The dark spaces on the map

It's been pretty quiet here of late, at least on the blog. That's because a lot of non-hiking activities have been going on. Luckily, these things also coincided with the hottest days of this summer, so perhaps I saved myself from scaling mountains in 100F weather. I've been flying a lot lately, which is one of the reasons I haven't been hiking. On one of the night approaches into San Diego, I was looking down into the sea of lights that make up our urban sprawl. My eyes kept straying to the darker areas, knowing that was where I wanted to be. I craved the wilderness, the spaces where there were no lights and fewer people.

There are so many places I'd like to explore, so many dark spaces on the map. Everywhere I travel, I look for those areas and dream about experiencing them on foot: Rae Lakes in the Sierras, the Central Plateau in Yellowstone, Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Maybe I'll find time to tread them all, but maybe not.

Either way, I'll never stop dreaming about it.