Bare feet

Bare feet
by Blaise Koller
Rio Grande Headwaters
September 7 2018

Nicholas led Xena, Sarah, Jenn, Kyle, and I on a silent walk across the Rio Grande and up the mountainside. Nicholas and I went barefoot throughout the walk. Walking across the marshy areas, where tributaries precede the larger body of the Rio Grande, there is the wetness and the softness of the mud. One can more easily see the evidence of the large animals (Moose, Cows, etc.) through this marshy area than anywhere I've ever been. Their tracks sink deep into the wet ground, memories of their movements imprinted on the earth before us. The grasses grow taller in some places, and in some places are noticeably cut in a line from the munching game. The presence of these teeth-cut dry grasses becomes clear to soft bare feet too, when they are buried slightly beneath the mud. The softness allows at once, ones feet to sink deeper without resistance, and to more heavily come in contact with pointy, dry grasses digging into soft flesh. The softness and sharpness simultaneously created an odd feeling within me that perhaps countering sharpness with softness will only worsen and accentuate the sharpness in some cases. They were not strong enough to pierce my skin, but present enough for me to know they were there. As we walked across the river, every stones presence was made aware by my touching it with such a thin boundary of skin between myself and itself. The curves and sharp edges were made known, and shaped how my foot stepped and responded to their presence. Walking up the hill, there were areas of soft moss and ground, in contrast with sharp dry pine needles and fallen wood, still somewhat hard, rotting on the ground. The opening of my feet to the world made me feel the differences between each step, the places where water and sun met the earth, where needles dropped and mostly, it made me slow down. In order to minimize damage to the earth under my feet, but also minimize damage to my own tender feet, I had to look carefully where I was going, feel with my foot before putting all my weight onto it in order to take the best path where I was located. Feeling the difference between the different parts of this area of the headwaters, all relatively close to each other gave me more of a perspective of what it meant to be in this place in my body, something that reading about it could never have done.