Trailblazers

Slow Down and Leave a Trail

When I was young, I admired people who were the “first”… the first to climb a mountain, fly across an ocean, or walk on the moon.  Now I admire people who are not only the first but also take the time to blaze a trail for others to follow.  Webster defines a trailblazer as “a person who makes a new track through a wild country.”  My Dad and I have been working the past few weeks to do just that. 

There’s a beautiful, rugged canyon just five minutes from our home where we love to ride our horses.  Unfortunately, it was dangerously narrow, with a road, a stream, and steep mountain cliffs on either side.  The only way to ride through it was on the busy, hazardous road.  Last week my Dad found a way to create a safe ride through the canyon.  He blazed a trail crossing the stream at one end of the canyon and up a mountainside to create a lovely loop trail.  He enlisted me to help in the effort.  While we worked on the trail, I was amazed at how attentive he was in making sure it would be safe and comfortable as possible for those who would use it in the future.  This is a picture is of him removing rocks and creating gradual switchbacks up a steep part of the trail.

We can get so excited about climbing the mountains of success in our lives that it’s easy to forget to slow down and create pathways for those who come after.  Mentorship is a powerful way to do just that.  That’s an instinctive trait of my father, probably because it is in his blood.  He was named after his great grandfather, Edson Whipple, one of the first 50 pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 as part of The First Encampment.  Fifty-seven thousand settlers followed on the trail they blazed. My father was born exactly 100 years after this historic event.  “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson