Passage 13.
This is the best hike
I’ve ever been on.
This is the worst hike
I’ve ever endured.
Sunset Trail rises
grabs my pounding heart.
Out of Burlington
and mindless Starbucks
my legs fly upward.
Laughing hikers pass
Scamper up hand holds
Sweat pours down my face.
“You are entering
The Alpine Zone.” Walk
on the path with joy.
Above treeline wind
blows away my fears
of not making it.
Planks from Nose to Chin
keep me from mountain
avens, cinquefoil,
and mountain sandwort.
Canada ahead.
The famous Front Four
plunge past the blowdowns.
Prancing, hopping down
my feet firm and fast
I wait for no one.
Leg is collapsing
buckling with poles
braced tentatively.
It goes on two hours
like this. Muscles fail.
It goes on two hours
like this. Spirits sail.