Me On Madison: The Homestretch

Watching the sunset from the summit of Mt. Madison, 4-12-11

After a 12 hour workday, stepping outside, climbing uphill and watching the sun fall to the horizon is the perfect final exhale on a hard day's work. The orange glow of the setting sun lingers for over an hour at the hut, this time of year from 7:30, as the sun as nearing the horizon, to after 9, when the sun is long gone. The window of time makes up our post-work, post-dinner, personal time, when we actually have a chance to step away on your own and enjoy the beauty of where we are lucky enough to live and work.

On cloudy days, sometimes the sun manages to break through for a last hoorah, and even when the hut is completely fogged in and you can hardly see to our shed, let alone the horizon, the setting sun still casts and orange hue into the haze.

I've been making a point to enjoy the sunsets at the hut this spring. How are you going to remember today? Taking the time to watch the sun go down can turn bad days into ones that you can't help but remember fondly, even if you're simply happy that it's over. Sunsets are chance for me to step aside, take a deep breath and reflect on how I am going to remember the day, the week and in a way, this whole experience of what has been me on madison.

Mentally, today marks the beginning of the homestretch for my time on Madison. Two more weeks of official hut building before preparations begin to open the Hut for the season, although we will surely be tying up lose ends even after the hut begins welcoming guests. There's still a ton of work to be done, but the crews are working more efficiently than ever and each task crossed of the list moves us one step closer.

Updates may be few and far between over the next two weeks. I am throwing my normal schedule out the window and hiking to the hut tonight to start my work week. I may come down to wash my underwear, and if not that then maybe to pay my bills. Other than that its full steam ahead, working hard to get to an end I am not sure I am ready for, but when it comes, the time will be right, and onward it will be, to the next big adventure.

“What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -it's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” ~ Jack Kerouac, On The Road