I traveled to Mt. Shasta to try to snap out of my sadness and remind myself of why I serve this place I call home, but I went to Mt. Lassen to focus my resilience and strength.  For as much as Shasta is feminine and nurturing, Lassen is masculine and character-building.  Its trails seem less forgiving than Shasta’s, and its views are more rugged, although equally awe-inspiring.

I spent two July weekends up at Lassen between my weeks working down in the valley.  During the first weekend, I chose to hike Brokeoff Mountain, which is the mountain next to Lassen and which offers amazing views of Lassen and Lassen National Park.  And over the course of that near 7 mile roundtrip hike in 90 degree temperatures, I tried not to reflect on life, but simply to focus on the elements.  And through that focus, I was greeted to views like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And eventually my mind was cleared and I was reminded of that old Christian mantra: that alone I am nothing, that my existence does not entitle me to anything or anyone, but through God and through spirit and through faith, all things become possible.  That mantra is probably one of the most important guiding principles in my life, a humbling statement reminding me of what actually matters in this world.  And in the grand scheme of things, my needs really don’t matter, my dreams really don’t matter, my heart really doesn’t matter, but my strength through faith accomplishes great things in this world and helps me to serve others.  And that matters.  Where is that message in 21st Century America?

I decided to ossify and reflect on these principles on a second weekend up at Lassen to a series of lakes I had never been to before.  The lakes were stunningly beautiful, so stunning that they almost broke down all of the progress I had been making in my travels in shaking away my sadness, as I longed for her to be with me, standing by my side and swimming with me in those pristine alpine lakes.  The interesting thing is that the trail to the lakes was just off the trail to Paradise Meadows, a place I hike to almost every summer.  I reflected on the fact that I had gone so long without seeing these lakes though they were so close to places I knew, and decided that it is important to always keep your eyes open and keep exploring new routes in life, for you never know what amazing things might be right next to you if you are just willing to think a bit outside the box, have an adventurous spirit, and push yourself out of your same old, tried and stale routines.  Anyways, the views from that day looked like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And so my month of July came to an end, and by the time I was done with my time up Shasta and Lassen, I felt restored enough to re-face my life and to tackle bigger travels.  So I next went West, to the Coast and the Redwoods…but not before reaching out to an old friend.

To be continued.

Cheers,

Rob