On top of a Hill

I hiked up Sehome hill this morning, not really planning to but trusting my feet to take me were they might. I ended up near campus and saw an inviting, if not foreboding, dark worn path leading strait up into the woods which was to tempting to pass by. Not outfitted with the proper shoes made the steep slick climb more difficult but I found the perfect gnarled walking staff to help me up the bank.
I was sweating by the time I got up the first ledge but was surprised at how good I felt. I let out a hurrah! To the birds and the squirrels who I could feel watching me from above. Climbing, staying off the paths, I scrambled through the light brush. The sun was breaking through the high branches giving the ferns and twigs a vivid quality of life. I had been reading CS Lewis earlier this morning and had the image of the "wood between worlds" fresh in my mind which made the whole setting all the more pleasant.
Finally, I got to the top and climbed the steps of the tower in the arboretum. From the top of the tower I caught my breath and wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked out over Bellingham and into Canada. I stared for a long while at the scene below, the harbor and her boats, the silent traffic which seemed to be moving slowly northward on 1-5, and to the west, were Mt. Baker rose out of the earth, making everything else seem insignificant in comparison. The hill, the valley, and the bay blurred together, as my eyes relaxed, and the scene became one of those 3-d posters that used to be sold at the malls. All the houses became camp sites in the middle of the woods. I wondered why every night isn't spent outside in the backyard roasting marshmallows and wieners with neighbors sharing adjacent camping spots.
All that pondering was broken up by a frisky terrier who had climbed the tower and began running in circles just feet from me. He did not realize I was there and when he did he charged me with a vicious little bark. Maybe he was embarrassed that he was an excited terrier. Or perhaps he was genuinely startled. A moment later the dog's owner appeared and calmed the dog down and the dog and I became friends. The owner was an old man, with a wrinkled face that captured all the happy moments of his life. He pointed to his boat far below in the distant bay. It was only a white blurry speck to my eyes but I said it was a fine boat and he was happy about that. He said goodbye after a while and him and his playful dog disappeared down the tower steps. I stayed on the tower for another couple minutes breathing in the morning air and said a little prayer and then made my way down Sehome hill and had a great day afterwards.