For the most part, I have done my very best to keep my articles as light handed as possible when it comes to the spiritual aspect. However, there is a very deep spiritual side to me that, when in the wild places that I have described, is set free and it is purely liberating.

To go into the woods is an all be it fun and peaceful experience. To go into the woods alone is even more so. Without the company of your closest friends or family, there is so much more to take in and learn. There is no other thoughts or words spoken by anyone around you and that may seem harsh but when coupled with the birdsong that flood the surrounding branches or the rushing, thunderous sounds of a nearby river or waterfall, there is certain purity to everything. It is all to you and you alone as if it was made for you to witness.

I never truly believed in Religion. There are too many rules. I was raised Roman Catholic by my family, brought to church every Sunday by Mom. We sat for an hour that always seemed longer to me as a kid and most times, to get me to go, she either had to bribe me with bagels afterward or drag me along with no alternative. To me, Religion was a chore. As I got older, I saw my opinion changing and my choices challenging that of the church. I preferred more historical fact based texts and scientific articles over a book made thousands of years ago and edited countless times by numerous patrons that thought their word was a necessary addition. With that decision, I was done learning from religion. For a number of years, I kept my faith in reason and science. I kept to myself and I had a reason for everything until I got lost on a mountain.

Tremper was a defining moment in my life, and not because I reached the top with my friends, but because we all got lost up there and to this day still can't explain with clarity how we made it out. As our initial decision to go off trail found us excited and filled with a sense of adventure, time flew by and fear started to grip us. We kept climbing, myself thinking that the next flat spot would surely be the trail, but the old jeep road never showed. We were on a glacier-carved mountain, packed with rock layered like the steps of stairs. Every time it flattened out, the only thing we'd see is green trees and black rocks. We kept at it for what seemed like hours, hoofing up the steps, each time having us feel even more tired than the last. Finally, we decided to rest at the next step, but I wanted to press on a few hundred more feet, just to the next step. It looked like a trail. I went up and climbed desperately, praying for the trail, but alas, only a clearing was revealed. I found a flat boulder to sit on, and I thought to myself how stupid I must be to get all of my friends lost. Then, I heard someone, singing loudly, as if it was just behind the next set of trees. It was deafening and sounded enchanting. Instantly, I thought of the trail, and better yet the top of the mountain. I thought someone would be singing a native american prayer of some kind at the top or something to that effect. My heart soared and I called out to the voice. "Hello!".......No response. The voice came back and even louder, singing so purely, so wonderfully. I yelled again. "Hello, help, we're lost!".....Still no reply. The voice never came back, and I sat there, confused. My friends rejoined me in a few minutes after resting and immediately questioned me. "Patrick, did you hear that singing." "Yeah, you guys heard it too?" "yeah.....was that you?" "No". We all sat there confused. What was it? What on earth could it be? None of us made the sound and there were no houses for miles, nobody around at all.

After puzzling for an answer to what we just heard, my best friend Jeff caught our attention, "Hey guys I found a rope," we all rushed to him. He wasn't lying. He had found a luminescent green tether going up the mountain anchored to the ground. We knew that this was placed by someone and it was very well put together. We made the decision to follow it and within 15 minutes of following this green rope, we made it back on the trail. As we got back on, we met two hikers on their way up and immediately I asked if they had heard singing from a woman. They shook their heads and turned away from us like we were crazy and even sped up their pace. We all sat there, confused beyond belief at what happened on that mountain. I still question that day, if it really happened, but I have 4 others to confirm it all.

I started to question more and more, I couldn't reach any other explanation other than it was a spirit, one who meant to help us. After that day, my friend Eric, who accompanied me as well, told all of our experience to his mother. He later came to me and told me that it was his ancestors protecting us. He was majority of Mohawk descent and when looking at the historical boundaries compared to Native Indian territories, the mountain we climbed fell within their land. This made me question things even more. Could there really be more than just science. I started to toy with this thought. As the year passed, I contemplated a future as a ranger and ultimately moving to Montana, but I wasn't sure of my decision. My mother came to me and told me that if I was curious about Montana to call Charlie, our old neighbor who had moved there. I took her up on the offer and for a couple weeks, we got no response from him.

While in college, I started to toy around with the idea of spirit. I jokingly stated in the classroom (before anyone had come in) "If spirit exists, give me a sign that I am meant to go to Montana." A few moments later, the class filled up, my "favorite subject", math. I started to doze off as the teacher droned on, and had a short dream. I was in Glacier National Park and I heard myself talking to someone. I woke up. No one noticed me sleeping and I continued on with class with no other problems. Class ended and I went home. As soon as I entered the house, mom told me I had a message on the phone. I listened, it was Charlie! "Hey Pat, if you are so curious about Montana, why don't you come over for a week, see if it's for you. My door is always open," I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. First I have a dream about Montana and then Charlie responds the same day after weeks of no answer? I was hard pressed to say no. I applied to UofM and awaited a response. That night, I had a dream of myself lying on my bed with my laptop and an email opening up saying I was accepted and sure enough, a few months later that's exactly what happened. I was starting to believe that things larger than science could in fact exist and at the center of it all was nature.

I couldn't stand to sit in a church anymore, but almost every weekend I would go out to the woods to just sit and listen. I hear the trickling of the nearby stream, the comical quaking of mallards down further, chirps of sparrows and robins around me in the bushes, and the wind that lightly brushes past me every now and again. I was in a church of my own and it went with me everywhere I went.

As I ventured to Montana, the religion not of God but of God's creations stuck with me. Even now as I sit in my chair, I think of the mountains around me and the lessons I can learn, the sights I can see, and the noises I can hear to better myself and gain a deeper understanding of life and its complex system that is so carefully weaved together. The valley to the north seems so inviting that it calls to me every time I look upon it, beckoning me with wispy clouds wrapped around great snow-capped peaks. I can't help but feel a sense of greatness looking up, gazing at those mountains all the time. There's something about it now that feels godlike; as if it is there for me to climb and witness from the top all the glorious wonders abound.

I was raised Catholic and taught to praise God, but through the baptism of getting lost and finding myself in the many trips to the woods and now the valleys, I have been inducted into a religion of my own making. A religion that has no walls and no hierarchy but that of Nature itself. I have found spiritual freedom in my journeys and through that freedom, I have truly found God.