Footprints in the wild? Yes, there are many footprints in the wild, wild mountains.
Well, a hunter or a wildlife enthusiast often try to track down animals in the forest by looking for their paw marks in the wild.
And, there were tales of droppings or strings of thread left along the way to find a way back home, but footprints?
Man too leaves footprints not only in the sand but also in the wild.
Often, as we travel along, we find abandoned shoes and other items on the way. Ever thought whose shoes or sandals they belong to… their footprints now gone.
Somehow, the torn and abandoned odd shoe or pair of shoes, which might have once done some good to a trekker or a traveller, give an eerie feeling of their souls being around, somewhere beside you in the forest deep. Did they return home or wander away never to come back?
Wherever they may have been, wherever they are now, footprints, they left behind…, deep and beautiful. Some see them, some don't. Bless the souls who chanced upon them.
They went before us and led the road less travelled. But how do you leave behind footprints in the wild?
A neatly thrashed pathway in the wild. They cleared the thickets and bushes and made way for all, deep into many untrodden places.
They removed the rough barriers. Piles of stones and rocks or a huge boulder rolled away in some corner… Now, we can walk through the deep easily.
Stepping stones pushed around up some steep or marshy pathways… The climb uphill and downhill is easier.
Slaps of rocks under a shady tree… we can stop by the woods and rest here for a while.
A small bamboo shed or a log-wood cabin that one chance upon sometimes.
We can camp a night here or get some shelter from the rain while out trekking in the forest.
Firewood neatly stacked, an old fireplace in some place… That small plank of wood that help you cross a river or a streamThe list is endless.
They came, they felt and let go their souls wherever they travelled. And left behind footprints deep, beautiful, awe-inspiring and mystical…