Treading among the high places can bring about the presence of beauty and mystery. Even as memorable snapshots to capture what the place would say. Ever watchful, ever-present, the spirit within available to the truth of creation and its existence. To spiritually feed on the place to observe, learn, and testify about the wonder and glory of God.
A common view depending upon the day or season. The contrast and character of upward tree growth. A seemingly infinite range of diameters, shades, and shapes. All unique where the trees are as people by where they stand yet different by what they do.
Sometimes when heading straight toward the sun, it presses before you with its intensity. While there is uncertainty about what is coming, still the image must get captured while on the go. With the image-saturated and the histogram blown, a record and reminder about what happened to draw you in. About what light swept across the terrain until it made its way through you. Until it completely sets with the promise of a new day. The meaning imprinted within not as pixels, but as a lasting memory with far more depth.
Daylight turns to darkness, but with its warmth, hidden color and falling mist to remain. To punctuate what this place of life is about. It is a book of nature believed that tells its story. The book that is opened and read to renew the soul. To reflect back a being that is of peace and rest entirely settled.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. -Pr. 3:5-6
A narrow path to guide me is a comfort and a place to contemplate and pray. To give consideration over distances long or short. Whether alone or with people in conversation or silence.
A series of photos that are of Redwood Canyon. A forested loop route in between Sequoia and Kings Canyon. A lovely area worth exploring with full effort and an open heart. With much to see and do while giving care to location, direction, and the weather. For safety and best use of time to get the most of the experience.
A finite number of Sequoia trees exist as they grow in the wilderness that hosts them in just the right conditions. While not as plentiful as the sands on the shore of any sea, they are limited nonetheless as a life-form. A purpose that at least testifies of their enormity relatively speaking. Their unique character, shape, and bearing stands out much more prominent as a comparison to other tree creatures of the forest. A lion of the forest, so to speak. Not as a predator, but as a king of the conifer species.
A peaceful meadow in Yosemite. Finding solitude is in itself a viable goal if you’re willing to head out to a more remote spot. And it really doesn’t take much effort or time when you’re intent on getting off the beaten path. Knowing the risk and what it will involve getting back to where you were. The effort, strain, and cost to get that temporary peace. It takes a clear goal, intentional effort, and sometimes a persistence that doesn’t always come naturally.
This is why there is sometimes the false choice of seeing the forest through the trees. To dismiss detail, beauty, and a way to go. Where there is shelter, safety, and acuity in the detail. The forest gives context, situational awareness, and bearing. There is just as much unseen here as there is seen and observed. What is the place doing? What happened here? Who or what feeds off this place? How are the vertical surfaces formed? What do the leaves, wind, and birds say? What angle of elevation is this at? What is dying and what is thriving? Why is moss predominately concentrated on one side of most trees? When did that lightning strike? How much snow weight did those small branches have to bear before being stripped of their growth?
The initial growth conditions of this forest group were just right to support the early development of these conifers. Sequoias are conifers because their cones bear seeds which in turn can generate new growth. For these living beings to continue their growth over such a large period of time really says quite a lot about where they were and what lies beneath them.
Leaving treeline in the Eastern Sierra has a distinct atmospheric feel to it. Not just by the altitude and reduced available oxygen level, but by the exposure and sparse shade that becomes more apparent. Either by miles from a trailhead or right when starting out, the terrain and shape of the wilderness tell a story. About its conditions, but also about what the area means to you while having been there.
Sometimes setting off from the beaten path is the way to go. Even with the risks that come with that, there is something within that pulls you to look further into what you see in the distance. With confidence about the way back, a new discovery becomes much better rewarded and appreciated. As temporary as they are, natural occurrences make for the most beautiful places.
Sometimes there are much higher hardships and costs to get to places that are much more remote. Yet once there, the reward makes it all entirely worthwhile. The abundance of wilderness features both near and far really brings out a deeper awareness of life.
In the words of John Muir, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
© 2024 James Austin. All Rights Reserved.
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