..is a multifaceted thing.
Often, these days, I spend so much time alone in my head that I reach a point in the day when I desperately need a counterpoint. Sometimes that is other people, other times it is emphatically not. Rather, I want to get out somewhere quiet, avoid everyone, and just look at stuff and move along. Hiking up a hill is the best way to do this, and one of the best features of our new residence is rapidly becoming it’s close proximity to the Mount Sentinel complex.

Late this afternoon, I reached my limit with reading and thinking, threw the esbit stove, 30 pounds of climbing hardware and water, and the DAS into my pack and set off. Upupup to the south summit, where I layered up, brewed up, sat and just watched the city.
It was very nice to cinch up the hood, sip green tea, and watch jets fly across the valley and land while getting buffeted by wind-blow flakes. That put my mind at ease. The hike up and down put the itch out of legs for a while, and now I can make pizza, get clean, and do some more work before going to sleep early for the long, full day of class tomorrow.

Little things make big things happen.