It’s a Different Kind of Beautiful

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is so much more than the fantasy that wanna-be thru-hikers dream of. Sure there is the freedom of being out here doing your own thing on your own agenda and testing one’s resolve. There is the beauty of mountain-top vistas and cool waters on a hot day. There’s friendships made in an instant as you bond with fellow hikers over the same misery.

But the other day when I was trudging along on this third time trekking the A.T, I passed a hiker who said a wonderful expression. The forest’s trees towered above void of all life; grey-brown stilts of giants set against last year’s wrotting leaves that swollowed our ankles as we walked. The misty fog a backdrop hiding any view a summit might hold.

This isn’t the exact spot but similar

The hiker stopped as I approached him to catch his breath on his incline. We briefly spoke, but the words he uttered have remained in my thoughts ever since. He said how this was his first time ever hiking in February and had never seen the woods in their winter-dormant state - thankfully without the snow. As he was describing the drab colorless scene he proclaimed, “It’s a different kind of beautiful.”

It is so true. The woods this time of year are very earthen, brown, and monotone. Throw in icky weather and dreary skies and it is even less appealing - upfront. But there is beauty in that triteness.

As we departed each other’s company, he went south and I continued north, I pondered those words it’s a different kind of beautiful. As I am in the middle of wrapping up my next book Happy Hiking A Trek Thru Depression: It’s a Real Thing while walking in the middle of nowhere, I realized my walk with depression was a different kind of beauty.

Just like those woods were stripped down to their barest state during winter’s hold, I too was disrobed of everything I thought that made me whole. But during my winter, a new me emerged that was even more beautiful than I could have ever expected. Going through depression I realize now, was a different kind of beautiful. I didn’t see it at first, but I do now. I love the season that has followed and it wouldn’t be so amazing if I hadn’t trudged through my winter.

I hope if you are having a tough time or know someone who is, that you will see it is just a different kind of beautiful.

I’m still out trekking on the Appalachian Trail. There have been several different kind of beautiful days and some truly amazimg days. Ever day I question my sanity and ever day I want to quit. But then I keep going with each incline hoping to beat the bad weather.

Until next time,

Happy Hiking

Black Bear