Letting Go- Celeste Crotty and James Bryan

At 10:00 this morning, we set out to Mt. Roberts, where we took a tram up some of the mountain then hiked to the summit. Before we left, though, Tim asked us to meet by the shore of the Shrine, where we were told to find a medium sized rock and place it in the bottom of our daypack.  He didn't tell us why, but we continued with our day.  The hike was very strenuous, especially with the rock adding some extra weight to our load. When we got to the peak of the mountain, we were reminded of the rocks and pulled them out. He asked us to hold the rocks and imagine them as a mental weight we could let go of. We each did this and formed them into a cairn that we decorated with flowers.  Tim told us that he was leaving behind needless worry, but no one else shared their's as we stood around the formation silently.  Although the rocks symbolized a burden we carried, many of us had forgotten that they were in our bags, but noticed their absence on the hike down, as we left them behind. 

On the way down the mountain, we somehow got off the path, and Max said, "Watch this!"  He was sliding downs 75 foot snow bank on the side of the mountain, where, at the bottom, we could reach the path easily.  So, out of options and a with a bit of adventure, we all slid down one by one (except for Celeste, Eli, and Chris, who managed to climb around it). 

 

[Editor's Note: We judged it within the limits of what was safe. There was plenty of room between the end of the snow and any danger from falling. They were in NO DANGER].

It was so much fun, as we all trusted ourselves to steer  and stop at the right spot. Most of us slid down on our rain paints or rain jackets, and got sprayed numb with snow.  After leaving behind the rocks with our burdens, sliding down the snowy mountain did not trouble us all, as it was difficult to not do it again and continue hiking down. Leaving behind our rocks did not just lift a physical burden off our backs, but a mental one as well.  Although none of our burdens were sliding down a mountain at a 75 degree angle, we felt free.  We were released of what had troubled us before, so we could enjoy what we were doing in the now