Alone Excerpt: Relaxing Into Ruggedness

NOTE:

I will not be blogging about my experience on the Camino de Santiago during the months of September and October. You can follow me on Facebook where I will be posting occasional pictures and comments. To follow either “friend” me on Facebook or use this link: https://www.facebook.com/brian.heron.73/

Every Monday during this period I will post an excerpt from my book, Alone: A 4,000 Mile Search for Belonging—excerpts that I believe reflect many of the assumptions and experiences that have become the basis for this current Pedal Pilgrim work.

Alone Excerpt: Relaxing Into Ruggedness

Page 234 at the foot of the Sierra Mountain Range, Gardnerville, Nevada

Inching toward the Sierra Mountain Range

I neared the turnoff signaling the beginning of the mountain challenge, made the turn, and began to ascend. The farmland dissolved away, the foothills  serving as transition from desert to mountain. Green, irrigated farmland was replaced by the harsher grasses and sage of the foothills. It wasn’t long before I entered the first rocky canyon leading to the summit. It was rugged and steep terrain, but a stream cascaded briskly to my left, and the sage was replaced by a forest of tall pine trees.

I dug deep to match the steeper grade. Then a funny thing happened: my breathing deepened and my body relaxed. I felt a sense of relief—I was coming home. Not in the sense that I was nearing the Bay Area or was one day closer to my final destination in Portland, but that I was back in the familiar terrain of the mountains. There’s a ruggedness and a temperamental nature to mountains that one must respect. Although they require a deeper, gut-level determination to cycle through successfully, the terrain and the landscape reflects something deep in my soul. The air is thinner, yet I found myself breathing more deeply and freely. I had to gear up for the climb, yet my body actually relaxed.