Into the Wild She Goes...

Quick Evolutionary Update:  

I'm trying to be more intention driven with every post. Intentional, not as an act of perfectionism.  But, as an act of rebellion to peel away my own layers and begin to open up as a more authentic writer.  As an example, I changed the title to this one three times because I kept journeying down different paths. 

Into the forest I go to free my mind and lose my soul - John Muir)

Drum Roll Please...

No, like a Celtic Drumming...

Yes, that's much better.

I accomplished my SECOND 14'er.  I present Mount Sherman in reverse.  From the Peak down to the beginning of my journey:

This terrain, for the most part, is like this the ENTIRE way and, of course down.  What am I trying to say?  Bring hiking poles!  Usually I find they get in the way, but you'll need them for leg fatigue because this is actually a real thing where your legs just want to give out (and you crab crawl or do gravel slides when it won't rip through your legs.

Girl likes to bust out the money shot pretty early on...Wweeeeeeeeeee

Is this even real?

Sup, yo?  Mountain Sherman, duuuuude

I am so happy with little to no oxygen to my brain.  Please do not use this excuse as a campaign to bring masks back.  

I'm sure you're wondering.  Did she set up a tripod like Neil Armstrong while she was walking on the moon?  No, a fellow traveler was watching me take selfies.  He saw how happy I was and offered to capture it on film for me.  

Check it out...I never busted open the can of oxygen.  Somebody told me I'd need it for this one.  And I think it's about time we go ahead and recognize the part fairy, part mountain goat hiker I've become.  (sprinkles fairy dust out of my pocket)

I had the can of oxygen sticking out of my pack the entire time.  I seriously felt like a scuba diver.  But, this guy at my community hot tub told me I wouldn't be able to climb this one without oxygen supply. (Does anybody know if these come in smaller units?  Because, like, I'm not scuba diver...and mermaids don't need oxygen).  The flavor of my oxygen, by the way, is pink grapefruit (so I'm not panicking if I ever need it...I'll be like "Oooooh give me some of that pink grapefruit!")

Yeah, so this was a visual sign I snapped a quick still of, because work smarter, not harder.  An advertisement for poles.

This lady was an inspiration.  She had knee surgery LAST YEAR, y'all.  You start being like, "What's my excuse?? Dis bish!"  INSPA-ray-shunal....

The dichotomy is so beautiful.  The Yin and the Yang.

It's like a dragon or a snake, no?

Trying to capture all angles of this hike...

I'll never forget this traveler.  I felt like he showed up at the right time on my journey to just talk to me.

Oh wait, check it out!  I ran into the kids I was supposed to meet and hike with at 5 a.m. (but, I was in the clouds and then at a ghost town).  Ummmm, couple hiking goals...couples who hike together don't get lost!  Love, love LOVE genuine smiles.  So, as a footnote here, I hiked my second 14'er in the name of Mission 22.  Check them out and this guy who does this cool non-profit called the "22 Peaks Project" and they are part of Meetup.  They have a midnight 14'er coming up soon which sounds pretty exciting.  They raise awareness for suicide.  Not just suicide, but specifically what happens to our veterans after serving our US Government and how something is terribly broken for there for such alarming yet unspoken rates of suicide.

In some of these pictures (and I'll be sure to point this out)...I'm trying to display "perspective" of looking up to see travelers wee up in the hills.  They look so tiny!

This is when I thought I couldn't move forward anymore...

When the elevation change hit me like a ton of bricks and my body was hard acclimating.  Around this time a song randomly popped in my head.  Hey, sometimes we don't get to choose the songs.  It's our spirit guide.  Here's a link to the song.  It's interesting to Google the lyrics, and how they relate to life's disappointments and how to keep moving along, or forward (learning and gathering strength) no matter what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XleOkGsYgO8

And, then you look up and see tiny travelers in the distance...and you're like, OMG OMG but the excitement makes for labored breathing.

These pictures are not in sequential order, because this was actually the group I started the CORRECT trailhead with.  After hiking to the ghost town and finally getting back to my car, I wondered if it was too late to even hike Mount Sherman.  The reason I say that, is because these random naughty little storms can roll in expectantly.  And, yea, BRUTAL.  Lived through one on my first 14'er.  

