“Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.”
~ John Muir
There’s an ache and a beauty to this heavenly patch of land. How fortunate we were to walk where John Muir regularly did. Viewing the sunrise on this mountaintop oasis has always been spiritual for me. Seeing no one for two hours yesterday made it all the more surreal and haunting.
Muir named these two peaks Wanda and Helen after his daughters. He often took them here to teach them about the natural world. I could picture the three of them as we moved along the ridges, hollows, and through the high grass.
The area was once part of his sprawling farmland, but he left it natural. Now, it’s home to storybook oaks, deer, turkeys, coyotes, hawks, owls, and various other birds. He’d surely approve.
The climb from the trailhead is abrupt, and your lungs feel it. There are only 700 feet of elevation gained in three miles, but most are in the first half mile.
Other than the light and the solitude, the best part of these two hours was that Samwise was strong and vital. He led much of the hike and nearly the entire climb, and it was good for my heart to see him so.
“In God's wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware.” ~ John Muir
The rest of the day was filled with my obsession with dead authors. We were somewhat successful in hunting down two stories, which will follow shortly.
Next, we will embark on another favorite California hike, offering breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and a 1,000-foot elevation gain. A letter to follow.
