Because It’s There

Because It’s There
            Why do we do the things we do? Some actions are the result of focused intentions, and others pop up more randomly. 
            Occasionally an offhand word or image gets stuck in my head as something I want to do something with.
            I love hiking. I love looking at maps. I love reading trail names.
            Some trails are simply connectors between more significant pathways, not of major note by themselves, but they have intriguing names. Back when my son and our trail buddy and I were spending a lot of hiking time in the Blithedale Ridge area of Mt. Tam, the name Huckleberry Trail kept catching my attention on the map.
            One day we were heading up a fire road and we stumbled onto the trailhead sign for Huckleberry Trail. We made a spontaneous decision to hike that to connect to another fire trail.
            Turns out that despite being short, the Huckleberry Trail is quite steep and was not very well maintained when we hiked it. We huffed and puffed our way up the rough path. The challenge made it all the more satisfying to climb it and check it off my curiosity list. Why? Because it was there.
            Some of life’s most satisfying moments come from trying things “just because.”
            Have you had any great life adventures stemming from a “just because it’s there” moment? Keep that random, spontaneous light burning!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Huckleberry Trail, leads readers on a short but steep connector trail between fire roads in the Blithedale Summit Preserve in Marin County. 
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This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 34: Huckleberry Trail