There is a myth that when you find your path that it will be a blissful, smooth, and easy journey. This is so far from the truth. A path with heart covers many challenging mountain ranges, some lush valleys, and more canyons of chaos than we care to experience. There are times of great insight and perspective, but there also are many hours of hard work, difficult decisions to make, and periods that include grief and overwhelming effort. I have experienced all of this and more.
This past spring when visiting our oldest son, his wife and our grandson in Flagstaff, Arizona, my wife and I decided to take a day trip to Grand Canyon National Park. Our goal was to experience this natural beauty and to hike a section of the South Kaibab Trail.
I first visited Grand Canyon National Park in the winter of 1978 as part of a semester long, college program called Southwest Field Studies. This life changing experience involved back packing and hiking through the three major desert areas in the United States, studying biology, geology, ornithology and American history. It was a complete immersion into these unique desert wildernesses within the continental U.S. During the first part of the semester, we spent a week, hiking in the Grand Canyon, experiencing its history up front and personal.
The next time I visited the Grand Canyon was in 2009. Our oldest son was a part of a backcountry conservation team doing trail restoration in the Grand Canyon as well as other areas of Arizona. We hiked the South Kaibab Trail with him and got to see the hard and challenging rock work involved in restoring this heavily used trail. With him as our trail guide, we felt we were in good and experienced hands to make this journey
The section of the South Kaibab Trail we hiked with him was from the trail head down to Cedar Ridge and then back up again. The distance was only 3 miles which in our small town would be equal to walking to the local post office, on to the park, then to the library, and ultimately back home. The elevation change at the Grand Canyon, on the other hand, was intense. We started at 7200 feet, dropped to 6080 feet at Cedar Ridge and then had to hike all the way back up to where we started.
Going down is fun and a touch slick in spots due to the steep incline. The views are spectacular. There is even a special spot called Ooh Aah Point where everyone stops to take a picture and admire the vast beauty of this natural wonder. And when, we made it to Cedar Ridge, we celebrated our accomplishments of making it that far. But in hiking, as in life, going downhill is the easy part of the journey. It is the climb back up that is the more difficult challenge.
Forty four years later and nearly sixty-five years old, I knew this as the two of us stood at the trail head on that April morning. We had good food, ample water, the right layers of clothes, and a good trail map. But I have learned in life that the map is not the road, and many times the road is not the full journey.
So, on a cool and breezy Friday before Easter, we started hiking down the South Kaibab Trail. After the steep, initial switch backs, the trail was more gradual but still dropping down toward the lower parts of the canyon. We hiked for a while and then stopped, rested, drank some water, and ate an early lunch by the side of the trail in the shade of a small pine tree. Other people breezed on by us, moving along at a good clip downward. I, on the other hand, knew we needed to have enough energy to make it back up, not just to make it down.
Slowly, we made it down past Ooh Aah Point and then on to Cedar Ridge. Here, we again stopped, rested, drank more water, and snacked on energy bars. We enjoyed the view and the quiet of the canyon. Then, it was time to start hiking up.
Step by step, as we hiked upward, I kept thinking about how hard it is to rise up from our challenges in life. Effort is part of the work, but it takes more than just effort. It takes commitment, discipline, and the understanding that striving upward is not simple or easy.
There is an old hiking prayer that goes like so: “Lord - if you will lift up my feet, I will continue to put them down in a new spot.” I know this place and this feeling. It is not hopelessness as much as the exhaustion of feeling like you are not making progress. It is the feeling that life is nothing more than a series of switch backs with no forward or upward progress. It is just one hard step after another, and all we see ahead is more steps.
Still, over time, we do make progress. It does not happen at the speed of software, but it does happen at the speed of human evolution, namely gradual and not limited by time. We learn that we are changed by the journey on more than just the physical level.
With mutual encouragement plus ample opportunities to rest, my wife and I made it back to the trail head. When we got to the top, we were smiling. I hugged her and looked out across the Grand Canyon, filled with gratitude and humble appreciation for my body, mind, and spirit.
As we turned to go, a family was gathering at the trail head. The father turned to his young son and daughter, saying “Come my loves, we are going to see amazing things and experience amazing thing.” I just nodded my head and said to myself, “Yes, you are. And your life will be the richer for it.”
Walking a path with heart is challenging. There will be inspirational moments of new perspective, and difficult times of hard work where we have to overcome old patterns of thinking and living. In short, there will be Grand Canyons of chaos and Grand Canyons of glory. Just keep lifting up your feet and putting them back down in a new spot. The journey is worth the effort.
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