Surreal

I had the pleasure of hiking the Needle at night on Nov 10 with 14 others. It was a spiritual experience.

Half the group was 20 min ahead of our group. At one point I got in front of our group of six and hoofed it so that I could be alone. I knew there was a group ahead and a group behind so I felt safe enough to hike on my own. The moon peeked out from the clouds occasionally. I didn't need a head lamp because of the snow cover.
My thoughts were only in the moment. I was breathing in the air, the contentment, the cold, the warmth, the headiness of the whole experience. I was alone in the wilderness for the first time in a long time. It was night and I was becoming intimate with this trail once again. I loved the feel of the wind buffetting against me, the roots tripping me up, the feel of muscles working hard. I gloried in the spectacular view in the half light. I used all my senses all at once. I lived those moments to the fullest. I felt so alive, so vibrant, so full of myself, so full of the scene in which I was placed, so insignificant, a small part of an infinite whole, so centred.

Later, when we were all together plodding single file on the ridge with the blizzard hurling snow in our faces, I went into a zone, a pace, a meditation-like place. It was surreal