The Best of Intentions

The Best of Intentions:

I set out on this journey with the best of intentions to write as often as possible, to make an effort to show all of you the beauty of this place through what was written. Clearly that has been rather difficult to do. Not difficult because of other things taking priority, not because of work or being crazy out of control busy, rather, I find it difficult to put into words what I see. This place was obviously created to be seen, and nothing else.

I can take a picture of the mountains, of the ice, of the snow, the sky; anything. I can write about all that I see, in the most acute detail, making it very clear, but truth be told it would never do it justice. If God created the heavens and the earth then He created this place as His refuge.

A piercing wind can howl through the sky carrying with it flutters of snow and ice that sting your face and burn your eyes, your ears can quite literally freeze in seconds, and your skin will remain wind chapped and red for the next hour as a result. The sky is often gray and hidden, casting a dim light on the white which you see all around you. Mountains surround us attempting to break free from the ice baring their brown skin of dirt and rock, an effort almost wasted, except for the brown burlap that seems to be beneath the snow on an occasional mountain.

The other day I walked to Hut Point. It's a shelter that was built 100 years ago for those who sailed in and chose to stay and explore. The walk alone was beautiful, getting out of our little town and seeing more of the surrounding beauty. As the sun will never go all the way down while we are here, the sky looked like an early summer afternoon, with oranges and purples in the sky and bright white clouds glowing in the sun. The snow crunched beneath our feet as we walked the short walk to the edge of our world. From the hut you can see the sea ice, locked in place with the cold, still as anything I have ever seen. I took a short detour up a little ridge off to the right, to see the view from a bit of a higher vantage point. As the crunch of ice and snow was present, and the fog of my breath clouded my sunglasses, when I reached the top of the hill my breath left me, my heart stopped, and I felt God.

A vast expanse of ocean lay before me, with white mountains in the distance, the sun shining off of the ice and suddenly I knew what real beauty was. The only sound was the wind in my ears, and the sound of ice hitting my jacket. The world stood still. You could see the currents and tides trapped in the ice, the sea clearly fighting its perpetual stillness. The world had been put on pause. Farther off to the right was an area of ice that was shooting up from the flat surface, what I now know to be pressure ridges, areas of the ice that have been pushed farther and farther up from the ice shelf due to water underneath it's surface. When not frozen it would be a beach, now it was just a rough cove of softly coated sharp ice.

It's dry, it's harsh, its windy, and obviously, it's cold; it is also one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I haven't gotten out much, I haven't seen all the sights yet, but the adventure is calling me, I can hear it ring in my ears, I can feel it's pull on my senses.

This truly is a place that is meant to be seen, to be felt, to be experienced at a level that will impact you, that will change you, that will help you to find yourself. One can't see what I see everyday and not feel something, not be amazed, not feel humbled.

Soon the winds will slow, the snow and ice will melt, and the true adventure will begin. And I can't wait.