THE BIRTHDAY HIKES - 8

Birthday Hikes
Wed, Feb 12, 2014

Day 43 of my News Year’s Resolution and The Birthday Hikes. 

Generally on my daily hike I follow a dirt road from my house down towards Silly Mountain. Near the base of the mountain there is a trail which takes off and joins into the main Silly Mountain trail system.  Since my trail is not a part of the main trail there is a rock blockade which has been placed across the trail junction to keep Silly Mountain hikers from going off the main trail and getting lost on my off-shoot trail.  

Today there were some men working on the intersection of the two trails and wearing official looking shirts with a SALT insignia on the shoulder.  “Well, this doesn’t look good” I said as I approached the boulder blockade.  “What; the trail” asked one of the men?  “No, I mean the boulder blockade.  I hike over from Gold Canyon and this is where the trail meets in with your trail system”.  “Oh yes” said the man. “No, we are just doing some trail maintenance.  I know what you mean though.  I don’t know why they didn’t make a trail outlet for the Gold Canyon residents who hike over here from their homes.  There are a lot of hikers who come over using that trail”.  We talked and he told me that they were with SALT, the Superstition Area Land Trust, and were just doing some trail maintenance.  “Are you familiar with SALT”: he asked?  I told him that I was and that I had helped put in some of the Silly Mountain trails.  We talked some more and I told him about my BIRTHDAY HIKES, and that I had come over to shoot some pictures for a youtube video I was making.  I gave him my card, and told him that in about two weeks he could catch the video on my web site if he would like.

After talking a while I said goodbye and went looking for some other willing participants to film in my video. When I first recorded my “Acts of Kindness – Silly Mountain Thoughts” audio I had no idea that I would later be turning it into a video.  As such I was now in search for someone to re-enact the incident which had happened and I initially made the recording.

It wasn’t long before I found three ladies coming off the mountain and I stopped to talk to them.  I told them about my Birthday Hikes what I was going to be doing.  After telling them why I was shooting this particular scene of the video and what it was about, they all agreed that they would like to participate. 

We shot the video, took some stills and in general had a great time.  As we parted I gave them my card and told them that I hoped to have the video up on youtube in a couple of weeks. 

On my return trip off the mountain I came to the fork in the trail where I had met the SALT workers doing trail maintenance.  To my surprise there was now an opening in the rocks and a well maintained trail at the intersection with my trail and the main Silly Mountain trail.  The workmen were about 50 yards down the trail working on another section, so I yelled out them “Hey; thank you”, pointing to the newly opened trail junction.  “You bet’cha Gary.  Have a great day now”.

Ninety-eight percent of the people I meet along the trail are good natured, of good mood, and out hiking to have a good time.  The other two percent seem to carry all of their problems along with them and are leery of anyone who comes along seemingly having a good time.  Rarely do I come across that sullen two percent, but occasionally I do.   They are the ones who can reach down in their bag of disappointments and hardships clear back to the beginning of time if necessary just to prove that there is nothing to be happy about and that there is no good in the world.

They like to carry “rocks in their backpack” if you will.

Travel with the ninety-eight percent; enjoy the day.

Life is good.

THE BIRTHDAY HIKES - 7

DAY, AFTER DAY, AFTER DAY

Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014

Today’s Hike:         5.4 miles
Total Miles:            62.6 miles (3.8 miles ahead of schedule)

Going out on a hike today was not one of my main priorities; in fact I have plenty of other things to do and I think that this will be one of those “day, after day” hikes.  However, the weather is good, and I don’t particularly want to fall behind with my accumulated mileage. It’s so much easier to stick with the program rather than try to catch up.

My philosophy is “Just Do It”.   Even though I may be down in a funk, doesn’t mean that others are feeling the same way.  Perhaps if I go out and just happen to meet someone who is a little more upbeat than I am at the moment, I just may gain some of their positive energy and improve my outlook.  We shall see.

I have a small portable hand recorder that I have been carrying along with me on my hikes to record any fleeting bits if inspiration that may come my way; so far there’s nothing, but I do have high hopes.  More on that later.

