A mixture of two different existences,
Man and nature,
A naturally made spot changed by man,
Man-made spot overgrown with nature,
Some only have memories to show for their adventures,
Some share pictures,
A trail seen by many,
Yet traveled by few,
Soft-spotted,
Hard-stepped,
Dirt from one boot to the next,
Calming, quiet, peaceful,
And yet still
Thrilling, dangerous, exciting,
A path to see the world’s beautiful truths,
And nature’s mistakes,
Figuratively,
And quite literally.

Hiking trails is a perfect simple analogy to life,
There are those simple, rule followers who always stay on the trail,
Keep straight until the end,
Never wander off the path,
Just waiting until the payoff in the end.
Then there are the more risk-taking people who wander off path,
To find something more than what they are destined for,
Sometimes we find more than what we bargained for.
Beautiful lies show us unachieveable dreams,
And trick us into leaving the path of normal life.
As we all know,
Once you’re so far off the trail,
You can get caught up and lost in the woods,
Lost in the world of others so far off the path,
They have rooted to themselves into position,
After so long after going astray,
Following a mirage,
An effortless fantasy.

Then again,
It’s just a trail.
A path of dirt that is grounded down,
From foot after foot,
Left over right,
I’m just saying paths can be perceived many different ways,
Poison Ivy occasionally waits,
Like a hand,
Reaching for wanderers.
It’s life's way of showing you your mistakes,
And yet a helpful reminder to stay on track,
Because when you stray,
You get constant reminders that you did,
If only temporary.
I’ve been to the end,
I’m on my way back,
Ready to spread the word of an amazing view.
But what do I know?
To me,
Hiking makes better memories than it does experiences…

If I know one thing,
It’s that life can seem extraordinarily long.
And there are those that give up,
Only part way through life,
Because they’re tired,
Of obstacles,
And heartache,
And blood, sweat, and tears.
So they assume that the easiest way to go,
Is the way they’ve already traveled:
Backwards.
I’ve seen beauty,
Far beyond the things people try to sell to you,
Through lying and cheating,
Trust me,
This is better than heading back,
Than abandoning the work you’ve done so far.
A mixture of two different existences,
Man and nature,
Just.
Trust.
Me.
This view is worth it.
The scene is always better atop the mountain.