golden bricks and purpose

i am returned to a memory where i was maybe 17.

there was a camping trip. a backpacking trip actually, starting at the trailhead at the top of the tram above palm springs. we got a late start, so we ended up catching the LAST tram up to the trailhead, and we would be hiking after sunset... in the dark.

in general, this is not a good idea.

i was with friends, and i had made the trip before, albeit during the day, so i was the local expert. it was about an hour and 15 minute hike up to a small campsite in a clearing next to a creek.

it was night time. it was only a matter of time. it took us all of 30 minutes to lose the trail.

before i knew it, we were standing on what was most definitely NOT the trail between the sound of two rivers. the forest was illuminated by moonlight between the branches. everything was either silver or black; a glittering and obscure amsel adams photograph.

honestly, i had no clue where we were anymore.

but i figured we were probably CLOSE to the trail, and we should probably head towards the sound of water... to... the.. right. yes, definitely the creek to our right.

and so we went onward, floundering, charging, tripping, laughing, cursing, stumbling through the woods in the middle of the night. every shadow behind every tree was a bear, or a crazy axe wielding woodsman. any moment now we were going to happen upon that creek that sounded so DAMN close and yet constantly eluded us, laughing the whole time.

then suddenly, i felt it.

it was a subtle change, but it was there.

the path. the trail. the golden brick road.

and just as soon as we found it, i saw the small wooden footbridge that we needed to cross, and we found ourselves at our campsite. it was one in the morning. we had walked for three hours. we had scrambled over tree trunks. we had crawled through crevices. we had doubted. we had believed. we had not turned back... not that we knew which direction 'back' was.

and yet, at the end... we were where we needed to be.

that's all. just a memory.