The Side Effects of Endorphins

Getting off the Grid

Yesterday we got completely off the grid. We did one moderate hike, to some snow caves in the Cascades mountains.. We intended to do another hike, but did not have maps downloaded. I found a map on the park Service bulletin board. I took a photo of it and our original destination, we passed about five miles back.

The second hike of the day was rather spectacular. It was 3 miles straight uphill, and the hill wasn’t all that bad? I was telling my wife a story and for the life of me I could not remember the name of a mountain I had climbed previously.. I just could not connect the synopsis. Many hours later Mt. Jefferson randomly appeared in my memory.

It starts with an earthquake.

I had the words to REM’s “It’s the end of the World as we know it“, rolling through my head, but only briefly. As I would return to the refrain.. “I really need some time alone.” .

it was an outstanding day. My wife and I got some time alone and nobody could reach us.. The smell of fir trees and mountain lakes took over the day.

On my way up to the summit. It wasn’t the lyrics to the songs that overtook me.. It was the words to one of my favorite poems. I could not remember the exact words, but I remember the sentiment.. It is a poem by William Stafford called why I’m happy.

Why I Am Happy
by William Stafford

Now has come, an easy time. I let it
roll. There is a lake somewhere
so blue and far nobody owns it.
A wind comes by and a willow listens
gracefully.

I hear all this, every summer. I laugh
and cry for every turn of the world,
its terribly cold, innocent spin.
That lake stays blue and free; it goes
on and on.

And I know where it is.

Memory is random and capricious, but I somehow think I will remember yesterday for a long time.