A nature walk by any other name, but I walk the wild alone.

This place I call solitude is both a state of mind and many times I have reached and found peace while in the wild and in the state of solitude.

Like a chemical compound, one without the other are but two separate elements:  solitude plus nature equals peaceful ordinance of different observations on this state of mind.

‘I’ happened while running up Grouse Mountain.

Surreal was the steel cable, gondola moving overhead with people as I transfixed in my body, felt my leg being pumped continuously as the terrain seemed to pass swiftly bellow my feet.

I felt/saw an aura around me, nature and the man made gondola with its small crowd being lifted up the side of a mountain.

I felt the cool sweet air as I inhaled and exhaled in the organic way one does when they act whole and unified towards a task or goal:  running up and down Grouse Mountain.

On this summer’s morning, over 25 years ago, I still feel the pleasant walk along the cut line, run upon a path, and energy that allowed me to travel ‘there and back again’.

A book title comes to mind, by Isaac Asimov:  The Joy Still Felt.

I love this memory like it is still happening all these years later.

It exemplifies the wealth found in nature and solitude for me.