…And a Happy New Year.
In my last post, I discussed the meaning of family, community and a sense of belonging within the context of Christmas. To honour those thoughts, I shoved-off by myself for a solo bike-packing trip over new year’s. A little yin for your yang, I suppose. And you know what, the effort paid off.
For the past few new year’s eve celebrations, I’ve made a point of taking a solo, multi-day bicycle adventure of some sort. Though I’d been procrastinating this year, once I gave it some thought and a couple hours of work, I had a plan and a bike ready to ride. Easy, let’s roll!
On the bike shortly after 9am, I rolled by Mark’s place for coffee before hitting the Big Bend Ranch State Park. There, I barely saw a person for my two days of riding, hiking and camping under the stars. Back country bliss.
I had decided to make camp somewhere near Madrid Falls. Once there, I changed my shoes and went for a hike. Trying to make my way to the pool at the foot of the lower falls, I was quickly turned back by all the vegetation.
Only out for fifteen minutes, I decided to hike up the rocky point that loomed above me. After just ten minutes of scrambling up rocks and loose scree, I was atop the end of a long, fairly flat finger of rock. The view looking south-east beyond Arroyo Primero and the Chisos Mountains beyond was definitely worth the effort!
From the point, I walked north along the finger’s precipitously exposed rock ledge until it joined the canyon. Scrambling over more loose rocks and along the canyon wall, I found myself high above Madrid Falls and the deep, cold pools of water below. It was a novel perspective on this special feature. Again, so worth the effort.
Back at camp, I made dinner, put on my warm clothes and bedded down for a star-filled evening. The dark skies down here really are second to none, the Milky Way and various constellations clearly visible. Although the temperatures did eventually dip below freezing, there was no wind nor threat of precipitation; I was able to sleep outside of my bivy in just my sleeping bag. In bed by 8pm, I was asleep by 9pm. Party animal.
The next morning, with my water partly frozen and frost all over my sleeping bag, I made coffee and oatmeal as the sun rose. It was stunning; alone, surrounded by mountains, a pink sunrise and howling coyotes. Hello 2019.
As I was going through my things, I realised I was missing some garbage; an empty bag of Fritos corn chips had fallen out of an open pocket on my pack, somewhere during yesterday’s hike. I would have to go back, retrace my steps in hopes of finding the garbage. Man, that could take ages, I might not even be able to find it at all! But, I have to look, I must at least try.
So, I scrambled back to the point where I knew I’d stopped for a snack. Nothing. Damnit. That meant it was somewhere along the hike to above the Falls. This could take hours. Sigh.
A few minutes later, as I glanced left to the spot where I’d climbed down the day before, I spotted it! I couldn’t believe my luck. Again, a little bit of effort totally paid off.
Pleased with my success, I packed up camp, rolled past the stacked stone archeological feature I stumbled upon the night before and starting turning the pedals. Retracing my steps from the day before, I crossed paths with Mark in the State Park; he’d ridden out to meet me. A couple hours later, after much headwind, I was back at Desert Sports, another fabulous multi-day bike ride to ring in the new year.
As I turned the pedals on new year’s day, I reflected on how many times I was rewarded for putting forth the smallest effort. A hastily planned trip that turned out so well. Small scrambles and short hikes offering new vantage points on a familiar view. The effort to fix my mistake quickly rewarded with garbage found.
I guess it’s easy to say, a rather trite observation, that we are oftentimes rewarded for our efforts. When a task seems monumental, we sometimes find it required only the slightest effort to overcome. Just try.
While I don’t make new year’s resolutions, I aim to take this lesson and apply it the year through. When confronted with an obstacle, I’ll at least make the effort. I’ll remind myself that it may not be as tough to overcome as I think, that I may be handsomely rewarded for having done so. Sounds easy enough, but I’m betting I’ll still struggle to gather the strength and courage from time to time. As we all do. When that happens, all I need to do is think about my new year’s eve trip. It certainly was one to remember.
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