Musings from the MK 2022

1. Wayne, Wayne and Wayne. May this be a triumvirate ever complete.
2. - private - I shall this time be the dancing deaf mute; the past trail has unfolded - private -
3. - private - I still know somewhere in there within myself is still a boy who can dream.
4. Those who sleep are waiting upon time and wasting the time of revelations. The time of the land bathed in the moonlight. The time of the northern lights dancing upon the mountaintop. The time of the sunrise kissing the ridges with its golden hue. Those who sleep slumber through the beauty of their surroundings and miss the magic that makes us dance and be joyful.
5. I am not suitable to be with animals; for verily I love too deeply; my heart affects them and their heart and pain become intermingled, indistinguishable and as real as my own.
6. The importance of time is its immediacy; acting proves the meddle of a person in them, not perplexing on hindsight. The moment is where you are and must be the total focus. Before is past; beyond is dictated, still a fiction decided by the view.
7. The streams and seeps arising from our souls deposit their detritus upon the rocks for all to see. And as they mix together sometimes only mud is formed, but, just perhaps under the light of the right sky the Artist creates a color so stunning, so sublime, one wonders "what primaries created this?" No one can answer as the answer envelop's all; it is all that is summoned, ruminated, the time it is created and the eyes and mind of its witness.
8. The most profound of moments are best shared in silence with friends.
9. What is a guide on a trail? A purchased friend? Advice that is friendly or expedient? The lines blur. No true answer can be found given their competing demands. Every one is different and how special it is to find those who are true friends, who will help you not just on the journey but experience it as well, share in it and be light and laugh!
10. The guide knows more then you, always. Your solution, even if you think it is foolproof, is not given all the factors you do not know. Their knowledge outstrips your own. Trust your guide. Trust your friend.
11. How amazing that you can mount a trusting sleeping horse and it remains asleep.
12. Newfound responsibility necessitates the subjugation of friendship to the group need.
13. Every group is eventually hungry and must be fed.
14. Group situational awareness is best split between multiple points of responsibility. When situations arise, split responsibility ensures at least one can respond.
15. The tenets of social and legal contracts do not disappear in the bush; ah! Only alone are we truly free!
16. This is a land where one must accept one can't conquer it, much less survive, one one's own. Perspective and love can make one believe one can power through. One might be wrong. The untaken path cannot prove.
17. Is the wilderness a place where we reinvent ourselves or a place where we discover what we really value and who we really are? That which always has been but yet unto ourselves has remained hidden?
18. Everyone should greet the time before the dawn to get out under the stars looking up at them and dance.
19. Only those who are in pain can truly learn to dance.
20. What world is more real? The world in the mountains, the world that pays the bills, or the crucible in our own hearts that smelts them all together?
21. Friends on the trail are often the work of necessity; those close bonds of friendship and kinship are fleeting once the trail is left behind. Some survive? But why? And for how long?
22. Never mistake pity for respect.
23. The most injured may be able to accomplish a feat. But at what cost to a group? Is a singular ego ever worth putting a group at risk?
24. The bears are more afraid of you then you are of them.
25. Never trust a moose that licks your tent.
26. Learn the behaviours of those around you, animals and people. Be aware and respond. Observe and solve. Remove yourself and make them happy.
27. Don't crowd the claustrophobic.
28. Call out the incompetent, especially when it is yourself.
29. Watch where you step; the physical, emotional and literal rocks often remain hidden even to the astute.
30. Forced ingratiation is the lowest of virtues.
31. Once societal rhythm is achieved, then society becomes a machine.
32. A wide foot necessitates a wide stirrup; a wide heart is unfettered until it trips.
33. Crossing water for some is overcoming; getting wet is like feeling the rushing wind and realize it for what it is! "I can fly!"
34. To those who fly: worship those who stay on the ground, mired in worry, regret and knowledge. Because of them you can fly; bring to them your joy and hope that someday soon the flight shall be theirs: for knowing for them when their time arrives, how high shall they soar!
35. The highest pass is no less or more beautiful then the base of a mountain. All perspectives depend on wherein lie the eyes of their viewer.
36. - private -
37. The rock that twists the ankle should not be cast aside; it may be the rock that starts a river or an avalanche of beauty.
38. What is more more noble: to capitulate to the forces of nature or to overcome?
39. One must be dragged to learn how to dance.
