A conventional timeline suggests that time moves relentlessly forward. A pocketwatch shows that time moves in perpetual circles. All I can say is that time…moves…me.
The local volunteers who hit Wonderland Trail during my Rainier visit ranged in age from 20 to 50. Many different people at many different points in their lives but all made the, yes, time to advance the Mount Rainier Recovery effort. More than one individual vowed to return in 10, 20 or 30 years to inspect and reflect on their work. With memory, experience, and imagination we can be in the past, present or future.
In my previous post I mentioned the 500 year old volcanic ash the crew uncovered. It gave most of us pause. Yet later, during a Meadow Rover training session with another group of volunteers, my group hiked past a Volkswagon-sized rock left by a lahar thousands of years ago. And of course Rainier’s glaciers date back to the Ice Age. The history looming before us seemed taller than the mountain itself.
I understand none of this is classifies as “this just in.” But at least for me it was a reminder of how easy it is to take time — its passage, predictability, and potency — for granted.
For example, after Rainier, I flew to Minnesota to hook up with an SCA crew at Voyageurs National Park. I just assumed my luggage would arrive at the airport at the same moment I did. Not this time…