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this is a story i wrote a fellow j-lander who's experiencing tremendous physical pain at the moment and the loss of her dog    thought i'd share it with you at her (Marti) suggestion    should i share more of my previous adventures?

thought i'd write a brief story of my first backpacking trip into the Cascade Mountains located in Washington State    actually to this day, it is my only backpacking trip in my life, but i hope to remedy that in the near future .....well here i am in Spokane, WA living with my friend Cindy   she loves nature and decides to show me the North Cascades Highway not to far from the Canandian border   she also decides to take me on my first backpacking trip   now i can't remember if we hiked 5hrs or 5miles up to the top of the mountains, could be both    hiking in the mountains is sooo beautiful among the pines, the waterfalls, the clear air and all of wildlife out there   when hiking in in those high mtns, there comes a time when there are no more trees and you have nothing but mountain rocks   it's barren, rugged and i understand why the mountain goats live up there ...which we did see climbing around once on top of the mountain   and once on top we pitched a tent and spent the nite   the view was immaculate, awesome, just out of this world so to speak   we could see mountain tops for miles on end   endless actually   i only wanted to hike in further   there is nothing but you, like a small ant, next to this humongous mountain   it puts you in your place and life in perspective   Nature is Bigger than you   Nature is Bigger than us   all the great things we do here in our small cities seem so limited to the Grand of Nature    it's so serene, quiet, infinity in the mountains   i know you know this Marti as much as you love the oceans and mountains too   our hike was breath taking   i feel that what is in Nature is truly God's Soul and that also lies within us....if the hurricanes have subsided, take a walk by the ocean to heal your grief   Nature, God, will heal you, ...and remember Love , all that Love your dog gave you....with each new day, the sun shines brightly, the wind is at your back, the birds sing their glorius song and you will soon be back...   Love kbear