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Combining my love of hiking with my spirituality, sharing the beauty and inspiration along the trail.
02/10/2024
We are expecting snow again tomorrow, and they're predicting more than last weekend's storm!
Where I hike the most usually gets more snow than we see in the city. It'll be interesting what our predicted 2-6 inches locally will add up to be in the mountains.
What's the most snow you've ever seen from one storm? Mine is 21.6" from the Blizzard of 1999!
Photo my mother recently shared from the third largest snowstorm in IL history (dubbed the Snopolcplyse or Snowmageddon of 2011) that dumped a whopping 21.2 inches!
It was snowing this morning, so of course I had to find a trail to enjoy it! I chose a park close to home and broke trail as the snow softy fell around me. So peaceful!
But the most magical part came as I was watching a squirrel forage for his breakfast. As he sat on a branch nibbling on some leftover wax currants, I heard the sound of an animal running towards me. Immediately, I thought it was one of the many mule deer that browse that part of the park during the day. Wrong! I could see animal much smaller than a mulie running through the brush towards me and I thought it was an off-leash dog. Wrong again! Well, kind of...
It was a beautiful coyote! He was making a beeline for the squirrel, now frozen in fear with a mouthful of berries probably thinking it would be it's last, when all of a sudden the coyote noticed me watching him, turned tail, and ran off the way he came.
But that's not all! As I continued my walk, I found several sets of fresh tracks and heard the whole pack yipping in the distance. We are in the height of mating season, so I am extremely grateful I was out and about in the late morning hours. They can get aggressive protecting their territory.
10/06/2023
Today is the day! Today, I am headed for the Sangre de Christo mountains for a weekend of healing, cleansing, and utesitta.
Utesitta (pronounced oo-tea-sit-tah) translates to "out sitting" or sitting out. The Norse of old would sit out somewhere out in nature to gain insight from and connect with the Gods, their ancestors, and/or the Earth Herself. Traditionally, this was done from just before sunset until the sun was fully over the horizon. However, with the colder temperatures and high possibily of strong winds, I have made peace with knowing I may not make it all night and am content with just being out as long as safely possible.
This is a deeply personal and spiritual ritual for me, so I won't be sharing much of my experiences right off. But I do plan to do a video explaining what I did so you can have your own utesitta if Spirit calls you to it. Some of the things I've included in my weekend plans are:
-Physical cleansing at a hot spring and sauna
-A burning release of what no longer serves me
-LOTS of meditation and journaling and
-Spending some much needed time with the Gods and nature in a place I can let my spirit soar free
So for now, time to do one last check of my supplies and begin my journey. Ready? Set trail!
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