The trail I take to Silly Mountain is a dirt road which goes two miles from my house down to the parking lot at the base of the mountain.  About 1 ½ miles along the road there is a small unmarked trail which branches off and joins into the Brittlebush Trail of the mountain trail system.  From there you can either go up the mountain towards the top, or you can follow the trail back to the parking lot; for the past fifteen minutes I have been debating whether to go on up the mountain, up a lesser trail which would eventually go back to the parking lot, or to just take the trail which takes me directly back to the parking lot and then back home. Life has so many decisions that have to be made; especially for a tired man.

I decided to take the unmarked trail which joins up with the Brittlebush Trail and then make further decisions as whether to go up or down when the time came.  As I approached the trail junction there was a group of four people making their way down the trail towards me.  They had found something funny because I could hear their peals of laughter coming from at least 150 feet away.  When we met up I told them that it looked as if they had found Br’er Rabbit’s Laughing Place up there.  In unison they all looked at one of the ladies carrying a hiking stick; “She’s the one that found it” they exclaimed.  We all laughed and started talking about what a good day it was for a hike.  

The lady with the hiking stick noted that if anyone gave her any trouble about her laughing she could always take them out with her stick.  I fully agreed with her and mention that was why I always carried my two hiking poles.  Well that led into the topic of my canister of bear spray that I had dangling from my pack.  Quite innocently she asked “Have you ever used it”? “Oh yes” I exclaimed.  “I have bear spray and I’m not afraid to use it”.  I then proceeded to tell the story of how I was attacked by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone Park and how after I had stared him down I emptied my entire bottle of bear spray on him.  Wide eyed and intent on my every word I finally had to burst their bubble and tell them that it was just a fiberglass replica of a grizzly bear.  But I was ready if a real one should ever approach too close.  Yes, a good time was had by all.

One thing led to another and I told them about my New Year’s Resolution Birthday Hikes and how what seemed like a good and easy idea at the time had turned out to be a bit of a chore; you know, every day, after day, after day, after day.  By the time we were finished we all were having a pretty good time.  I even gave them one of my Grandpa Hyde’s Multi-Grain-Bread (Best Bread Known to Man) business cards with a reference to my travlinmanblog.blogspot com on it for their reading enjoyment.

As we readied to part ways, one of the group asked if he could get a picture of me with the rest.   “That old man on the mountain” I guess. Sure; it had been a good encounter.

Well I am still left with the decision as to which way to go; up or down?

.....What the hell; it’s a good day, I’m going to the top. 

JUST DO IT

Happiness is contagious; pass it on.

Gary Hyde

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

Resolutions

So how are your New Year’s Resolutions doing?  The New Year is far enough along that we have surely wondered what had possessed us to make such a decision as to undertaking this kind of resolution, however noble it may have appeared to be at the time.

Today is a cloudy day, the kind of day that saps the strength and ambition right out from your soul.  My resolution to hike 740 miles during this year was admirable enough and really not a difficult one, only 2.1 miles per day; some day’s I make that distance just going back and forth from the bedroom to the refrigerator.

So far I have maintained my daily mileage, even surpassed it. I have met some fine friends, discovered new trails, and eaten lunch at some great, and some not so great, restaurants. 

It’s not the difficulty of the task; it’s the tedium; 2.1 miles per day, day after day, after day, after day, after day.  I am reminded of a journal entry Mark Twain made as he and his “Innocents Abroad” traveled by ship through the Mediterranean Sea and then across the Atlantic Ocean to home.

“Sunday—Services, as usual, at four bells.  Services at night, also. No cards.

“Monday—Beautiful day, but rained hard.

“Tuesday—Somewhere in the neighborhood of the island of Malta.  Can not stop there. Cholera.  Weather very stormy.  Many passengers seasick and invisible.

“Wednesday—Weather still very savage.