40. When one can in an instant say "I've had a good run" and mean it, one finally will know how to live.
41. Take care and love those around you even if they do not reciprocate in kind. Do not seek adoration or love out here; it is actions that matter most.
42. Is a soul a fire? I do not know. There are fires, and there are builders of fires; to the builders I defer to their skills.
43. Venturing into the unknown always incurs risk, expected and unknown. Is it that the venture itself is the goal?
44. The artifice of man has polluted the pristine night sky; may our bretheren witness a night sky free of marching ants.
45. - private -
46. Old friendships can always be rekindled, sometimes just in an instant.
47. Peering into the embers of a dying fire helps point out that which is hidden in the nature of the soul; do you stay to soak up the last of the embracing heat and their glowing dancing mosaics or do you jump in ecstacy to flee and embrace the dark, the sky and the stars?
48. One does not steer, control or own a horse. One provides suggestions. As partners and equals is how the path ahead is truly found.
49. Rain always comes. It is when it doesn't rain enough that one should be on guard.
50. Remember and heed the young and old who have gone before, are on or will be upon the trail. Their advice and knowledge is profound. History and future combine into the consciousness of a place that welcomes all into its embrace if they merely have eyes. And can see.
51. There is no less beauty in the smallest rock then the highest peak; sometime, somewhere they were wed and now have different histories, but they still talk fondly of their lovers' past and share their great stories with all.
52. Crawling is the first step in learning to climb.
53. The times of strangers joining and departing are often filled with white lies and false promises of commitments that forever will be unfulfilled.
54. Danger is perceived equally by the old and the young; it is the difference between danger and thrill that delineates those that are wise.
55. Failure is inevitable; it is how one adapts to and learns from it that one grows.
56. Task thyself! If one does not accept great challenges one denies oneself the opportunity for great revelations.
57. The world is formless; without meaning. The light, the ground, the immediacy of what is in front of your eyes and underneath your feet, that is tangible and tactile. Reach out! That is the world where your grasp is best utilized.
58. The profound takes a back seat to a full moon bearing witness to the Northern Lights arising from the far mountaintop. She sings. Listen.
59. Survival is a currency more potent then any abstract instrument of society.
60. Being reliant on others works only if they are reliable.
61. Returning is equally as difficult as leaving.
62. Even though the sun's light shines the same everywhere why in some places does it have more radiance?
63. Just as with the soul, waters seeping out from the deep with their own colors blend with all others to create turquoise majesty.
64. Always look for a shoe in your path; perhaps you are losing your footing and it may just be yours.
65. There comes a time when to help others one must never complain; great is the group that can help in silence.
66. When escape is not possible remember to embrace acceptance.
67. Both the first light before the dawn and the last light before the moon are tines of a fork of grand contemplation.
68. Like accomplishing life, everyone has a different explanation for how to tie a knot. Sometimes the only way to learn is to try, fail, try again, fail, and keep on until your way is clear.
69. Sometimes it is easier to trust horses then it is to trust men.
70. Love is sometimes best shared in silence.
71. This land, intermingled in its beauty, its roughness, its splendor, the intertwining of it with my life. To it I shall return.
72. What an end to wander off into it and have it embrace me at the end of things! To be held once again in that purest embrace of love that has consequences but never judgement, unconditional always.
73. The mountains' love is hard but unadulterated by the mores of man. May we we preserve this font of love for the future.
74. Try as hard as I may I still have yet to lose my hat.
75. Rainbows' beauty is best shared.
76. All great journeys of realization require the tollkeeper to collect.
77. Never be afraid; the mountains, they love you and will always welcome you home.
78. Do not forget what you have learned once you have returned. Live their lessons and, stronger or older, await returning again so they can teach you to be wise.
79. Wisdom cannot be taught or achieved, it can only be overcome.
80. To the greater poets, scientists, artists, and philosophers yet to come I implore you, one directive, from all your experiences in this sacred land: "Define life!"

So, from all of this what did I learn? What did I learn from that time on Bevin pass? I am still trying to put it into words, but it requires a wordsmith greater then myself. But I still will try:

Go visit the MK. Start your journey and if we meet we shall together be light and dance! And all you artists, I implore, venture into it and use all your skills; help convey its experience onto everyone.