Conquering the Mountain

About a week ago I hiked the mountain by my house in Provo.

I had no map.

I had no GPS.

I had no trail.

I had no knowledge other than what I could see.

Just me and the mountain.

It was awesome.

What did I learn?

Well, this is how I got up the mountain: I would look around me, and based on what I could see I would take what looked like the easiest and best path up. That put me in some precarious situations. At one point, as I was literally pulling myself up by grabbing roots and what not, I realized "this hill is so vertical that if I were to lay down, I would just slide all the way down!"

Eventually I made it up the mountain, but I realized later that it was definitely not the most effective way that I could have made it up the mountain (which was actually fine with me; I did this purely to feel like a man and conquer the mountain). In fact, someone told me that there is a trail on the other side that I could have used to get about halfway up. 

I realized on my way up that there are a lot of parallels between climbing a mountain and life. The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us all the things I was missing. It teaches us about the entire plan, and provides a map of where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. The Holy Ghost is like a GPS that can  beep at us and tell us (in an English accent?) that we need to turn around. It even recalculates our course when we make a wrong turn, and tells us how to get back on track. We have a trail, a path to walk, outlined by the example of the life of Christ. He showed us how to live and where to make our daily walk. Through faith we can know much more than we can see. Our knowledge is not limited to our sight. We can know spiritual truths as well. And finally, it is not just me and the mountain. I have a companion, a Savior, every step of the way. And when (not if) I do fall, He is there to pick me up and help me keep moving upward. 

Here are a few pictures. 

This is right before the final ascent. 

This is a view of Springville from the top. It was a beautiful day. 

Found this cave on the way down. Yes I looked for wild animals. No I didn't find any. 

Here is a view of my neighborhood from the top. The red line outlines my ward, and the star is where my house is.