Trekking Trails to Nowhere

Posted On December 15, 2024

Into the forest he ventures

Unfamiliar the route

Chasing hope filled dream aspirations

Seeking destiny’s redoubt

Hiking hill, mountain, dale

Resolve’s sturdy staff stout

Slogging swamp, bog and swale

Facing fear’s silent shout

Braving rain, snow, foul weather

Spurning snow drifted growls

He journeys onwards towards nothing

Beyond coyote moon howls

Path’s false promise revealed

Windswept shadows cast doubt

Trekking tails to nowhere

With no clear course out

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I suspect we all find ourselves there occasionally. I know I do. We strike a course along what appears to be a promising path, only at some point to realize we’ve been following false hope’s trail.

I think it’s okay to hike trails occasionally that end up leading absolutely nowhere. It’s part of life’s learning process. However, the important thing, in my mind, is recognizing the fact that we are trekking such trails before prowling dangers devour us.

Don’t get me wrong.

There can undoubtedly be rewarding moments realized while exploring such trails.

But just how many December snow frogs will this great blue heron catch before he realizes he probably should have followed his instincts to more fruitful winter hunting grounds by making the trek a bit further south.

I recall just such an experience during our family’s Taekwondo journey. Granted, our family reaped many benefits from trekking that trail. Undoubtedly the mutual support, focus, discipline and self-confidence our three children developed as we together traversed that terrain helped them go on to realize the success that they have in their follow-on life ventures. However, none of that would have been possible if we had kept trekking that Taekwondo trail.

At about the time I reached 3rd degree black belt status I realized that there was no endpoint to that martial arts route. Those in charge would gladly dangle new belts in front of me for as long as I was willing to pay tuition, testing and tournament fees, buy uniforms and equipment, and spend evenings and weekends teaching their classes, free of charge. After investing all of that time, money and effort, I finally realized it was a never-ending trail to nowhere.

I’ve had another similar experience more recently, sharing my adventures and stories as a contributor to The Adirondack Almanack for the past several years.

For the better part of three years, I penned and contributed stories to them, often putting in thirty or forty hours a week or more creating and allowing them to share my work, free of charge, on their platform. In the end, my submissions to them numbered well over one hundred. Granted, as with Taekwondo, I reaped benefits from following that route. Initially, I gained reader exposure that I otherwise would not have. They provided a platform through which I could hone my writer’s skill set. However, there came a point in time where I realized that there was nothing more there for me, nor was there ever going to be.

Again, as with Taekwondo, they were more than willing to continue to allow me to write and share stories through them, free of charge, for as long as I was willing providing them with a well-received source of content to help fill in the gaps between their own efforts. But it became clear that I would never be given the opportunity to expand my resume by having one of my submissions published in their parent Adirondack Explorer magazine, even after expressing a desire for that to occur, and offering to let them do so for nothing more than the cost of a by-line.

In short, they would gladly let me mow their lawn for as long as I was willing to do so free of charge. But under no circumstance would I ever be considered for membership in their private club. It got to the point where my efforts for them were actually taking me further from other personal writing goals and endeavors. I was clearly trekking another trail to nowhere.

While I did, for the most part, enjoy sharing my work via the Almanack, in the short time since leaving that particular trail, I’ve completed two self-illustrated children’s stories; “Campfire Bears”, and “There’s Room in My Garden”. Both of which have been turned into Shutterfly books for my grandchildren. I also now have the time to pursue have a number of other writing projects that have languished on the back burner for far too long.

In conclusion, as I sit here putting the finishing touches on this piece, it occurs to me that perhaps sometimes the journey IS the destination. Perhaps, as long as we are able to identify them as such and don’t stay on them indefinitely, trails to nowhere can be of value as we trek towards life’s quests.

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Until Our Trails Cross Again:

ADKO