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.
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?
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.
Along the way to a destination, sometimes the best of the time is the route on the way. Because of what the time and place bring to you. With a heart of humility, without haste, to make way for what it is to dwell at the moment.
Another early morning through the forest near Wolverton led my partner and me through strong contrasts of shade and light. The range of colors and mood of the wilderness was a highlight of this outing. An unforgettable experience that continues to inspire me.
The way to go is obvious. Even though the way to go is very far out on a remote trail, it genuinely feels like you’re going somewhere. What’s on the other side of the path isn’t really as relevant. As compared to where you’re at at the moment. Step by step all but missed getting where you’re going. Only to look back and see where it is you’ve passed. And what it is you’ve missed.
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
― John Muir, John of the Mountains.
The Unpublished Journals of John Muir
© 2024 James Austin. All Rights Reserved.
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