Months ago we started planning a trip for a friend’s bachelor party. SoCal, Colorado, and Arizona were at the top of the list. Sedona won out, none of us having ever been. We got a rental house at the bottom of a valley. In its backyard there was a private pickleball court and a creek beyond that. Surrounded by high rock on each side, we were tucked in a little oasis for a few days.

Last summer I sold my little cabin on the lake.

What a dream it was! A soul searcher’s dream! Here I’d attempt to see how deep the well might reach into the rocky self.

In college I studied philosophy, by the book, but the cabin was a more hands-on experience. I played guitar many nights, writing verses to songs I wouldn’t finish. I hiked here and there. I drew and I dreamt. I fixed and updated much of the inside, bringing a Pinterest board to life. I read Sigurd Olson, and I started taking photos again. All on the edge of the wilderness.

You might think after walking twenty miles in the sun, up gravely ravines, through muddy pastures, and down steep hard pavement that sleep would come quickly when you lay down at night. For many it did. I was not usually so fortunate. Rooms were stuffy with sweaty clothes and humid air. Dull aches pulsed from my hip to knee to foot and back. I had a slice of bread for a mattress. The worst of it, though, was the snoring.

I thought September would be mild but summer still lingered. More than that, the heat of each day was no indication that the seasons were changing. This particular day, the only defense against the blazing sun were a few thin clouds drifting by. The route started in a bustling town then took us out into rolling hills of corn not yet harvested and stone buildings from centuries past. We trekked along the quiet asphalt, hoping over each crest we’d see a stretch of level ground or perhaps a bench in the shade. When life is stripped to such simplicity, the mind is clear of the heavy and nuanced issues of daily life and is usually left to consider the immediate. Happiness for me, today, would be found in the moment I could sit and wrestle my shoes off.