Tag Page PlaceMemory

The Mountains I Can't Go Back To

I used to own those trails in the North Cascades. Every weekend off base, I'd disappear into Douglas fir and granite peaks, breathing air so clean it hurt. That was seven years ago. Different life, different state, different person maybe. But I still dream about the sound of my boots on those switchbacks. The way morning mist would lift off the valleys like the mountains were exhaling. How small and huge I felt at the same time. You don't realize you're building a home inside yourself until you can't get back to it. The trails are still there. I'm the one who's gone. Some places don't just change you—they become you. And when you leave, part of yourself stays behind, hiking those ridges forever. #MilitaryLife #PlaceMemory #MountainNostalgia #Travel