CARRIE SPEAKING
  • Stories • Récits
  • Photos
    • Femmes des Rues
    • Meian
    • Get Lost.
    • Portraits of Golden BC
    • Order Prints
  • Blog
  • 4WD

The Weirdest Smell

14/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Hiking the Ngauruhoe area in New Zealand, Winter 2015. © Carrie Speaking
Hiking the Ngauruhoe area in New Zealand, Winter 2015. © Carrie Speaking
I injured my back one month ago and today was my very first hike since then. A very easy, flat-ish, 9km-return hike on packed snow. I missed it so much! I missed the rhythmic motion of my body when it hikes and carries me to some icy Wonderland.

And then I noticed the weirdest thing.
We paused at the end of the trail to have our picnic. I reached out and grabbed a handful of nuts. Greedily, I Iifted my cupped hand to my lips and opened them.

That smell! 

​I didn’t wolf down those nuts. Instead, I took a deep breath. I looked down at my other hand. It was still holding one of my trekking poles, to balance my still-recovering body.

My hands smelled of the plastic handle of my trekking pole. And that plastic, that particular, soft, blackish material has a very peculiar smell. In any other circumstance, I would have said that it was a bad smell. Pungent. A bit like hot tar.

​But today, it smelled of all my previous hikes all around the globe. 

It smelled of my restored freedom. 

Actually (I took a second deep breath), it smelled a bit like tires. It smelled of the road.

​My nose still in my cupped hand, I smiled and wondered at all the smells and tastes that we carry with us and never notice, and yet that carry so much of us with them.
C.I.D

If you liked this post, you might also like:
Eat Your Travels Whole!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


© 2015-2020 Carrie speaking.
​All rights reserved. ​
Tous droits réservés.
  • Stories • Récits
  • Photos
    • Femmes des Rues
    • Meian
    • Get Lost.
    • Portraits of Golden BC
    • Order Prints
  • Blog
  • 4WD