This guy was a local (ugggh forget his name...is it any wonder I got out of sales??)  He was hiking with his daughter and her boyfriend (who worked for the government in Washington DC).  They all brought poles and SMOKED me.  Bring poles, trust me.

This is a field of wild Columbines, the Colorado State flower.  Isn't she lovely.  Again, loving the stark contrast, the delightful dichotomy of this shot. 

Not even kidding...this guy is called a pussy toe. (giggles)

This isn't EVEN a shot of Mount Sherman.  This was me, after arriving an hour later taking the WRONG ass trailhead (because signs would be too damn easy).  I literally had a 50/50 shot and failed.  BUUUUUUT, this hike was beautiful.  Really, it was well worth getting lost.

The end of this trail when I realized it wasn't Mount Sherman and an abandoned ghost town instead.

And kinda looking around surveying shit because I've seen the "Hills Have Eyes"...stop it, staaaaaaap it.  (trying to get the soundtrack out of my head)...

WTF am I?

Some more pics of this abandoned ghost town.

This is some Indiana Jones ruins looking set...wonder if they filmed any movies up here? 

Not sure what was going on here, but okay.

I dunno, I kinda like it.

Okay, so what did I learn?  The detours or silent parts of the hike where I was completely alone, lost, and fatigued with my thoughts and my body for sure made me stronger.  I got so lost, spiritually, physically, emotionally.  There are some uncaptured moments like the one where I didn't see a trail to go right and went left.  I hiked all the way up to this cliff surrounded by snow and almost had a panic attack.  But, I remembered quickly, 'Just breathe and retrace your steps until you find familiarity again."  The BEST thing about this journey was that God kept sending me the most beautiful travelers.  It made joyous moments where my heart leapt out of my chest.  Every single one of them contributed in some way and I had to humbly submit that life is so much better with other time travelers.  

So, why did I land on an "Into the Wild" theme?

This book + movie kicks ass, for starters.  The Jack London wisdom of Into the Wild didn't hit me when I was younger.  Now it does.  Oh, and I threw in one Stegner + Leo Tolstoy quote:

"The Core of man's spirit comes from new experiences."

"I know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong.  To measure yourself at least once."

"Society, you're a crazy breed.  I hope you're not lonely without me" (said Jeff Bezos after he killed all bookstores and jetted off into space in a gigantic penis.  Yes, I think Bezos was a Jack London fan)

"Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future."

"Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness...give me truth."

"I don't want to know what time it is.  I don't want to know what day it is or where I am.  None of that matters."

"You are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships.  God's placed it all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience.  People just need to change the way they look at things."

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.  The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is not greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and difficult sun."

"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed."

"At least they tried to follow their dream.  That's what was great about them.  They tried...not many do."

"It was masterful incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life."

"I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life." - Leo Tolstoy

And perhaps my favorite one which kinda rewords the Introduction Paragraph to my blog:

Wallace Stegner, Chapter 3, Page 15:

"Explaining that most people wan to escape from history and oppression and law and irksome oblation, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led west."

Thanks for visiting with me today, Traveler.

Oh and one more quick note of serious importance regarding censorship and how you really don’t wanna support this trend.  It supports bullying and abuse!

Par example.  I just got a 30 day BAN and I’m not talking about jail.  I can’t even get on the platform   The reason they gave me was that a meme I posted back in March of this year promoted suicide   And they wouldn’t even share the meme.  But I hope everyone who knows me (really the only people I care about) knows I would never promote suicide.  I’m a fighter, a rebel and a free spirit   I’m the antithesis of suicide   

But what does an abuser do?  They gaslight you into thinking you’ve done what they themselves have done by censoring all science that contradicted Sun God Master Fauci   Everyone seemed to worship this master bullshitter.  I mean did anybody else not go…whoa wait a minute my head is spinning!?

Facebook perpetuated mass suicide by promoting lockdowns, quarantining, isolation, taking away all fun, concerts, parties…social interactions   

Anyways when I get my privileges back I’m packing up all my photos and getting myself out of that abusive relationship.  I get it!  My voice is not wanted.  Extends middle mermaid finger to the ZUCK!

Love, 

Kimmie