A Walk in the Woods

I’m really bummed that I haven’t had time to properly post up about my walk in the woods this past weekend, where I sat down and wrote “After the Armor.”  I kinda sorta still don’t have time, but I’m going to do a little bit of it anyway.

I just uploaded a bunch of photos to a Flickr set and I’ll post a few quick highlights here.

Here’s what I wrote in my notes, though:

“There IS something settling about being alone in a forest – something deep and mystical and warm that feels like peace and home, given that it’s how I spent so much of my childhood.  A great part of me wishes that I never had to leave, but then I’d never get to share it, either – with Boy or anyone else – and though sometimes that has som small appeal, I know it’s not right for me.

The wind is picking up, making the pages of this notebook flap.  It sounds like the surf, only steady rather than pulsing.  While the ocean has a pull all its own, this is where I belong.”

The photo to the right really doesn’t accurately convey how steep this trail was.  I chose this one because the description seemed to make it the most daunting trail in the park.  And at the time that sounded good to me – it was long, it was hard, and it was most likely to be deserted just because of its difficulty.

Actually?  I saw 6 people on the trail over the span of about 2 hours, whereas on one of the easier trails I hiked later, I saw not a soul.

The day itself was really perfect for such an excursion – it was in the low 60s, and I wore not only a hoodie over my t-shirt, but I’d prepared myself by wearing a tank top under my t-shirt.  Layers and all that, eh?  Surprisingly I kept the hoodie on almost all day until the very end, when the day had warmed enough that walking up a fairly moderate slope had me sweating a bit.

I kept thinking that the clouds that predominated would turn to showers…but they never did.  It was breezy and the sun would peek out every now and then but mostly it was comfortably cloudy.  Perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

This tree just fascinated me, as I’m sure it has anybody with a camera who’s passed through this way recently.  It obviously fell or was blown over at some point some years ago, but it was green enough at the time to mostly BEND but not break.

So it leaned over in this broad curve, and the stress over time caused it to sort of de-laminate along the grain, giving it this twisted appearance.  I’ve spent a lot of time in forested areas and seen a lot of fallen trees, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.

 

 

 

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit, so the odds that there will be more photos from this particular place are high.  Click on over to the set if you want to see more!