/lit/ - Literature

>>14235434
(4/5)

It took me three hours to climb to the top, to burn my way up, but to burn differently than I had before, when I was sick. My legs screamed at me to stop and the sun turned the sky as crimson as I felt on the inside but I saw it, god I saw the very stone which told me that I was there, that I had made it, that this twenty one year journey up this sixty degree slope had finally come to an end. Stumbling up onto the flatness I felt my head spin, as I looked out over the valley.
To the East, I saw the Sleeping Ute Range, a profile of legendary mountains that appears as a giant woman, slumbering with her arms folded. The tall ship-like protrusion of Mesa Verde National Park looked on with pride into the dwindling light. To the west, the ranges of Moab and Monticello off in Utah filtered the light with their great bodies in wild baroque contrast. And the cozy town of Mancos glittered underneath me, along with it’s far off partners. To the West, the lights of Cortez slowly flickered on, as sleepy little Dolores nestled on the breast of the Animas river nearby did the same. Farmlands, mountains, prairies, all of it so shining and beautiful, and covered in the golden brilliance of the great setting light of this world, bent through the prism of the atmosphere. It was mine, all of it, won back, this was what I’d fought for. Up there in the wind and air covered in the ochre dust of that land, atop the mountain with my ability to work, and breathe, and live, I beheld the thing that I had suffered for. This beautiful world, covered in gold.
My pack slipped off my shoulders, all eight five pounds, and so much more. It all became blurry, this golden red mess of beauty and freedom and love, as the water welled up in my eyes. On the edge of that cliff I collapsed to my knees, I looked up in the sky, and I wailed.

>>6342735
I spent about 4 months traveling through the back-country of Southern Utah and Arizona. Now I live in Burlington Vermont where the sky is mostly grey and there are few stars. What I gained out there was exactly what you are talking about. A sense of wonder. It is one of the most powerful weapons we can wield when fighting for our own happiness. Coming from the Northeast, I was in utter shock seeing the vast expanse of universe over my head as I lay in the desert on my sleeping pad, dumbfounded by the view above me. It spoke to me like a god and I miss those stars so much.
I took this photo while traveling through the Navajo reservation near Rainbow bridge, using a 30-second trigger release on my shitty old beatup field camera. It doesn't do justice to the real thing. Keep your sense of wonder OP, it's one of the most powerful things you posses.

Travel kills cynicism and ignorance, and expands the worldview. Ignore the naysayers in this thread. They haven't lived.
>>6342735
>>6342955
>>6343055
>>6343134
I'm glad that not everyone on this board is a cynical asshole.

>>6342792
Exactly what I'd expect a 15 year old to say. You don't get out much do you?