walking down from a dune

 i saw a wind-weathered tree

that looked like i imagined a ‘beach cactus’ would look

if they existed

just standing very still by lake michigan

(somewhat like me at one point in the middle of the dune odyssey)

—

we went on a hike

in a beautiful park

with tall grasses and water and rocks and views and sand dunes

 that began with

 one dune

  looking forward to the rolling hills and flats

but we didn’t exactly

ever make it to the place where we were headed

turned into a bigger adventure than we had imagined

 perhaps we never found the official ‘trail’

but we did find

dune after dune after dune

after dune

and once we got over one

we found another

and another

and another

 i announced that it was like

we were in one of those old desert plane crash movies

all soft sand and more soft sand

and more soft sand

mostly uphill

thought

i may have to sleep there

or have them drag my carcass out

we may have to send one ahead

or leave one behind

and finally

after a few hours of climbing and descending

a refreshing rain, a snack, another few sets of dunes

we arrived

far from where we were headed

far from where we had started

at the very top of the ‘big dune’

looking down toward another lake

walked down this last dune

and

got a ride back to where we had started

surprised we had gone so far

didn’t have to send someone or leave someone

but it was a bit ‘iffy’ at certain points

interesting conversations happened along the way

i learned i could do more than i thought i was capable of

because there really were no options

and i did have a few comments

good thing i wasn’t the navigator

or we might still be there now

good training, good workout, good adventure, all good

and i’m still finding good sand…

—

“the voyager’s path is marked by the stars and not the sand dunes.”

-nilotic proverb