A long hike

After a long time of working late into the night on one deadline after another, I was able to take a good chunk of time today and dedicate it to hiking. Or, as I like to call it, “Jason’s Lifelong Expedition to See a Real Live Mountain Lion In Its Natural Habitat.” It was so great. I absolutely love living in walking distance from mountains and trails and incredible views. There’s something so inspirational about it.

I do believe, actually, that at this point in my life, hiking is one of my very favorite things to do. It’s just so uncomplicated. You walk. You look around you. You see something you hadn’t seen before. You think. It’s quiet. You push a bunch of things that have been bothering you – but which you’ve been ignoring – around in your head, re-organizing and re-arranging them until something changes. You’re not quite sure what, exactly, but something has changed. And then, oh, do you hear that bird call? That’s beautiful. I mean, I really like it. I love hiking with someone too, but it has to be someone that I invited along and that I know and like. Because today while I was hiking back up the mountain I caught up with a lady and decided to just stop and wait until she made her way off the trail. Because I was having a moment, you see, and she wasn’t to be a part of it.

I have even deeper thoughts about the outdoors and hiking and what it means and how it contributed to the success of Avatar the movie. (Yes, I really do.) But I’ll have to write that another time because I’ve got other things to attend to.