You Probably Won’t Believe This

It was many years ago on an Outward Bound adventure in the Three Sisters area of the Oregon Cascades that I learned the true power of the wilderness. I already knew that the mountains were not to be underestimated, that beauty and danger dance together in the wilds. But one night was different. I did not face the unpredictable weather, visiting bears, star-filled skies or miscellaneous injuries, but a night of mystic messages.

It started with a dream. Four of us were sleeping side-by-side in a large square shallow trench we had dug into the snow and covered with a tarp. It was May and we had been hiking through snow, and sleeping in these snug snow cocoons for several days on end. That night, as usual, we were pressed together like sardines, joking that we could not even turn over in our sleeping bags without waking the person next to us, as we each fell asleep.

And that is when the dream started. Instead of being wrapped up in a sleeping bag, jammed between two other hikers, my body was floating up to the sky. I spread my arms and glided up to the stars. My soul felt free and wild, and I remember thinking that I was destined to fly free of earthly restraints, free of judgments and rules, free of limits and boundaries. I am not sure how long this lasted, but at some point, I dropped back into my body and opened my eyes.

I was no longer wedged between my colleagues, I was lying lengthwise across their feet, still in my bag, while they were sound asleep. Somehow, I managed to shift around, with a great deal of effort and crawl back into my spot without awaking anyone and fell back asleep.

The sun woke me as it warmed our nest and filled it with pink light. I opened my eyes and looked at the person on my left, and found him looking at me. He smiled and said “I dreamed you were flying, you left the tent and soared in the sky. It was cool.” I stared at him, and told him I had the same dream, and ended up at the bottom of our snow trench across everyone’s feet. He sat up, leaned across me and shook the person on my right until they woke up. He asked them about their dreams, and yes, they too had dreamed that I had levitated out of our sleeping nook into the sky. And so did the fourth person in our band. We simply stared at each other, crawled outside and set about making tea and breakfast. We had another day of hiking with heavy packs in front of us, and decided to laugh off the dreams.

 Except I knew that mine was not a dream. I truly had levitated that night and flown into the sky. I still have no explanation for this, but I know it happened. Perhaps a message from the mystic mountains. I am not sure why I remember it so vividly tonight, on the darkest night of the year, when I have not thought about it for years. But the memory is bright and filling me with a sense that another miracle is about to enter my life.