“We made it, and its beautiful.”- These were the very first words I had written down in my journal since we left our cars, money, and all of society behind us in the small Dunnfield parking lot off the Appalachian trail. It was then that four best friends, John, Austin, Dan, and I, set off for the next 3 days with god-knows-what ahead of us. Little did I know, it would be so much more amazing than anything I had been fabricating in my mind on the car ride there. We were on top of a great mountain when I wrote that first entry. Half the day was gone. We were dirty, sweaty, hungry. We were weighed down by our supplies. We didn’t care. We came out here to bond, not only with the precious nature surrounding us, but with each other. And in that moment, looking out over those steep cliffs, there was nothing more exciting than knowing that there would be a great journey ahead of us, and through it, we would be together.

We spent 3 days and 2 nights out on the Delaware Water Gap section of the Appalachian trail. Most would say this was a hike for nothing short of wimps, (20 miles) and I would whole heartedly agree. But for me, it did not matter the length of the hike, or how high we had climbed. What mattered most was what we shared along the way, and of course, what memories we had taken home with us afterwards. 

What I remember most on this trip was the infinite number of textures that surrounded us. Everything was strong, and rooted, like it had been there a million and a half years. Nothing was moving, and everything was permanent in that very moment. Leaves that fell, worn rocks, soft spiraling ferns, majestic trees, even the flowing water seemed ancient. But something in particular moved me, perhaps the way that the light hit the air in such a selective, revealing way, that the scenery was whispering to and fro- “pick me, no, pick me!” Such was my lens candy.

In the end, we went through some rough times. We exhausted ourselves, and we were sore for days after. We met new, inviting faces. We were eaten alive by the bugs, and kissed by the sun. We climbed to the tops of mountains. We marched through the sweet forest rain, singing. We laughed. We fell. We sometimes shared silence. We eased our thirst at the stream, and we settled our hunger for exploration in all the sky, the wind, and the earth below us. This desire always howls deep within us. Like the wolf to the silver moon, it craves something. But for now, we made it back, and it was beautiful.