Spiritual Insights from the Colorado Trail
By Jayden Jones
The Colorado Trail has long attracted avid thru-hikers and mountaineers, who spend an average of four to six weeks hiking 567 miles from Denver to Durango at an average elevation of 10,300 feet. Some who undertake this arduous journey are often drawn to the intense mental and physical challenge the Colorado Trail presents, while others seek out the peace and silence of the trail as an escape from the relentless busyness of an urban lifestyle. Still others aim to achieve some semblance of self-discovery, hoping the trail will instruct them, form them and teach them.
When Father John Nepil, vice rector and professor of Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, set out on the Colorado Trail, he was motivated by more than the mountaineer’s unquenchable desire for alpine adventure or the thrill-seeking and escapism that thrives in the outdoor community. He was motivated by the love of the Creator himself.
“The purpose of adventure isn’t escapism,” Father Nepil said. “It’s love.”
In his new book, To Heights and Unto Depths: Letters from the Colorado Trail, Father Nepil recounts his experience hiking the Colorado Trail and explores the rich relationship between the outdoors and the Catholic faith.
“When we speak about the outdoors,” Father Nepil said, “we’re speaking about creation. Creation is a gift from a gift-giver, which is the Creator. When we silence our hearts, shut the phones off and immerse ourselves in creation, our humanity re-awakens to the fact that things are alive because of the mystery at the origin of things, which is the love of God. [That love] manifests itself in things that are living and things that are beautiful, like mountains.”
There is a universal reaction to the true, good and beautiful that we all experience as humans. A particularly spectacular sunset; a copse of trees growing in the belly of a mountain valley; the magnificent expanse of stars across the night’s sky awakens something inside of us. Intuitively, we receive it as a gift. Everything assumes a new meaning, a new majesty. We understand that every aspect of life is suffused with meaning.
“There’s something we all experience in our humanity of being re-awakened by the power, beauty and majesty of creation,” Father Nepil explained. “It is a gift of love that is meaningful and given to us who are able to mirror the love of God in our own lives. When you start to see reality like that, it becomes so unbelievably beautiful and replete with meaning that it’s hard to look for anything else.”
Though he has climbed all 54 Colorado’s 14ers not once but twice, Father Nepil didn’t immediately fall in love with the outdoors. In fact, he describes his first 14er as a rather negative experience.
“I did not want to do this,” he recalled. “It wasn’t until I got into high school and started hanging out with some guys who were really outdoorsy that I really fell in love [with the outdoors]. That’s when I knew this was going to be a part of my life forever. What I didn’t realize was how becoming a Christian and a disciple of Jesus would radically transform my experience of the outdoors in a way that didn’t inhibit it, just purified and deepened my own kind of selfish, egotistical pursuit of the outdoors.”
As Christians and Catholics, we are called to experience creation as more than a means of self-glorification or escape. Rather, an experience in creation, whether a tranquil neighborhood walk, time spent in the garden, or an intense hike in the Rocky Mountains, is an invitation to communion with Christ.
Creation calls us out of our thermostat-moderated world of comfort and control. It demands a response. When the frigid wind blows, we must pull on our coats to keep ourselves warm. When the rain falls, we accept that we will inevitably get wet. When the sun beats down, we understand that it will likely burn us. This way of responding, of receiving, in which we intuitively yet intentionally respond to what is in front of us, is an integral part of the Christian life.
But we can’t do it alone, Father Nepil emphasized. In fact, he hiked the entirety of the Colorado Trail with two other men. At various stages, the group was joined by other men, priests and laity.
“They’re not just adventure buddies,” Father Nepil said of his friends, “they’re companions in the search for truth, goodness and beauty.”
This is yet another way creation instructs and enriches our understanding of our faith. It cannot be lived alone. When the trail becomes arduous, when each step takes a herculean effort, we inevitably find that our individual efforts are insufficient. We need companions, faithful friends with whom we can grapple with daily life’s great mysteries and agonies. We need friends to laugh and cry with, to argue with and to walk with.
Although it takes place in a wilderness setting, Into Heights and Unto Depths is by no means only a book for avid backpackers and hikers.
Creation is a gift the Lord gives freely and abundantly, whether you experience it in the greenbelt behind your house, on the ski slopes or deep in the backcountry. To integrate creation into your spiritual life, you don’t necessarily need to be an avid backpacker or spend hours upon hours outside. Appreciating creation however you’re able can deepen your spiritual life by helping you to “cultivate our worldview in Christ” — a concept Father Nepil describes as the purpose of his new book.
