Is this why you do Skyline?

[zippetydude]

From the introduction to The Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher.

I had better admit right away that walking can in the end become an addiction, and that it is then as deadly in its fashion as heroin or television or the stock exchange. But even in this final stage it remains a delectable madness, very good for sanity, and I recommend it with a passion.

A redeeming feature of the condition is that no matter how heavily you have been hooked you can still get your kicks from very small doses.

Ten minutes’ drive from my apartment there is a long, grassy ridge from which you can look out over parkland and sprawling metropolis, over bay and ocean and distant mountains. I often walk along this ridge in order to think uncluttered thoughts or to feel with accuracy or to sweat away a hangover or to achieve some other worthy end, recognized or submerged. And I usually succeed – especially with the thinking. Up there, alone with the wind and the sky and the steep grassy slopes, I nearly always find after a while that I am beginning to think more clearly. Yet “think” does not seem to be quite the right word. Sometimes, when it is a matter of making a choice, I do not believe I decide what to do so much as discover what I have decided. It is as if my mind, set free by space and solitude and oiled by the body’s easy rhythm, swings open and releases thoughts it has already formulated. Sometimes, when I have been straining too hard to impose order on an urgent press of ideas, it seems only as if my mind has slowly relaxed; and then, all at once, there is room for the ideas to fall into place in a meaningful pattern...

- Colin Fletcher

I hadn't thought about it in years, til someone on another thread mentioned the book. I went back and reread the introduction, and found myself wondering if this isn't, at least in part, why many of us do Skyline again, and again, and again...

Anyone else find this happens out on the trail? I find, oddly enough, that he actually seems to understand how my mind works better than I do. If you ever have a chance to read the full introduction, it's delicious. The rest of the book is just specifics about how to backpack, but the intro is remarkable.

z

[EMan]

Absolutely!
But I like variety...

[bluerail]

cant afford therapy.

[lilbitmo]

cant afford therapy.

In your case I'm not sure therapy is going to help look at the kettle calling the pot black

[Cy Kaicener]

Skyline takes your mind off things you dont want to remember and puts you in the right frame of mind for about a week. It also renews lasting friendships.
There are not too many places where you can take the tram down.
http://www.hiking4health.com/philosophy.htm
(member of Skyline Addicts not so anonymous)

In my case I cant afford therapy

October cant come soon enough.

[Lcpl Hughes]

I agree on ALL of the above..

now that my wife has filed for a divorce, I must walk more and faster..