On Top of the World, the West Fork Trail from Pinnacle Park
Clouds and Mountains, Pinnacle Park Summit
Sometimes it takes climbing higher and higher, out of the morass of all the troubles we face and entering the realm of the clouds before we can feel hopeful again. Last weekend, I was looking for an uncrowded summit where I might experience such a release and was fortunate to find the perfect trail in Sylva. Every review said it was a relentless uphill hike, although having hiked the White Mountains and such I knew it couldn’t be quite as terrible as the descriptions claimed. Nevertheless, it was definitely up hill almost the entire way, which is why it was not nearly as crowded as mountains are around here especially on weekends. That is the price you have to pay for solitude during a pandemic.
Pinnacle Park Rocky Summit
Surprisingly, we had this rocky summit to ourselves for half an hour. It was heavenly to rest after the arduous hike up. Sometimes, our struggles make us even more grateful when reach a point where we can rest for a moment and take in just how far we have come. To look around and appreciate the moment and all it has to offer in a heavenly place like this is a reward in itself. Maybe I can’t socialize with my friends, go to restaurants or concerts, take part in dance or art classes in person, or have dinner parties, or do so many of the things I took for granted a few months ago, but if I am willing to expend a little effort I can arrive at a viewpoint like this and it does put all my sufferings and disappointments in perspective. I have sufficient resources to meet my needs without worry and I am able to social distance, because I am not an essential worker. To complain about all those other things is disrespectful to everyone facing illness, eviction or both. The sun was still shining, there was a gentle breeze, I had brought a good lunch, there were clouds and lichens and wildflowers along the trail and life was going on here at least. My health was good enough, as was my friend’s and my dog Takoda’s, that we could all make 2,000 feet in elevation without getting out of breath or suffering heart palpitations. It was challenging but manageable, and the effort made the reward that much greater.
Pinnacle Park Rocky Outcropping
Near the end of our lunch, another person appeared and walked past us to this rocky outcropping and disappeared for awhile. He was carrying a dog and a boom box, which was strange. We wondered if he went rock climbing on the other side, as we had seen no other trails and we stopped hearing his music (thankfully). We couldn’t really imagine wanting to go further or being tempted to scale anything more. I was reminded of all the things I have done since my children left home to gain confidence that I could make a life worth living on my own. If I could muster the courage to rock climb, whitewater raft, dive in the springs, kayak alone in remote areas with alligators, ride in small planes, drive across country and camp myself, etc., then daily life as a single person couldn’t be that much of a challenge. Now this pandemic seems to be testing me and the rest of us all over again whether we want to be tested or not. Do we have the fortitude to live ethically and behave in ways that support the common good? Can we handle the stress of all the suffering we see? Can we reach out but still maintain boundaries while social distancing all the while? Perhaps if we are conscious of the impact of our behavior on others, what motivates us to act in certain ways, and how we handle anxiety and uncertainty, it will help us endure the tougher months ahead with grace and also make us more aware of the societal changes we wish to see ushered in. Sometimes we need to get to a higher place where we can see that there are other possibilities, when we get mired down by the current state of the world. We truly must be able to do better than this as a species.
Turk’s Cap Lily Surrounded by Orbs of Light
As if we weren’t rewarded enough by the almost 360 degree views from the summit, I spied this turks cap lily in the shade surrounded by orbs of light not far from the summit on our return. The scientific name for this plant is Lilium Superbum L. The genus is derived from the Greek word for lily. The species name superbum, means 'superb'. The plant was classified by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist whose house and gardens I once visited in Sweden. The few times I’ve seen turk’s caps they were growing in groups, but we didn’t see any others here–just this one perfect specimen and it was more than enough. Turk’s cap lilies symbolize passionate love, and when I saw this image on my computer screen later and how the plant was surrounded by all those orbs of light, I felt it was the perfect expression of how passionate I am about continuing to live and enjoy life and all the beautiful gifts nature has to offer for as long as I can, even with all the death and destruction we are witnessing. Sometimes war makes people cherish what they love even more passionately, because how temporal and fragile our existence is becomes explicit. And make no mistake about it, we are currently at war for the survival of democracy and this planet.
Fungi in a Crevice, Pinnacle Peak Spur
Further along the trail I spied these mushrooms festooned with lichen growing in a narrow crevice of a tree. Their symbiotic relationship filled me with more hope. How is it that species that purportedly do not have brains (although many botanists have argued for the intelligence of plants) are able to figure out they depend on others and must work together to survive and grow, especially under harsh conditions? You would think with all our supposed intelligence, we would know this with even more certainty, yet divisiveness is increasingly apparent among humans, often with no other purpose but to proclaim that people have the right to behave however they want to even if their behavior hurts others. No wonder I prefer to walk in forests these days. Trees, fungi, lichen, wildflowers, bees, streams all have so many wise and valuable lessons to teach.
Multicolored Lichen and Moss Covering the Bark of a Tree
When I saw this tree covered with lichen and moss I could not believe my eyes. I am always on the lookout for what is growing on tree bark, as lichen is an indicator of good air quality. Lichen are sensitive to nitrogen and sulfur emissions that are associated with acid rain, so when a lot of them are present the air is is in relatively good shape. Moss absorb nitrogen and can prevent it from leaching into ground water, but if there is too much nitrogen the moss deteriorate and die. Clearly the air here was good. Perhaps the quarantine period and the closing of nearby coal plants have improved the air quality so these plants are able to remain this healthy. Never have I seen such a colorful and dense display, which reminded me of a painting or a complex two-dimensional sculpture. It made me wish I was a weaver, but at least they showed me that it is possible to create a new narrative that might lead to more positive outcomes.
The Meandering Ways of Water, Pinnacle Park West Fork Trail
Two thirds of the way down, we came to this small waterfall. Everything does not always have to be the greatest or the biggest or the best ever, as some would have us believe. All life has value and we cannot calculate the sphere of influence of any person or living being, even when they are not famous or don’t have a public voice, or like water or nature itself can’t speak at all except by showing its essence. This waterfall may not have been tall or grand, but it spread across the rocky landscape finding ways to spill over into other areas and then join and rejoin the main flow of the creek. All rivers and creeks, when the riparian edges are left untamed, change course and adapt and find better ways to do what they do best, which is flow and support ecosystems along the way. It is only man that becomes ridged, blocking natural flow or taking shortcuts to benefit a few down that line that turn out to be destructive and unsustainable, as happens when natural oxbows are removed and nutrients fail to filter into ecosystems along the way just because someone wants more water faster downriver. Consequences must be considered at every stage. It is truly time to start taking cues from nature and to of course listen to scientists who make observations and predictions, study outcomes, and heed data instead of just coming up with groundless assertions that change the world in unforeseen and often dangerous ways. Yes we are living in anxiety provoking times with threats that are more extreme than anything this planet has ever faced, but when the stakes are this high it is even more important to be thoughtful and come up with a unified response that addresses the challenges, considers all aspects of society and the planet that supports us, and lets go of the illusion of divisiveness that has been created by certain people who wish to dominate the world and who have so much hubris and wealth that they believe what happens to others and the earth will not affect them. Yet the courses of action they take will ultimately fail because life on the planet (and that includes their own existence and prosperity) depends on unified cooperation. All systems are global in nature, and as this virus has shown, the weakest links can crash the most monolithic hierarchies. The new model, as my walk showed me, must be the rhizome. That is what my late father, a brilliant philosopher, always told me too.