Day 31

Calories burned at the gym today: 492

I miss the mountains.

From the perspective of my current goal, the mountains are great because hiking is a fantastic way to exercise. It also happens to be my favorite form of exercise, so I'm sure that I will lose more weight in the summer.

My dad is almost completely responsible for my love of the mountains. I was raised camping and hiking. Some of my favorite memories happened with family around campfires. The things that people seem to remember of me before I even have memories happened there, too. My great uncle is always telling me about what an animated story-teller I was around the campfire as a toddler.

There was a good decade where my family went to Yellowstone every single year.

I've been back East a few times, and I'm just not a fan of the humidity and quaint little hills.

 I'm all about the drama of a solid Rocky Mountain high. I don't know that I could ever talk myself into living anywhere far from the Rockies for any real amount of time.

In the past 3 years, I've lived in 3 different cities in 3 different states.

I've lived here in Logan,

then I moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming,

and then I lived just outside of Denver, Colorado,

before I retraced my steps and moved back to Jackson

and then Logan, again. As melancholy as winter can be, I love these mountains.

This past year I only went on 1 1/2 hikes. There's a much more complicated explanation for this, but a good part of the reason is that I was so out of shape. I'm really looking forward to this summer. I smile every time I imagine walking through the woods on a day with just enough clouds to keep the temperature right for hiking. I love the smell of the trees and feel of a trail beneath my feet. I love not hearing a car for hours or days on end. There is so much peace to be found by surrounding yourself with just things that God created. It took me a long time to put my finger on why I don't like cities. The main reason is that it is almost 100% focused on glorifying man and what man has made. Even trees are just placed where man wants them to be. There is beauty in order, but there's a purity in an old forest that no man made creation can ever match.

I can feel it in my bones now that it has been too long since I've just hiked through a forest.

The winter is good for two things: Building up the precipitation so it doesn't have to rain all summer, and making me appreciate summer more.

Tired and thoughtful tonight, but I'm also piecing together a post for tomorrow that should be more entertaining. This one was honestly mostly for me and anyone else who tends to long for summertime mountains more on permafrost days like today than any other day.