Seemingly Impossible Angles

Climbing a mountain with the sun

Seemingly Impossible Angles

It was a morning made for climbing up the Stansbury Mountains with the sun!  The sky was a brightening blue.  Overnight rain had the effect of cooling the temperature, as well as arresting the seemingly endless dust, normally thrown from tires traveling on the mountainous roads of dirt.  So, Kilee Johnson and I were excited to get our wheels in motion.

“Let’s go to that place we’ve never been before.”  Kilee suggested as we headed up the road toward North Willow Canyon.

Her suggestion heightened our anticipation.  I could feel a little more excitement in my chest, as if blown there by the wind passing across my body, over the doors of the side-by-side ATV we were riding in.  It wasn’t long before we were well rewarded by her choice.

The road turned from dirt into a trail of lose rock, marked by route signs.  So, I flipped the switch over to four-wheel-drive and shifted the transmission to low.

“Can we go up that?”  Kilee asked, as we looked forward at one particularly troubling part of the trail.

It had been washed, transformed into a deep crevasse, punctuated by some large boulders.  And, it all came together at seemingly impossible angles.  I could feel my breath catch before I answered her.

“I don’t know!”  I breathed out.  “I’ve never been over terrain like that before.”

“Oh!  That makes me feel really confident about it!”  Kilee answered with slight quiver in her voice.

Before I spent too much time thinking about it, my right foot slowly pushed the accelerator petal down in a measured, deliberate manner.  We began to crawl forward and up.

“Are we going to roll over doing this?”  Kilee called out above the engine noise.

I didn’t answer with my voice.  I simply kept the machine on a steady ascent right through the most challenging aspect.

“Can you believe what this machine can do?”  I asked while turning ever so slightly toward my traveling companion.

“It’s amazing!” She answered back with her eyes looking at the rocks just ahead.

The rest of our climb up the marked boulder strewn trail was not as thrilling in the same way.  It was beautiful though!  When we made it to the end of the trail, to the border of the wilderness area, we simply looked over at each other and smiled.  We shared a feeling of accomplishment, having shared something fun and worthwhile as we started to make our way back down.

I have to tell you though, I was a little worried about the seemingly impossible angles we both knew were not too far away.

“You get to sit on the scary side this time.”  I said as we neared that particular terrain.

Kilee just looked over at me and wryly said, “Oh.  Thanks!”

When we got to that spot, I was seeing it from a different angle for the first time!  It wasn’t nearly as frightening from this new vantage point and we seemed to skate right through it was relative ease.  Whew!

“You know, when you look at a problem you’re facing from different angles, it reveals hidden opportunity!”  I said just past that one spot.

“That’s exactly right!”  Kilee responded as we continued our morning, now, descent.

“It was a morning made for climbing up the Stansbury Mountains with the sun!” I said to myself as we pulled back onto the blacktopped road to finish our little adventure. 

The sky was a brightening blue.  Overnight rain had the effect of cooling the temperature, as well as arresting the seemingly endless dust, normally thrown from tires traveling on the mountainous roads of dirt.  And, we were both excited to rediscover that facing problems with seemingly impossible angles, while traveling on the road of life, can be dealt with more successfully by taking the time to change one’s view and approach.

It reveals once hidden opportunity!