The sky was a brilliant blue hue and the air was crisp. Today I went on a hike in the Wicklow Mountains. I panted and sucked in the fresh air, drank strong black tea with milk and let the heat radiate to my frozen fingers and lower face. The backdrop to the day was so surreal much of the day I struggled to comprehend that where I was, was really where I was.
Upon seeing the forecast of the weather for today, my wonderful landlord Cormac asked if I would like to join him on a hike in the Wicklow Mountains. When I agreed to go, I didn’t realize what a hike meant to him… We walked 25 kilometers (15 miles) in length and up
the equivalent of 319 flights of stairs. We also mostly walked off the trail, trusting Cormac’s intuition and trusty map.
Walking the way we walked was as if we were on another planet or the moon. Unfamiliar vegetation spanned as far as I could see. I leaped up, hopped down, slid, sidestepped to avoid water, sunk into the earth, and walked very intentional steps, fearing I was disrupting the natural ecosystem. Though regardless of where you are some disruption is likely inevitable. Though my feet were engaged in dancing throughout the vegetation, my eyes were overwhelmed with the subtle beauty. The snowcapped mountain tops, the serene lakes at the base of the valley, the brown wispy plants, the Irish see visible in the distance.
On the way I learned an entire history of Ireland beginning with geologic context – the island was once very mountainous, made mostly of Granite and Limestone. There was an ice age about 15,000 years ago which covered the entirety of Europe. The ice age subsided around 10,500 years ago and Ireland became home to homo sapiens at that time. Like much of humanity, these people remained nomadic hunter-gatherers until around 4500 B.C. Much of the remaining history is a story of poverty, oppression, and the fight for justice. A story that is much too cumbersome to cover in a post about a hike.
This history gave me a bit of context for what I was going to see today. At the base of this hike is a place called Glendalough. A few humble stone buildings, a tower, the only surviving double arch 
entrance, and many gravestones. What’s remarkable about this site is not only that this place dates back to the 6th century, but these buildings have survived continuous raids from Vikings and the English. Imagine what people’s life was like in this place at the time. None of the modern conveniences, though life would have evolved from hunting and gathering to agriculture and farming, to one where a religious order established themselves in this place. Each building built with purpose; the church for worship and the tower to look out for potential Viking invaders.
At some point during this walk, the conversation shifted to human existence on this planet. Cormac asked me how long I thought the human race had left on this earth before extinction. I responded with not much. Then when walking alone I began to think about what was the intention of everything. If our time on this planet is that limited, 
what is the point of sucking air today? Why am I even here? Yes, we can hope to impart a positive impact on the creatures and environment surrounding us, but some damage to our environment is inevitable. Nothing is guaranteed in this life, so perhaps what we should be doing is to exist where you are in the moment. To work to ensure you are in places with people that enrich your life. So ultimately, what I know I can do right now is to enjoy the present. It’s probably why I’m here.
Near the beginning of the hike, but at the top of a ridge, we came across a couple enjoying a biscuit leaning against a boulder. We exchanged pleasantries and they exclaimed to us “We are the luckiest people in the world today!”. And as I looked out at the vast scenery with a palette of autumn colors, the serene lakes below, the bright blue sky above I saw this little corner of the earth as utter perfection, and I wholeheartedly agreed with them. For those moments on the trail, the only concern is navigation and nourishment. But if you know where you’re going, have lunch and water, you can simply enjoy all that lies before and behind you. The landscape constantly subtly shifting to new perspectives of the same valley to offer additional appreciation. Elsewhere in Ireland, Europe, the World, people were experiencing a vast array of sensations, but nowhere else were they breathing in the fresh air purified by the Wicklow mountain range, gazing at this swatch of land, feeling truly alive.
