Winter is slowly progressing and for me that means a transition from my summer seasonal job to something else. For professional guides the transition is a common occurrence; leaving behind the known and familiar for uncertainty. For three seasons now, about six months every year, I have been employed as a zip-line guide at Soaring Tree Top Adventures based near Durango, Colorado. Remotely located along the narrow gauge railroad stretching from Durango to Silverton the property is surrounded on all sides by the San Juan National Forest. The nearest road involves a five mile hike south along the tracks. Its isolation is at times a welcome relief and other times a lonely place.
Although there are many aspects of my job and the guiding lifestyle that people may find notable, let me simply concentrate on one thing: movement. Compared one’s typical career, guiding provides a degree of freedom for exploration. Typically there is no long-term commitment and gaps in seasons provide chances for travel. Yet to use the clique, freedom is never free, it comes at a price. Work as a guide and one is forced to say good bye to newly made friends every few months. Friends that scatter about the country and may never be seen again. In the industry we say “I’ll see ya when I see ya”. The goodbyes never seem to get easier; one only says more of them.
So on my last day of work I took the time to hike one last time to a familiar place. With the shades of the ending day chasing me up the mountainside, I ventured one last time to Silver Falls above my cabin. In May when I arrive the falls are a raging torrent of thawing snowmelt that drenches a person as they approach. Yet today, as I approach the falls, a quite cascade of water drops off the cliffside. It’s soothing and peaceful and I pause and sit a few minutes for contemplation and reflection, before moving on. “I’ll see ya when I see ya”
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