Trust is As Trust Does....

On Saturday morning I woke up concerned about the hike I was leading for the Vision Quest crew. In July 2013 I will be supporting 6 people on their Vision Quest up in Highland Plantation Maine. (more about that in a future blog) In preparation for this very important life experience, I am taking the group on monthly mountain hikes. Our February hike on Little Mt. Monadnock had to be cancelled due to extreme real feel temperatures of below zero and a fierce wind chill factor. It seemed essential that this trip hike on Saturday happened.

Due to the incoming media-blitzed winter storm projected for Saturday afternoon, I knew I had to choose a hiking trail fairly close by. Mt.Wachusett was the best plan, even though I had limited experience on it. I stayed in the south shore area Friday night, so I was up and driving early Saturday morning to get home on time to meet the crew. I wondered about the incoming storm, the current trail conditions, and the ease of identifying the correct trail. I did not want to be irresponsible in taking a group of people into a storm on a mountain trail system that I was unfamiliar with. I also wanted to be as responsible as possible by choosing a hike that was close enough to home base that we could get out and drive home safely during this snow storm.

Mt. Wachusett matched the need for close proximity to home base, however I was concerned about us getting caught in a snow squall and me not being able to navigate us out, as I did not have a practiced experience of these trails. I did have a trail map and these hikes are well documented. I realized that the trail that I had outlined might not have been the best trail once I saw the darkening sky on my drive home. It was a sky that told one that any outdoor adventure needed to be surrounded with high alert attention. Cloud movement, wind directions, shifting precipitation, and quickly changing temperatures all needed to be felt, watched, and accessed during the entire hike. I needed a challenging trail for the group and yet one that we could readily use to quickly get off the mountain when conditions warranted it. As I drove along thinking in my mind, I began to see an outline.

I am not familiar with the trails on Wachusett, so I had no memory of an alternative trail to the one I chose before I knew about the projected storm. In my mind I saw the shape and approximate location of a trail, and I felt confident that it would be the one. I asked myself and the Universe at large about whether Wachusett was the right place. I felt my answer.

Mt. Wachusett was the mountain for the hike, however I was not to lead the group. I understood that the group was to lead itself. I knew that felt right but my ego brain wanted to resist. To the best of my knowledge, the people in the group had never done a winter hike and some of them had not gone hiking in years. Therefore, the addition of a winter storm concerned me. 

As the group gathered at my house and finished preparations for the hike, I found myself alone in my den. I looked over the trail map again and the planned hiking route, unsure of how this would play out. Trust was the base of this important part of the Vision Quest preparation. I was zipping my day pack when one of the Vision Questers came into the den, diverting my attention with hilarious bantering. During our lighthearted exchange, this VQ participant spontaneously told me that Mt. Wachusett was home. It turns out that this one person in the group had spent extensive time on the mountain trails, steeped in its energy! Ahh...Wachusett was the correct hiking mountain and the group would lead the way!!!

I pulled out the trail map that had the highlighted trail that I had planned, but was not comfortable with under the current snow storm watch.  As it turned out, this person had been looking at the trail map the night before and concluded that the Mountain House Trail would be best. As this beautiful brilliant person told me this, I looked at the route and realized it was exactly what I had seen in my mind on my drive that morning! I looked it over a few times, expressing my astonishment, "Yes...yes...that is a perfect route. Yes...Mountain House is just perfect...yes...that is the one!"

There I was in my den, on my knees, almost done zipping up my pack, when all residue of concern and fear was blown away. Trust confirmed itself in that moment as I sat, almost dumbfounded, with a powerful Mt. Wachusett Wood Sprite!

Trust is as trust does. With such gratitude, I was humbly surrounded by Trust that day. And in kind, Trust was there for me when I offered my being to believe in it...even just a  little.

Let today be a first day for us to begin to trust ourselves, others, Spirit, Creator, God, the collective consciousness, Good Orderly Direction, and the unfolding Soul energy of Perfect Balance and Harmony. Take a walk on the trust side of the street and allow amazing things to happen!