Like a rock
- tom pender
- Apr 19, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: May 31, 2021
- Photo credit: Tom Pender
Famed backpacker and author of The Complete Walker, Colin Fletcher (RIP), once explained the mark of an experienced hiker is turning over fewer rocks on the trail than other hikers.
With all due respect, Mr. Fletcher, that makes for efficient hiking but lousy exploring.
Case in point: OTW to Hickman Bridge at Capitol Reef National Park, Abby and I noticed the colored rock: red, grey, white. Boulders of black. Abby quickly identified them as volcanic rock. Not so fast, I said. Scattered mostly amongst the shrubby places near empty creek beds, they had surely been scorched by fire thousands of years ago as flames attacked defenseless vegetation struggling for water.
How'd I know? I knelt down to turn over some rocks, of course. Then more. And more again. To investigate. To explore.
Eureka - black on top but tan underneath! Dig me: a very stable geological genius. Back at the RV, Google explained that, in fact, these obsidian rocks were formed from lava flows 25 million years ago. #mansplaining #unstabledunce
Wandering about the canyon wondering about rocks, I considered the impact of time and age. The Glenn Frey lyric popped into my head: something about lines on a mirror, lines on a face. As I looked up at the lines streaking across those rock faces, I imagined them mirroring the lines on my own face, weathered & worn by time.
Periods of upheaval, high pressure, storms.
Eras of loneliness, heartache, rage, fear, self-destruction.
Epochs of loveliness, healing, hope.
And joy. Immense joy.
More often than not these days, I wish I had the good skin and wrinkle-free-ness of that handsome bastard, Matthew McConaughey. (I'm convinced we’d bond over a few beers, musing about wanderlust and fatherhood.) Like a rock, my lines also have a story to tell. Maybe I’ll last 25 million years, too – destined to become a tiny speck of sand in the path's sediment that used to be the face of a rock so long ago.
Along the trail, we encountered many hikers in their seventies and beyond. Hopefully, I’ll also continue walking for another 25 years. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all that, but I have miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.
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