CREATIVITY

Magic Summit Trip. Thoughts, Ideas and Feelings

— From Idea to Writing. A summit trip with thoughts, ideas and feelings. How is it on the road from idea and thought to writing? What is the use of hiking? Magic Trail, v.4

Øivind H. Solheim
Published in
7 min readDec 4, 2020

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Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

I find the narrow and winding road up the mountainside from Trengereid and drive in the steep slope up to Skulstad, 359 masl.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

It is a great summit trip we will go in the nice weather, one of the first days of December. The trip up to Hananipa (706 masl) is a golden trip that takes a couple of hours up and down. Not all the world demanding, and with fantastic views and sun in the back while we walk.

It begins calmly, past the dam, where the first thin layer of ice has settled on the lake and holds the forgotten boat in its frozen grip.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

We stop and look at the strange bubbles that form circular figures in the cold water. The water ‘breathes’.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

The hiking buddy explains that it is four degrees C a couple of meters down in the lake, never colder. It must be this that is a bit of the explanation for why we can see that the lake, the ice somehow breathes. Bubbles that rise and burst.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

We go up a path in a small valley. The lake flows and makes small noises, where every small stream has its own, distinctive voice.

The fellow hiker has a lot to tell. About nature, the trees we pass, the different types of wood, how flammable and good they are, about taking bark in relation to lighting a fire.

Later he talks about equipment that he always has with him on the trips, he tells about overnight stays out in the gapahuk, and what it was like to be in a group with two women at the last gathering he was at in the outdoor life education he is in the process of taking .

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

We meet two hikers who are on their way down. I say hello and they say the same thing. The tour buddy stops and they stop and talk. One of the two is 89 years old, we find out. Tough guy on tour, there!

I use the break to take off one of my sweaters, so I don’t get too hot on the way up.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

Now we have come a little higher up, a path in a friendly landscape with only one or two trees, mountain birches for the most part.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

Ideas come and show themselves in brief glimpses, thoughts about life and what we are doing. Writing ideas, some that stick in the mind.

Others stay there a bit. Then they melt away, they are gone. They’ll probably come back if that’s the point.

Another time, maybe. We move on.

The trail is good to walk on.
It goes slowly upwards.
The higher we reach, the better the view.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

I notice that it bubbles up. Writing ideas, thoughts and many things. About life, and walking. And the feelings inside me, the lift in my mind that I feel when I go on such walks.

I have an idea, a thought. And then I immediately have a job. It’s about writing down that idea, so I can take a closer look at it.

I’m tempted to take out my cell phone, but I do not. When I walk alone, I like to stop and talk on the phone. I use the dictation function and get down the words on the screen, a draft or an idea note that I can produce later, after the trip, in the evening, when I am home again and can feel the beneficial hike fatigue in the body.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

I think of how wonderfully practical and simple things have become, with the digital opportunities we have today. Everything is possible — or almost. When I get a thought, an idea, I can take out my mobile. I can use the dictation function for a draft on Medium.com or a draft on gmail. And then it’s just a matter of speaking clearly while I follow the screen so that I see that I get registered correctly what I say.

It’s about how I can become more creative and productive. An important part of being creative and productive is about capturing and taking care of impulses. With the help of dictation function, I make sure that I carry with me these ideas, these words that I will later process and develop further into a text with a logical structure and important points that the reader can take with them as important lessons.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

In that process, I must always be aware of what writing is really about: Reaching my readers. Questions that we as writers must always ask ourselves are:

  • What are they interested in?
  • What is it that catches?
  • What are they interested in reading about?
Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

Yes, that’s how we writing people can attract readers.

— Why should they read our texts and spend time on this instead of spending time and energy on something else?

The answer is simply that they must find benefit in it, feel that they get something back for the time they spend. That is the whole reason why people read, they find usefulness in what we write. We have something to offer, we sometimes contribute something that they are interested in.

— Interest and learning, stimulation and inspiration.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

We come up on the small mound where we see the cabin. Many years ago, someone took the trouble and struggled to carry materials up here to build this small cabin, with a panoramic view to the west, towards the fjord, where there has now also been a huge technical construction, a long bridge that hangs over the fjord.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

The last leg up to the top is easy. It is often so easy to walk as we approach the top. All the heavy steps, all the height meters are forgotten.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim
Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

At the top sits an older couple, almost my age, he is 69, it turns out. They sit with their packed lunches, and coffee in a thermos.

My hiking buddy tells them about the education he is doing, outdoor life, distance learning, the University of Oslo.

Later I talk to the two of them. It turns out that they live in the same area where we lived almost a couple of decades ago. We talk a little about the old days.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

They are getting ready to go down again. I feel like I’m starting to get cold. I put on my sweater and jacket, I turn to the sun and feel a little warmth in my face. I take a round with the camera and take pictures of the peaks around us, the fjord down there, and the clouds that hang over the fjord, between the mountains.

Photo 2020 © Øivind H. Solheim

Then comes what I like. The descent, after we have climbed and fought our way up to this top. The time of reflection.

In the Greek saga, Sisyphus has struggled to roll a large rock up to the top. When he is finally up there, the stone rolls down again, and Sisyphus just has to go down and start again.

The story of Sisyphus is a picture of human life. The tiring struggle on the way up. And the reflection, the good feeling, when the hard work is done.

Albert Camus put it this way, about Sisyphus on the way down:

“Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux."

We must imagine that Sisyphus is happy, where he strolls down.

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Øivind H. Solheim
Happy Hiking

I was an educator, now I am an author who writes in Norwegian and in English. I have published six novels and a poetry book. I love walking in the mountains.