My father loved the Sierras. He enjoyed the fresh air and the beautiful untouched scenery. He spent time there as youth and brought our family there often. He was the leader of our Boy Scout troop for years and took us on many great backpacking adventures.
Before these hikes he would have all of the boys come by the house to do a pack check. Each boy would unpack his pack with my dad looking on. He would tell them what should be left at home and what additional items might come in handy. He knew from experience.
As a young scout, backpacking with my father and brothers we traversed icy glaciers with frozen lakes at their base. We crossed cascading rivers swollen with icy water. And even descended a crack in a sheer cliff wall. And each time our dad was there with a measure of daring, his usual confidence and his determined will.
To him hiking in the sierras was a metaphor for life. On one occasion, he said to a parent who was concerned about how difficult these hikes were. “If they don’t quit, but instead press through and go further and longer than they ever thought they could, then when they are faced with life’s challenges, no matter how difficult, they won’t quit either.”
On some hikes we followed well marked trails, while other times we used a topographical map and compass to navigate our way. Hiking in this manner required more attention to our surroundings and repeated review of our bearings. From time to time we got off course. And it was necessary to climb a ridge or nearby mountain to better see important landmarks in the distance. The scriptures contain many passages where the Lord refers to high places, the mountain of the Lord, etc. In most cases these are symbolic references to places where God dwelled, His temples.
Its interesting to think of our life as long hike, one where portions of the trail are clearly marked while others are more challenging to discern. And from time to time we too need to climb a nearby mountain, or in other words go to the temple for a clearer view and to check our bearings.
On one occasion the trail we were hiking came to an abrupt end on the banks of a river that was swollen with icy water. We surveyed both upstream and downstream for a way to cross, but there was none. Whatever had once been there was completely washed away. My dad set down his backpack, sat down and started to take off his boots. He was planning to tie a rope around his waist and wade across.
Several of us, who were older scouts persuaded him to let us go first. We jokingly reasoned that since he was so short the water that would only be up to our chests might well be over his head. A slight exaggeration, but still this in combination with the fact that we were clearly stronger swimmers gave him pause and he agreed to let two of us go. We stripped down to our underwear, securely tied a rope around our waists and together slowly navigated the swift current and slippery rocks.
Once we reached the far side we secured our ropes to a tree, one high and the other lower. The high rope was used to slide our packs on and the lower was used to tether each boy as he crossed. It was high adventure.
Sometimes we traversed expanses of barren wilderness, where no path could be worn into the solid granite. We stacked several rocks atop one another to mark the trail for those who were behind the lead group. For those who came after us, they still had to hike, they still had to manage their own heavy packs, but they found a measure of comfort in knowing that even if the terrain was unfamiliar or challenging they were on the right path.
Dads experience, gained during his personal journey through mortality, and his determination to succeed gave all who walked with him both in the High Sierras and in daily life the confidence take his counsels to heart and follow his guidance.
I noticed on many occasions that he focused much of his attention on the weakest or slowest of the hikers. Once he had scouts trained, young men he could trust, he would instruct them to lead and he would insist on bringing up the rear. Being the last person on the trail to make sure that no one got left behind.
There are many lessons to be learned in life. Indeed mortality, with all of its ups and downs, good experiences and bad experiences alike, is the teacher of us all. But learning lessons alone is not what truly determines how we will be graded as we stand before the judgement bar of God. What will matter most is how we applied the knowledge. Did we employ it to improve only ourselves or did we also make an effort to share and teach others what we learned?
I echo the sentiment expressed by the poet Will Allen Dromgoole in his classic poem entitled The Bridge Builder:
“An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide–
Why build you this bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
The chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”
In the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, while sitting in the dark mines of Moria, Frodo said to Gandalf, “I wish this ring had never come to me. I wish it need not have happened in my time.” For Frodo the ring represented a great change in his life, one that brought difficult challenges and opposition. Wise Gandalf replied, “So do I and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
I am grateful for my parents. They smoothed many a rocky path and erected countless bridges intended to help those they love live productive, meaningful lives. Praiseworthyblog.com is dedicated to building bridges over life’s chasms with their sullen tides. By sharing the good we are all edified.