night walk

          I gathered my things and walked out of the door. It was 6pm, pitch black, and cold. My butt was going to freeze out in the middle of the bush. My ski pants were a size too small, so my thighs and butt cheeks were tight; but I promised myself that I would dress as warm as possible for this lab session. Our class was going on a night walk. In the pitch black. Yikes.

            Everyone poured into a vehicle. As we drove out of Kamloops the lights from the city disappeared behind us. A manifestation of foreboding anxiety washed over me. It was dark. Really dark. We turned onto a gravel road and parked. As everyone gathered around to collect a head lamp, my friend Bo had ripped the zipper tab on his jacket. Great. I tried to help him re-attach the zipper, but had no luck. Our fussing disrupted the class, “Mo and Bo” causing havoc once again.

            We began our hike up the mountain. The darkness was almost comforting; however, I actually think that being sandwiched in the middle of the group as we went up the hill was what was comforting. We are not supposed to like the dark, for a large portion of our early human days, we were far from the top of the food chain. Our ancestors learned that many predators prefer the cover of the darkness to hunt and over time that associated strengthened into a subconscious absolute: stay out of the dark because that’s where the danger is. The only danger out here was the mountain bikers! I couldn’t believe people were biking in the pitch black with only a light at the front of their bike. Everyone quickly dived to the side of the trail to make way. As we kept going up and up, no one spoke. Everyone was silent, and it was peaceful. Eventually we stopped at tree and had to identify it. I knew it! There was no that we wouldn’t be identifying plants on this filed trip; even in the dark. This hill was mainly dominated by Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir trees. Eventually we got to the top of the hill.

            It was chilly, but fresh. When looking over the edge of the cliff I could see lights brightening the freeway, when I looked the other direction, there was sheer darkness. The class gathered an we were given black paper and white pencils. We were to draw the landscape, or whatever we could see. Bo, Sabina, Allison and I found a soft patch of lichen to sit on and began sketching the nothingness in front of us. As we sketched, we got cold. As we complained about being cold, Bo was sipping on some hot tea he brought along with him. Freezing, Allison and I begged for a sip. After sketching our landscapes, the four of us gathered to where the rest of the class was. We were given hot chocolate, tea and cookies for our heroic efforts on this hill on a chilly night.

            As we made our way back down the hill back to the cars, the entire class walk in silence. It is interesting how walking in the dark in a large group is comforting, because I know that if I was alone on this hill, I would be terrified.

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