What a Dump

Making your mark is an act of courage. In this case, that mark is two parallel lines in the snow through the woods. Now, maybe courageous isn’t the right descriptor in the momentary scope of efforts like plowing a machine with a sled behind it through the snow, or cutting brush, or fixing equipment or painting signs. But when it comes to keeping at it for almost fifty years, I believe that word is not hyperbolic.

A life’s work like this proves to be a pretty geologically paced thing. Time and pressure applied with resolve, makes change. It leaves a mark, both on the landscape and the people involved in the mark-making process. I recently became one of that lucky group. I’ve always known, growing up with the Chief of Trails as my dad, that the pressure part of that equation is something you can actively pursue. Stay focused, never stop learning, just hold your mouth right… These are things we can do in the effort to apply pressure to something we believe is worth doing. Only lately however, have I much considered the time piece of the puzzle. I’m bitter about how much time I’ve “spent” being productive… believing that productivity only meant maximizing efficiencies. I see now that taking your time - really taking it and allowing it to pass, solidifying the things to which we are applying pressure, is really the courageous bit I mentioned earlier. This thing, these trails, that we are sharing with our community and neighbors is evidence of that. I’m honored and incredibly privileged to be a part of the process finally.

I took the first picture here during Friday’s storm while the Chief and I were grooming Montreal. It was a great way to spend an evening with my dad.

I took the second picture this morning when I stopped for a minute while grooming the Pence Connection on Uller. I really like this spot. It’s the old Pence dump. I played there twenty-some years ago when I was a kid. I took my old dog for her last walk through there last year. Now, I always slow down and look up where the trees open for a minute, then down to check the marks we’re making here on the ground. It’s a beautiful thing, that dump.

Ski, Freely.

KZ