HILLSPEAKING
from The Anglican Digest 

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS/EPIPHANY A.D. 2005


WALKING the Silver Cloud Trail is beneficial — physically, mentally, and spiritually.
 
The physical benefit.  If our calculations are correct, based upon the Managing Editor’s stepping off the perimeter path and my timing of the others, and if one walks the perimeter and all the crisscrossing and interconnecting paths, one will have walked approximately two and a half miles.  If one does this at a good pace, up hill and down dale (for some mysterious reason there are more ups than downs), not stopping for breaks or to admire the scenery, one is pretty sure to increase one's heart beat and pulse rate.  And given that the air is clear and pure, one’s lungs will benefit also.
 
An early morning walk (I like to start as close to sunup as I can) is a great way to begin the day.  It loosens all the knots of the day before, clears the cobwebs away, and just generally sets one out on the right track.
 
I get an additional physical benefit because I undertake as a personal responsibility to keep the trails mowed during the growing season.  I have, however, deferred to my octogenarial* years in that I no longer maintain a walking trail across the Lower Meadow.  The perimeter trail and the interconnecting paths are all on Grindstone Mountain.
 
The mental benefit.  Walking the trail, particularly in the early morning hours, is a great place to think and plan. I compose most of my "Hillspeakings," including this one, in my head while walking the trails — even to the point that I occasionally miss a turn and have to backtrack.  Much of the planning for the Howard Lane Foland Library was done while I walked.  Operation Pass Along gets its share of attention while I am walking and the idea of extending the program to include vestments, clericals and altar fittings was pretty well worked out on the trail.
 
The spiritual benefit.  Just as walking the trail is a good place and time to think, it is also a good time and place to meditate.   "Walking [the trail] in the cool of the day" is almost guaranteed to bring one closer to God.  There are no sounds to distract one except for the sleepy call of an occasional bird not yet on the wing; the early morning light limns trees and shrubs and the long shadows cast a mystic spell over the landscape; mists rise from Deer Valley; and a deep sense of peace pervades Grindstone Mountain.
 
Come join me.  I start early but I will wait a bit if you tell me you’re coming.
 
[*NOTE to Proofreader and others: Don't bother to check your dictionary, I made up the word]

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