was not really feeling anything. We dug deeper, and she explained that my anxiety prior to the medicine was like a roller coaster. I had extreme highs and extreme lows. Now with the medicine it is more of a flatter track. I am not hitting the lows; Like I was before (which is good), but also not hitting the highs either. I feel like I am purely existing. Little desire to do much of anything. It’s true my passions are hiking and photography, which I do little of in the summer because of ticks, heat, and snakes. I know fall is approaching and I hope that helps me get out of this funk somewhat. I will also speak to my psychiatrist about lowering my dosage to see if that helps. Even my writing has been affected. I have not had the desire to write. Music, however, ha...

Rumination

  I've found myself stuck in a loop lately. It's like my mind is on a hamster wheel, endlessly circling the same thoughts. I can't seem to shake them. It's exhausting. I've been there. That place where thoughts loop around and around, like a broken record stuck on the same groove. It's like my mind is a haunted house, and these persistent thoughts are the ghosts haunting me. I'll be thinking about something, maybe a conversation I had earlier in the day, and then suddenly, I'm spiraling. I'm replaying every word, every gesture, analyzing every detail. It's like a broken record, playing the same tune repeatedly. It's not just conversations, either. I can ruminate about my to-do list, my relationships, or even the weather. It's as if my brain is determined to find a problem, no matter how small. Rumination, as it's called, can be a real drain. It's like trying to go against the flow of a strong current. No matter how hard I ...