Mar 24 2009
The world takes a hike in the World
This past weekend, over the Spring Equinox in the northlands, Ann Linnea and I were offering our sweet spirited seminar that combines the love of nature and journal writing. This session, Spirit and the Pen in Nature, was held at Menucha Center, a large estate turned to use for many good purposes by the First Presbyterian Church of Portland which has owned and managed the property in the past several decades.
Menucha is located at the entrance of the Columbia River Gorge on a high cliff overlooking miles of basalt canyons and a string of magnificent waterfalls that shoot off the ledge of the Mt. Hood drainage and into the Columbia River and from there to the sea. One of these, Multnomah Falls, is a dramatic 611 foot plunge, the fourth highest waterfall in the United States, and quite a tourist attraction, being accessible both from Interstate 84 and the scenic Columbia River Gorge Highway built in the early 1900s and only 30 miles from the city of Portland.
So here we are in the middle of our journal writing and nature appreciating and we have designed into the center of the seminar a solo day in nature: time and space to move around in this magnificent landscape in the attitude of pilgrimage. It was Saturday, the first day of Spring–yes our landscape would be shared with other people, with a stop at the espresso stand, with getting in and out of cars–and the invitation remained: to move as a pilgrim, to practice an inner attitude of listening to the voice of nature, to the open heart, the observer’s eye, and the greening mind into the water-tracked forest. Be back at our retreat house by 5:00–everything else: you decide.
Ann and I headed up and around Multnomah Falls, a 5.4 mile loop with 1700 foot elevation gain that would take us about four hours of walking, stopping, photo taking, marveling at the depth of green, the trees that had fallen in winter storms, the creeks and waterfalls roaring through the rock face, and the lifedeathlifedeath cycle of the forest.
And here was our big surprise: people. This is not an easy trail. There are many switch backs getting folks up to and down from the ridge line. It was rocky and muddy and the weather switched from cool filtered sunshine to clouds to pouring rain in the course of the day. And yet, we passed at least a hundred people from babies to other 60 year olds, folks walking their dogs, children and many college-aged young people. And diversity: Hispanic, Asian, East Indian, Middle Eastern, African-American, and Caucasian folks all enjoying the same magic of nature–though each in our own ways.
It gave me great hope: that young people want to be in the woods, not just in the computer game version of the woods, that young families are bringing their children out to take part in nature adventures, that couples where the women are in saris or scarved in Muslim attire are walking in the gorge of the American west. And we are all smiling, nodding in passing, saying hello, holding each other’s cameras for those look-where-we-are photos. Could world peace be this easy? Could nature stitch together what religion and politics have torn apart? Well, it’s the first day of spring–and anything is possible.
In the midst of the rain, at the end of our hike, we passed a family coming down from a 2-mile loop up to the top of the falls and back. A baby in arms, and two little girls, the oldest about five. They were soaked! The little girl and I looked at each other: her hair plastered to her face, wet hoodie, wet sneakers, she was practically skipping through the storm. Here came a huge grin, and she announced to me, “Wow, isn’t this place awesome?!” Now, that’s a true child of the Pacific Northwet! I wanted to pick her up and hug her, and I want to save the natural world for her to be hiking in when she is sixty!
Taking a hike in the natural world is a great way to savor the beauties of life without needing to spend any money! And maybe that is part of what got people out of the city and into the forest–the bounty of Nature. There is so much given us to enjoy–all we need is to discover what’s next. Here come the songbirds, and the snowdrops and then the daffodils.
May you have a week full of new eyes.
Christina
Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.
I’m remembering my trip to the Grand Canyon last summer and spending our days in absolute awe over the wonders of nature. I announced that I believe I am an “earth person” in that I am most peaceful in the mountains among trees, streams, valleys.
Hiking is not as easy for me at nearly 70 years young. I used to hike 10ks most weekends. The joints won’t last that long anymore. Yet I do what I can and ignore the huffing and puffing and stiffness.
This year, a friend and I will head to North Carolina, camp and find trails to wander. Would that everyone would take at least a day out of year, at the least, and find the peace we each long for. A plaque I have in my bedroom says “Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road.” I’ll look for that peace and happiness along all the spring and summer roads I wander.
Thanks for reminding me to have days “full of new eyes.”
Sitting in a sheltered place on the east coast, I am vicariously wet and joyous at meeting a small girl along the trail, who is delighted to be just where she is!! Hurray for her parents.. inviting her into the green world!
I so enjoyed greeting spring along with the hikers on the path .. Thank you for taking us readers along with you both!!
Happy springtime from where I sit with no waterfall… but an imagination that journeys!!
Thank you for your words, Christina. Every time I go for a walk here in my suburban neighborhood I am privileged to see a diversity of cultures outside with me–and a range of age groups as well!
One of my most treasured memories of being out in the World will be my time in the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area/Grand Portage National Park last summer. I was impressed with the range of ages that were climbing around on the boulders in the harbor at Grand Marais and the feeling of unity in the BWCA. It was a time I will remember especially for all of the time we were outside. Now that I will be a grandmother in several months I am already thinking about how to get 3 generations to enjoy Nature’s sights and sounds-in our own neighborhoods or in our national parks.
I delighted in the image of the soaked-to-the-bone ‘true child of the North Wet’ and her post-hike joy, Christina. It was such a contrast to the 8 year old child we encountered in 2000 when we first visited Mt. Rainier on a sparkling, breathtaking August day.
As the boy and his dad headed to a Visitors Center exhibit, he was proclaiming loudly, “I want to go to the gift shop!” His dad patiently replied, “We are here to enjoy and appreciate nature.” The boy vehemently insisted, “But I don’t want to enjoy and appreciate nature. I want to go to the gift shop!”
It has become one of those moments Harry and I call to mind when we catch ourselves whining about some silly matter instead of enjoying and appreciating the gift of the present moment.
Christina ~~~
What you capture so well is that inner impulse of the Spring season inside each one of us that wants to spring forth into possibilities! Ahhh, if only we could learn to remember how to listen for each season emerging from within us- Yes! that’s the quality of listening that can bring World Peace.