Joy and sadness on the same page

For the first time today, I met someone older than 45 !
Two hikers "Uffe" from Danemark and David, "Money bags" USA, both 55 years old.
We walked together for most of the day, stopping for breaks and conversation. What a nice change.
But today was a difficult day, I haven't walked for 8 days now and noticed that my fitness had dropped massively. At some stage, I stopped trying to keep up with them and reverted back to my speed, which I know is good for my joints.
We walked most of the day through burnt forests. In 2020 an electrical cable of the electricity company PG&E had short circuited starting a fire that destroyed
1 million acres of virgin forest and burnt for three months advancing 10kms each day.. A local with whom I talked said that the tall 50m high and 2 meter wide trees had burnt like torches for weeks.
This makes my heart cry!
As I walked through the dead silence, deep sadness took hold of me.
But I also realised that there is a certain beauty to a burnt forest.
20 hikers spent the night on the edge of the mount lassen national national park trying to evade the rule of having to carry a rather heavy bear canister in the park to protect tje bears from our food. They intended crossing the whole park the next day.
The location was great, a breeding site for millions of mosquitos (I am not exaggerating here). I fled into my tent.Read more