Power Path: A series of caches placed approximately .10 miles
apart. Visit the Spencer Power Path series in the summer by rail -
Alaska Railroad's Spencer Glacier Whistlestop (taken from
Anchorage, Girdwood, Whittier, or Portage) or in winter by
snowmachine.
After seeing threads in the forums related to power paths in
the past few months and after having completed the E.T. Highway
power path last year, I've had the question of power paths and
their relative merits steeping in my subconscious. I've recently thought of walking a
powerline placing caches to form a power path (pun intended). Then
I pondered whether the Denali Highway might make an interesting or
tedious power path with its miles of often washboard
gravel.
Today, I experienced the ranger-led walk to Spencer Lake and
realized that we were stopping at natural intervals of
approximately .10 miles to view/experience different aspects of the
landscape.
This reminded me of my experience with the E.T. Highway power
path in Nevada. I have great fondness for the desert in its
non-heat stroke inducing times. By traveling that highway and
stopping at .10 intervals, I was able to watch the Buttes, the
cactus, the hills and the curves of the roads, the thunderstorms,
and the snowstorms, arrive increment by increment as if I was
watching a movie frame by frame. If it had not been for geocaching,
I would have traveled the road at 70mph and missed a deeply
connecting experience and one that I would undertake again, given
the right place, the right mindset, and the right time.
Today, the ranger asked us to stop and view the range of
colors present in the landscape. At another place we viewed the
tracks of bears beginning their spring search for food. In yet
another, we closed our eyes to experience the sounds of the birds
and creek.
Now I'm offering you the opportunity to repeat that experience
whether with a ranger or on your own or with family or friends.
Instead of rushing down the trail to see the "big ticket item" of
Spencer Glacier, you can choose to take the time to step onto the
path less traveled and stop at each cache. You can ponder what you find in
the 360-degrees of vision and also within the other senses,
including your inner landscapes of mind, spirit, and heart or you
can cache for the numbers or for the camaraderie. The power of the path is that you
give it the meaning that is right for you.
Every journey begins with a step (internal or external). Every
step becomes a path.