“Thursday—Anchored off Algiers, Africa.  Beautiful city, beautiful green hilly landscape behind it.  Staid half a day and left.  Not permitted to land, though we showed a clean bill of health.  They were afraid of Egyptian plague and cholera.

“Friday—Morning, dominoes.  Afternoon, dominoes.  Evening, promenading the deck.  Afterwards, charades.

“Saturday—Morning, dominoes.  Afternoon, dominoes.  Evening, promenading the decks.  Afterwards, dominoes.

“Sunday—Morning service, four bells.  Evening service, eight bells.  Monotony till midnight.--Whereupon, dominoes.

“Monday—Morning, dominoes.  Afternoon, dominos.  Evening, promenading the decks.  Afterward, charades and a lecture from Dr. C. Dominoes.

“and so on, and so on, and so forth, for several days.

So as you can see we are not alone in our boredom, but just as Mark Twain finally arrived home, I too will complete my resolution despite long stretches of tedium and monotony; but next year I will put more thought into the making of a long term resolution.  Perhaps I will go on a nice long cruise. 

The Birthday Hikes - 6

The Birthday Hikes

ikes

Year Five

Today’s Hike:         4.4 miles
Total Miles:            54.6 miles (2.1 miles ahead of schedule)

LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE

Back in the ‘70’s I worked for a subcontractor by the name of Jack Couch.  He would do the bidding on jobs from the FHA to refurbish vacant or repossessed homes.  I was on the painting end of the job, and often when Couch would return from a bidding negotiation, he would be mumbling about how some of the contractors would underbid the job in order to get work and then make up their profit by using inferior quality of materials and work.  Jack would rather lose a bidding contract than produce a shoddy job just to get work.  They would ”Leave the money on the table” as he would say.

Those were good days.  I had been laid off from the Boeing Company and Sharon’s dad Albert was working for Couch.  He had managed to get me a job working as a painter with him. I learned a good trade and work ethic while working on that job.

On a recent hike;

Along the trail is a small rock outcropping that I like to call Meditation Rock.  I stopped there for a while to enjoy the view and do a bit of meditating.  This gives me a quiet time to reflect, to assess, to plan.  Things are going pretty good for Sharon and me, we enjoy two wonderful homes with good friends at each, and good weather at both; we have a great family, both close and extended, we seem to find many opportunities for service and we still enjoy a good day of hard work. 

While reflecting I considered how we got to this point in our lives, how we are taking advantage of the opportunities which arise at this time, and just what we should be looking forward to in the future.    They say these are the autumn years of our lives.  We are still very active and constantly learning something, but it seems as though we seem to be attending more funerals than weddings.  Mortality is no longer all fun and games, but something which definitely has a purpose and an end to it.  

One factor that I am beginning to enjoy more and more is the service which I can give to others.  I never have been a “what’s in it for me” kind of guy, I’ve always enjoyed helping others.  I guess being a scoutmaster for several years instilled the “Do a good turn daily” attitude in me.  The road of life hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been good.  Things are smoothing out now, the road is not quite so bumpy and we are enjoying the ride.  Like Jack Couch we have always tried to “bid the job for the right price”.

My mom had a poem pasted on our bedroom wall all the years we were growing up titled “Be The Best of Whatever You Are”

Be the Best of Whatever You Are

By Douglas Malloch

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley-but be

The best little scrub at the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush, be a bit of the grass,

Some highway to happier make,

If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass-

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here;

There's big work to do and there's lesser to do,

And the task we must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun, be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail-

Be the best of whatever you are.

Size up the opportunities that come your way and don’t let the good ones get away.  Constantly strive to better yourself; through continuing education, learning a skill and advance in it, specialize if you wish but keep a well rounded portfolio of wholesome activities.

Teach your family a good work ethic and proper principles.  Keep yourself in good health.  If you see yourself getting sick, depressed, or out of touch, develop a plan to reel yourself in.  We have all been given certain gifts and talents to help us through this life, learn what they are and develop and use them.  In short, Be the best of whatever you are.

Don’t leave the money on the table!