It’s not always the peaks that are the most important – sometimes it’s the places…A couple of thoughts has come up to me lately. Go with the flow is a used expression in life, and it can be related to the outdoor as well. Sometimes we should just stay, when we have found a spot that really feels good. To be honest, I may miss the solo trips, when it was just me and possibly Kenai (my husky). Just following a trail along a stream or up towards a mountain, and then sitting on the edge of the mountain and just enjoying the view – letting your thoughts flow freely…

The storm has stopped, the only thing that remain was the stillness…not a sound. The moon colored the mountain in blue,  the surroundings became distance less. It was as if the world had no depth. It was then that he realized that the silence was not empty. In the light of the headlamp there was nothing, only the snow, white and polished by the wind. The feeling, he could not describe it, but it felt like he was not lonely out here. He thought about the stories he had heard at the bonfires – ”It was nothing I saw, just something that followed…” It was just at that moment he did saw the tracks, not clear. Not like ski tracks. Just depressions in the snow, where no one should have walked. They didn’t lead forward. They didn’t lead backward. They ended where he stood. The next morning there was nothing left. The wind had erased everything. But every time he later walked alone in the winter mountains, in white fog or moonlight, he automatically slowed down. Not out of fear. But out of respect. Because in the mountains in winter there are things that don’t want to be seen. Only felt. And sometimes, when the silence becomes too total, it’s the mountain itself that walks beside you – to see if you know when it’s time to turn around…

And as the old mountaineers says ”“Don’t ever follow the lights in a storm.” Don’t follow those who never came back…

Bryan Adams – Christmas Time (Classic Version)

See ya tomorrow….