Our first of four day hikes...hope I can keep up.
We hiked in the Big Creek area, which is pretty much reserved for educational purposes and research.
In the coming days I learned a lot about the uniqueness of the Big Sur area - it's an amazing convergence zone.
We gained a little altitude today.....this was the view from our lunch spot and we had started at sea level.
There was an indentation in the rocks here that turned out to be a place where women of the Esalen tribe ground up acorns. There was also some bobcat scat.
We stopped at a cool swimming hole at days end.
I was too chicken to take the full plunge, but splashing my face and head and soaking my feet in the stream felt great.
It was so shady and cool here after coming down a hill face in full sun.
On our second day we hiked the ocean bluffs in Andrew Molera State Park.
Views to the left...
and to the right...
...and, the "center of the universe" (I was to learn later.)
I forget the name of this peak, but do remember that it was sacred to the ancient ones who believed all life emanated from it, thus it was the center of the universe.
We went down a trail to the beach for lunch. We had to scramble over a few logs to get there.
Vegetation along the creek pouring into the ocean was a little different that what had been on the bluff.
There were interesting rocks...
and a bumble bee on a thistle.
I decided to wait here for the last two of our group...
...bringing up the rear whilst in good conversation.
Everyone always pitched in to organize the food for our lunches... which the Esalen kitchen provided for us every morning. Each person carried some part in their back pack...it was a great system.
"it's all good"!
Will someone toss me one of those plums?
Hmmmm, what shall we put in our sandwiches today?
We learned a great way to slice and serve avocados.
Master slicer at work
Hey...did someone forget to put out the cookies?
Mmmmm....can't wait to dig in.
After lunch there was plenty of room for solitude...
...one's own thoughts...
...or sharing one's thoughts on this beautiful beach.
We sat down along the bluffs for a break on the way out...
...and learned a bit about how the surrounding land formations came to be and the story of "the center of the universe".
What a great day.
We took a different route back to the parking lot...
...and encountered yet another type of landscape and plants.
Whew...on the homestretch back to the cars.
This is the start of day 3 and we're going to hike into an area that was burned in the huge fires that occurred earlier in the summer.
Waiting to "bow in". We "bowed in, and out" of every area we visited. It is a nice thing to do and I hope to continue the practice in future.
When we left Esalen this morning it was blanketed in a very thick, rather chilly fog. We quickly hiked up and out of that fog into a warm, sunny day.
Gradually we began to see the burns.
It was spotty in some areas...
...but the higher we climbed,
...the more burned terrain we saw.
Funny how some fence posts are burned and others are not?
Ferns were already making a comeback.
Some trees will survive with their scars.
We learned a lot about how fires burn and how they are fought.
If there are hard rains in the coming winter, mudslides could wreak havoc here. Let's all hope for slow, gentle rains for Big Sur this fall.
I noticed this tree while off to "the toilet".
I thought it an interesting tree so came back to photograph it...
...and when I went around to the downhill side, realized it was still smoldering. Evidently, this is not uncommon. Our group leader said he once found a tree smoldering 10 months after a fire in another area.
This was clever....kept the ashes off. And speaking of ashes, after lunch this day....
...we used burned items to draw, write stories and poems, or...
...in my case just experiment to see what kind of marks I could make with different objects. I used burned seeds, sticks, leaves and dirt.
If these trees had burned, these lacy lichens...
...and homey knotholes would no longer exist. I'd never thought about all the little things that are lost when a forest burns.
As we headed back down, we came back to more green....
...and a plucky California poppy growing up out of a field burned black. Hope, and life, springs eternal!
For our 4th, and last hike, we returned to Big Creek, which sports this whale vertebrae at it's entrance. The brain stem came through that hole.
Here's a side view.
Our first stop of the day was this campsite....
...nestled beneath the towering redwoods.
One of the things we learned in this place of dappled light...
... was how the redwoods cloned themselves. So, when you ask how old a tree might be, it's a tricky question.
Because of this cloning process...
...the genetic material in a given tree...
...could be hundreds of thousands years old. Really something to think about, heh?
For lunch we stopped at someone's former home. This was near a natural hot spring which provided a great soak. We ended this day back at the swimming hole where we stopped the first day...and this time I went for a swim ; - )
Our last morning together was a time of reflection and sharing.
Wait...take one with my hat and glasses off please?
Happy to oblige.
I am so thankful to these two for a great experience and sharing so much of themselves and their knowledge. And I enjoyed meeting and hiking with so many wonderful people.
After talking, we took a tour of the Esalen grounds....and here's my friend outdoors...with just the glasses.
