Same River Twice

Explore a new trail, or revisit an old one?

Quite a dilemma on any given weekend that is remotely sunny enough to head outside. However, one of the coolest (haha, pun intended) things about winter is that it changes familiar trails so you feel like you're exploring something new on a familiar backdrop. Winter paradox: frozen implies stuck, unchanging, but really the features of winter change often and dramatically. Think of an icicle, or eight inches of snow that fell overnight.

Big difference, right?
And it could be g o n e the next day.

Culvert Canyon is one of my favorite places to explore. We went twice this past week, and it changed so much just in a matter of days. We retraced familiar routes for a time and then stepped off into the unknown: we explored up a side canyon and found a cool trail that loops high above the wash all the way back to the start.
Another thing that adds variety: different people. If you've ever been a member of a group, you know that each group has a different dynamic, different personality mix, different goals and experience levels and abilities. Hiking with kids, you go slower and play more. Hiking with older adults, you hear all kinds of stories. Hiking with a few friends, you can cover a lot of ground and goof off. Hiking by yourself, you find solitude.

And even if you go on the same hike by yourself twice, it's different because you have changed since you last laced up your boots. That's another paradox: same person, different person. This idea's been around for a while:

"No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."

(Heraclitus, Greek philosopher 500 B.C.)