When I finally return home, I always find myself asking a similar question. What remains of all you felt, experienced, loved?

How can you hold onto what at the time feels like the most powerful energy you’ve ever experienced. While constantly pushing away the looming reality of how to return to an existence you are meant to adore, knowing that what you genuinely love is elsewhere

Undertaking a long hike takes considerable physical effort and an underlying desire to achieve a distant goal. Yet, one of the joys of a hike is the moments when I stop to rest and enjoy the stillness and connection our earth provides.

You are breathtaking. 

A simply stunning view, 

that leaves me in awe, excited and scared.

We set out early, heading into a misty dawn that shrouded Lake Louise—endeavouring to complete a hike that traced the lake's water back to its source, Victoria Glacier.

On this 7 hour hike, we had the chance to see six different glaciers. Sadly this pleasure remained a mystery to us due to extreme forest fires, creating a smoke haze that obscured the Canadian Rockies' many extraordinary views.

I am drawn to you like a lover from the past. You don’t need me; you never have, you never will, this I understand. Yet I desire you and willingly return, searching for what will never be.

Your hypnotic beauty draws me ever closer to your warm embrace, slowly revealing that I am loved, perhaps never by you exclusively, but nonetheless, loved.

I must have looked like hell.

Six days on the road, no shave, a few showers and a lot of miles. But I was surprised while walking between two villages when a young couple stopped and greeted me with warm smiles.

It takes time, perseverance, and a little bit of hard work to create what you desire. This stunning landscape embodies all that and far more.

Yet, in many ways, this simple honesty has been manipulated by humanity's progress, to the point where we strangely believe that whatever we desire should be able to be achieved in the shortest period and without any real sacrifice.

Talk to me as only you can.

Whisper your wisdom in the unspoken language we share.

Tell me your secrets so I can better understand my own.

Let me stand with you in silence,

feel your presence, soak in your calm energy.

An ominous storm approached on the distant horizon. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep, hoping that the hard rain and wild wind would remove the veil of smoke that had hidden your boundless beauty for the last few weeks.

I see that it does not matter.

I see that I can not help or be helped.

I see things that can not be seen,

for that truth is for another time.

Sometimes you have to turn your back and leave what you thought you desired behind. 

Surrendering to the knowing that what you believed you needed or wanted may be a distant memory that no longer serves you as you move forward. 

When was the last time you didn’t have something to do?

Somewhere you had to be, something you needed to learn, something someone else suggested, that would help you, improve you, connect you?.

We all know that your mesmerising beauty is powerful enough to draw a crowd from the ends of the earth. To wow the masses, leaving us all breathless to ponder what could be, to what dreams lie ahead obscured by the current reality. 

I am just one of the thousands who have travelled to you. Who have stopped and stared, drawn in and stunned by your beauty, silenced by your unspoken knowing.

Upon leaving your embrace, I came to the conclusion that my life can never again be measured in time. From this point forward, my life will only be measured in experience.

But why?

The sun rose for me today and accompanied by the warmth of the golden light came a thought that I was not quite ready for in truth. 

LOVE

I will not often put my camera down, but this thought, this question, this subject needed my attention, as I needed it.

The sound of gas igniting bathes the pre-dawn gloom with warm light, dancing across an unseen yet vivid landscape soon to be exposed.

Nervous chatter drifts on the winds, and expectations are high but history has taught me that as soon as you lift off, your destination is largely out of your hands.

It’s true what people say. You can do anything you want, anything you have ever dreamed of. But the thing they don’t tell you is that you will have to work for it.

Today I started a journey, a very long journey that will end exactly where it began. I have no real idea why I am undertaking a long walk around an island but today in the early throws of this latest adventure, I believe I got a brief glimpse of what could be.

It’s the small things I see when we spend time together.

You are a compelling view, but your immense grandeur inspires my mind to wander to the smaller, more simple pleasures in life that helped me become the person I am today. 

Traditional thinking, what we have been taught and learned, has lead us to believe that the journey to freedom is meant to be hard and sometimes painful. That respect, love, and acceptance have to be earned, and in extreme teachings will only be had once you love and respect yourself.

I have to remind myself that we are all unique and what I see, think and feel are mine and mine alone.

It is one of the many reasons I search and work hard to have experiences like this. In essence, it’s just another beautiful lonely landscape but that is just my opinion.