There's Something With Being Up There...

I ask myself, why do I climb mountains? I'm no athlete nor do I regularly engage in fitness routines. To walk uphill for hours, at times, in the rain, soaked, and on knee deep mud. Enduring muscle cramps, fatigue and thirst with the weight of a half a sack of rice at my back all the time. Risking injury or even worse with a simple misstep on foothold.

Nonetheless, I still do it.

Then I answered myself back. Not in words, but in a collage of images...

dew on leaves
fog in the morning
a cup of hot coffee that you share with two other people
footprint on dried mud
sipping a drink
butterfly in a flower
silhouette of sunrise behind the trees
hot soup simmering on a portable stove
moonlight
using a fallen log as bench
shirt hanging on a branch of a tree
the view when looking down from a cliff
slicing vegetables with a pocketknife
red clay soil
people sitting around a camp lamp
clutter inside my tent
bright beam of light from my headlamp
eating with my hands
muddy shoes
lying on grass
chocolates in your pocket
a hammock with four people
spring water in a slow but steady flow
an aluminum bottle hanging from your waist
wild berries
spent bottles of rhum
low lying clouds
the perfect sunset...

With these things, it wouldn't help to explain something that may only be felt firsthand.
Nature has a way of changing our perspective. Not all are cut out for this type of hobby, but I'm glad I am... without the need to explain why...