Yellowstone...

It was one of those days where I was having a bad day.  Perhaps even a really bad day.  My boyfriend and I had decided that we wanted to be just friends a few days before.  I was frustrated at my boss just that morning.  Early that afternoon I had accidentally almost burnt down one of the buildings on the farm I work at.  BAD DAY!  To make myself feel better, of course after getting an ice cream cone at my favorite local coffee shop, I went into Yellowstone for a hike out to my favorite place in the park.  At least my favorite place that you can get to in a short evening hike.  It is a section of extinct terrace that was brought down in large boulders in earthquakes a long time ago.  It is a barren area filled with large white rocks, sparse vegetation, and populations of small critters and birds with mountains on the horizon.  

On this day, I just wanted to go up there to sit on a large white rock… a rock larger than any of my problems and write in my journal.  My hike out there was easy and fast.  I was going too quickly to see if there was much wildlife.  Some people run from their problems.  Apparently I walk quickly away from mine.  By the time I got up there I started to relax.  Cloud cover was moving in and a gray sky fit my mood entirely.  The wildflowers in the muted light looked mysterious rather than cheerful like they had the day before.  I selected a rock that was up to my standards and made myself comfortable.  Even the mosquitoes sensed my confused, cloudy mood and left me alone.  As I reached into my bag to bring out my journal, pencil, and set of colored pencils, a sound in a nearby tree captured my attention.  I watched a lovely, brave woodpecker climb up the tree in front of me.  Not the least bit worried about this girl in a tie dyed t-shirt sitting in front of him.  

I got some great writing and drawing in on that rock. I paused while coloring a small horse sketch, and looked up to see a Pika lift its head up and scamper forward behind another rock.  The shape of its ears caught my attention.  They were such a perfect shape.  After writing for a bit longer, a movement next to me made me turn.  Of course I focused on the movement too slowly to see what caused it, but there was a cheerful yellow bird sitting in the tree that the woodpecker had once occupied.  The movement next to me again had me focus on it, and this time I watched a small mouse scurry under the rock I was sitting on.  I was beginning to feel like I was having a “snow white” kind of day.  

My walk back to the trail head and consequentially my car and the modern world cemented in my feeling of the Evening.  The natural world was telling me that everything was and is ok. I took my time on this walk back.  After a beautiful view overlooking a waterfall, I entered a forested section of trail. Of course there were either small squirrels or chipmunks playing on almost every log.  At this point in my hike I had started singing out loud and more than likely off key.  If nothing else, I have learned in my time in Yellowstone that when hiking alone in bear country, it is rather good to make some noise even if it is off key.  A bit deeper into this forested section of trail, a rabbit jumped out across the trail in front of me.  This was not the type of bunny that we have back in Pennsylvania.  It wasn’t the fat lazy type that spends all of its time eating.  This was a large, lean, powerful creature with a darker body and white feet that powerfully propelled itself across the trail to safety.  It was beautiful treat to see it move with it bunched power.  Still while singing rather loudly I walked up on a mule deer next to the trail.  The two of us stopped and looked at each other for a bit.  The pretty lady stood there pondering why I was there that time of the evening for a bit before deciding to move a little bit further off.  There she stood, seemingly not the least bit concerned about me and my singing. 

I reached the trail head soon after seeing the deer.  I drove back home and back to a beautiful pink and orange sunset over my favorite mountain.  Bad feeling, sadness, and fear from the day receded.  Nature had given me a hug the best way it knows how.  My soul remembered what is important to it, nature, beauty, life, friends.  Even when things are bad, there is potential for happiness if I know where and how to look.  Here I may have to look under a large white limestone rock.  In Pennsylvania I may have to look to the bottom of a shallow pool in a swamp.  Nature and escape from the modern world are the reasons that I love the backcountry so deeply.  Those are the reasons that I love to share the backcountry with others.