Snow Lake - Within Cold Waters

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 11/05/2019 at 22:23 • Filed to: Gem lake, Snow lake, Hike, Pnw

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Scene.

Saturday night, 8:00pm. Two correspondents throw texts to and fro like a hot potato dipped in the fryer.

Subject? Tomorrow’s hike.

Nagging detail? Start time.

Pertinent fact? Daylight savings.

The young man’s natural inclination was to allow his battered, sleep-deprived body the extra hour of respite. The months had been cruel, piling injury upon injury with little chance for rest. A chronic fatigue had begun to burrow down, a weighted blanket through which life’s touch was dampened. It started with numbness. Solidified into a deep freeze. Then came stone. Pitted. Crumbling. Forgotten. Shackles held the mind captive.

Yet, there existed a key.

Small stature containing boundless positivity, the woman was pure energy. Almost cosmic in nature, to the young man she was an enigma, unwittingly pulling in all around her.

The moth—drawn to the flame—is burnt alive.

With but a raw heart for his troubles, fighting against it had availed him nothing. Unsaid words burnt into his mind, running had torn him apart.

This time, he did not fight.

Enveloped in sudden warmth—afraid—yet aware that a path had opened. One last chance to take a step. Outstretched hands held a key.

Scene.

Saturday night, 8:00pm.

Subject? Tomorrow’s hike.

Nagging detail? Start time.

Pertinent fact? Daylight savings.

The young man was ecstatic, aware of the extra hour outdoors bestowed upon him as if by providence. Mind clear. Thoughts focused. Of past demons only the lightest touch—but a memory of a whisper—remained.

6:30am, together they hiked.

Sky tinged grey, held up on the backs of proud evergreens. Cocooned within a carapace of their own making, the ponds slept deeply.

A stillness, interrupted only by jagged breaths escaping chapped lips. Those breaths did little to hold back the biting air, as the warmth diluted infinitesimally. To expect more would be to heat the oceans with a match.

Together they hiked.

Held captive by a power greater than their own, waterfalls stopped but halfway to the ground. Fully revealed was a beauty in fragility.

Laughter, echoing like thunder. Spirits high, they continued.

The man sat at home. Again unlit, he walked through his mind by touch alone, blind eyes tracing the steps of what could have been.

Yet, something was different. Where once the heavy numbness had spread in a twisted mockery of human emotion, it now recoiled. Each testing pass of it’s multifarious mass met with blinding light, anathema to such a force.

A seed had been planted.

Weak, unstable, in need of protection.

A seed had been planted.

Form as yet undetermined, even in infancy it was enough to stem the tide. Enough to hold onto the cosmic flame that resided in memory. Enough.

The man was sitting no longer. No more. Chores beckoned. Hobbies—voices long since grown silent—began to speak. Color returned to the world. Swords oiled, armor repaired, and purpose restored, the forces mobilized once more to fight off the darkness, weeping tears of joy. It was not the end.

Yet victory is never assured.

The nature of the beast is that it never truly goes away. Influence waxes and wanes, but the beast itself is always waiting. Waiting for weakness. Waiting for a chance. An opportunity to dig it’s claws in, grabbing hold and taking over. For a day, a week, a month. Longer. Until one day the line is blurred. What beast? Am I.. the only one here..?

Ebb and flow. Caged behind two eyes, a struggle unknown.

Nothing is ever easy. Maybe… It shouldn’t be.

Balance, of a sort.

Sunday night, 8:00pm. As pleasant memories wove a tapestry with potential futures to come, the young man closed his eyes and drifted off.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > AestheticsInMotion 11/05/2019 at 23:17

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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 09:24

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Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Hold onto that key, and keep heading toward the light.

(and it’s “ebb”, by the way)

AestheticsInMotion > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/06/2019 at 09:42

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Thanks! Felt like trying a slightly different style.

(ugh, spelling will be the death of me) 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 09:47

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Love the vivid imagery you put into your words, and your use of metaphor . You really should do more of this - you’ve got a gift.

Stephen Rivers > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 10:33

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Really gorgeous 

AestheticsInMotion > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 10:35

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The cats were a lie

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 10:42

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AestheticsInMotion > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 11/06/2019 at 10:45

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Without my glasses I thought that was Rainn Wilson, and now I’m disappointed that it is not in fact Rainn Wilson.

Dammit Highlander... 

AestheticsInMotion > Stephen Rivers 11/06/2019 at 10:46

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It’s a great hike. There are a ton of “destination hikes” where you slog through the woods to reach something beautiful, but this one...

Quite literally every step of the way you're surrounded by ever-changing breathtaking scenery

AestheticsInMotion > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 11/06/2019 at 10:47

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Guess that means I need to keep hiking.

“ Anybody have a foam roller I could borrow?”

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 10:50

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Yessir.

Haha... I do, actually, but it’s not close (wish I was closer to the mountains).

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 10:54

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Ro bin Williams, DPS. I have not seen the movie is years. I don’t remember if I like it or not.

wafflesnfalafel > AestheticsInMotion 11/06/2019 at 11:01

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that kind of hike really is inspirational - read some stuff on John Muir if you haven’t already.  “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home...”  

AestheticsInMotion > wafflesnfalafel 11/08/2019 at 23:40

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Honestly if you hadn’t mentioned how beautiful the hike was, I might not have even done it. My friend has done this one five times now and I could tell she really wanted to try a new one... But I pushed for snow lake lol.

I'll check out some of his work. For someone that considers himself a reader and an outdoorsman, it's kind of embarrassing to admit I've read nothing of his