Postcards from Bryce National Park

Time and time again, travel for me remains to be a humbling experience. It makes me realize and appreciate my own insignificance. Nowhere is my immateriality more palpable than when I am swallowed by wildness - so vast and fathomless - in national parks. Yosemite, and now, Bryce and Zion, all have the same effect on me. They all remind me that I am but a teeny cog in this universe. A teeny cog! My self importance and egoism are dwarfed by everything unknowable and undiscoverable so apparent in the wild places we see.

It bowled me over when I realized as we were engulfed by endless canyons everywhere that prior to that time, and even after that time, I completely had no notion of the extent of my ignorance. It would have been unfathomable to my own imagination, creative as it may be, how astounding the world is. And how there are innumerable places and experiences to left to see. And yes, even the acceptance that I will never even get to seem them all in my lifetime. I find it almost silly that some cities think they are the center of the universe (ehem, New York City?). But stepping out into the wilderness, engulfed by cliffs, clean air, so crisp and pure, ancient trees, beautiful wildlife, gushing rivers - you become certain that nothing is absolute, nothing is nowhere nearly as powerful as nature is. And really, that is the true center of the universe.

I have said before in this blog that I don't adhere to bucketlists. I don't trust myself enough to be able to contain the majesty and grandeur of the world, especially those that haven't been much written about, talked about (which for me, personally, are the most bucketlist-worthy ones). I don't want to restrict myself to twenty or so things on a list. I feel like I would constantly fall into the danger of passing up on spontaneous experiences not on the list in hot pursuit of what is on the list. Or worse, that I would end up saving myself, my youth, my money for that list - and end up not doing anything at all. I mean, there could be ten, thirty, fifty, a five thousand items on your list. Yes, that's impressive - but how many experiences are you excluding? Instead, I have the antithesis to bucket lists - Reverse Bucket Lists. These are the things that make it to the list only after I have done it, seen it, explored it, experienced it. And this majestic sunset in Bryce National Park is definitely going on my Reverse Bucket List.

#adventure #travel #hiking