"The summer hiking season is over as I push through the thicket and the changing fall foliage. Zion National Park's Kolob Terrace is a great place to hike in summer; the increase in elevation makes summer temperatures relaxing and enjoyable in this desert environment, but fall comes first to the high mountains; you can feel it in the air see it in the leaves." (1)

Even now, 13 years later, whenever I read the opening passage to this trip report of my ascent of South Guardian Angel, I can smell the air and feel the calm wind on my face. "I think you've got to paint... like you have to write... what you know," says William L. Shirer. The short section of Shirer's book "Twentieth Century Journey" is summarized by Jamie Todd Rubin in his blog article "Discovering Your Niche" (2) and reverberates through me as I read.

Shirer had a friend from Iowa, an American painter who would become best known for his "regionalism" paintings of the rural midwest. (3) Born in Iowa, Grant DeVolson Wood eventually finds himself employed as an art teacher in Cedar Rapids, traveling to Europe during the summer months to study art. (4) Wood, it seems, believed that he "couldn't get started as a painter unless you went to Paris." (5) Later Wood laments of all the years he wasted trying to paint landscapes that Renoir and Monet had painted finally realizing that he would never know the French countryside in the same way. "All I really know is Iowa. The farm at Anamosa. Milking cows. Cedar Rapids. I'm going home for good... and I'm going to paint those damn cows and barns."

It is, as Mr. Rubins points out in his blog article, "a remarkably astute self-assessment." I pause and think awhile about my writings, primarily trip reports of places I've hiked, and mountains climbed. Discovering how accurate Woods's statement is when I have walked the path and can vividly recall what I've seen in my mind's eye as it flows to paper.

In 2000 Dan Brown published a book entitled "Angels & Demons," followed quickly by the international bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" in 2003. The series stars Robert Langdon, a symbologist who in "Angels & Demons" tracks the ancient brotherhood of the Illuminati through crypts and catacombs "following a 400-year old trail... across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair." (6) The book is an exciting read and the movie by the same name directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones brought to light the details of the book. So much so that when Linda and I visited Rome in 2012, it was not unusual to see copies of Dan Brown's book in the hands of tourists retracing his steps.

Finding one's niche is essential in any creative endeavor. Whether that is painting those damn cows, creating a fictional trail across Rome, or putting your energy into writing creative nonfiction, as Jamie Rubin concludes in his blog article, I think drawing inspiration from our experiences is essential. So I'll continue to share my passion for hiking and climbing in the mountains I love (among other things).

Written March 20, 2023

Footnotes

South Guardian Angel Trip Report was originally published at Linda’s Brick Barn. https://lindasbrickbarn.com/steves-trip-reports/2019/7/16/south-guardian-angel-the-guardian-angels-quad
Rubin, Jamie. "Discovering Your Niche." Jamie Rubin, 17 Apr. 2022, https://jamierubin.net/2022/04/17/discovering-your-niche/.
Grant Wood. (2023, February 13). In _Wikipedia_. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood
Ibid (Wikipedia, 2023)
Ibid (Rubin, 2022)
Amazon book summary. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075V6WJ9X?binding=paperback&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tpbk&qid=1679318205&sr=1-1-9e7645f9-2d19-4bff-863e-f6cdbe50f990