The People We Meet On The Trail

If you know me, I am the kind of person who would talk to anyone who find time to talk to me. I am genuinely interested at everyone whom I meet, passively or intentionally. At the Grand Canyon hike, I met someone who knew me from work! How random is that? I am curious at people's life stories. When on a trail, I look around and play this game in my head, the story of their lives and why they are doing the easy hike or the gruesome hikes, why are they running vs walking. Knowing that we all have a story to tell, and each of us wanted to be heard. I have met and seen so many people all these years, and I have categorized these folks to my own grouping. I am sure you have your own categorization and grouping, share it with me!

1) The Talkers and non-talkers. Along the trail you will hear through echoes bouncing off mountains faint sounds. And as you get closer these echoes turn to voices of people chit-chatting along the trail. I find these fascinating, as I can barely muster energy to walk let alone talk! And when you walk close by for quite a distance with them, you hear the stories. Who was introduced by who, how the company needs to file some legal action, how an interview for a job has gone, and so on and so forth. I am the non-talker kind of hiker. Yes, I would strike a conversation, but I would stop, listen to what you're saying, and then move on. I would let talkers go by me, or purposely go ahead so I can continue with the quiet and let the sound of nature surround me. It could be a river along the way, the birds chirping, the wind passing through, or sometimes just the scuffle on my feet and the sound of my breath. The Talkers, they do inspire me. How can you carry a conversation when it's so hot, so tiring? And most of all, how do you find topics to talk about for hours on end?

2) The Fit, the Fabulous, and the Beautiful Hikers! Oh, you see them everywhere. Sometimes I wonder they go to hike to flaunt their beautiful bodies. They are a welcome eye candy to an otherwise sweaty surrounding. They come in with their nice outfits, make-up on, perfect hair, and that beautiful smile. They too are the best to ask for photographs. They are most likely Instagrammers. Here I am, rolling off at 4am to stretch and find the most comfortable pair of leggings and top that will not chafe along the hike. The Fit, Fabulous, and Beautiful inspire me. I say to myself to go get new leggings and tops for next time, mother nature deserves better of me. It's like going to church, present your best self. But then again, chafing and blisters are real.

3) The Family hikers. How cute. Specially cute when they are hiking with their toddlers whom they have to carry at all kinds of manner to make it easy. The teenagers whom really trying their best to not roll their eyes when their parents strike a conversation. Or a grown adult with their aging parents making time for lost times. I see myself in them, I have hiked with toddlers and I root for all the parents that carry their kids in their back across the canyon. They are the true heroes. I look forward to hiking with teenagers, this will make my day a little longer with teenagers who will soon be an adult hiking on their own, and I too have shown my mother the beauty of nature as we make up for lost times.

4) The Mathematical. We all have seen this person. This person will know where you are on the trail, how far you have come, how much more to go, how high you have climbed, how fast you're going, and at this rate we will be at the end of the trail head at this time. I love math, all of it. But this is not where I want math to be. Math is precise, math does not lie, and sometimes, when Math said we are going 1mi per hour and we have 5 more miles to go, and it's already 3pm, for sure Math is correct to conclude that we will not make it before sunset. There are 2 group of thoughts, knowing the answer right now or finding it out when it's over. I am the kind of person that do not want to know until it's over. Others find comfort in knowing along the way.

5) The Gears Person. Oh the gear person is amazing! You see them along the trail, they have the gears for anything that could possibly happen. Bears? Bear Spray! Lion? Lion Spray! You know what I am saying. It's comforting to have a Gear Person in your team. Knowing that this person has a stove, a satellite transceiver, a medicine cabinet, you got nothing to worry about. I am not a Gear Person, I would usually wing it. Which, after these hikes, I realized I would need to put some thought into having gears for safety.

6) The Never-Give-Up Person. Hiking never gets easy - at least for me. But there is always this person you meet on the trail. Sometimes, they are an elderly couple, and you look at them and you just want to protect them and tell them to just sit and turn around. I still wonder if this couple made it out to Grand Canyon. There are hikers who are so stubborn will persevere through hurt ankles or knees, who will come out of heat exhaustion, they have no fear, and these hikers never ever give up. If they are hurt and still going, how could I who is not hurt, not keep going.

7) The Energy Person. And then there are those with overflowing energy they emit it. I remember this runner I met at the Grand Canyon and he's doing Rim2Rim, he is not young, and he is beaming. He is smiling, and getting ready to run back. He stopped over, probably realized they saw us in the beginning of the hike. I asked him: You look so happy and energetic. As I was laying on dried leaves resting half-dead. He came over and said, Isn't it a beautiful day? Which I responded, I am so tired. To which he respond, it is a tiring day, but it's a beautiful day to be tired. Indeed! Indeed! And just like that I was infused with energy to get me through. Thank you Energy Persons along the trail that boost our morale and our legs for the next mile!

The last person I want to talk about in the trail that you meet, is that person within You! Hiking offers plenty of time to think of the past, of the future, but more importantly, to think of the moment. You get to know yourself away from all the distractions of daily life. You get to hear your own voice. You get to set your own pace. And you get to make your own decision to move forward. I am that person above at different pace of the hike. You get to talk or not talk. And you are fit, fabulous, and beautiful - look at you out in nature! How much more beautiful could that be. You get to test the limits of your body and more importantly your mind. When there's no more to give, you become this never-give-up person. Get to know yourself. Get out there!