We left Crested Butte by noon as the hoards of beauty seekers arrive and line up to see the wildflowers. The hordes of people coming to see the famous wildflowers decreased the opportunity to ‘Forest Bathe” I needed to use my five senses to help my heart heal and find out other ways of enjoying nature.
Driving across Monarch Pass and I asked my husband to find a path in the ‘COTREX’ app that I knew would lead us to an easy path surrounded by the trees. As I said in my previous post, “I search for my favorite combination diligently: a flowing stream of water, surrounded on each bank by evergreens, adjacent to huge boulders and easy to access without much hiking.”
What is your favorite place to experience nature? Lakes, Rivers, Oceans, sand, trees, wildlife? Where do you go in your head to find peace? Is there a specific place you return to or a combination of elements?
I knew we were leaving the mountains and I had little chance of finding my bliss in the arid high desert that is eastern Colorado where I live. He directed me off on a new road with a 330 degree turn off of the highway. We took another smaller road to the left and bumped through an area where it is best, but not absolutely necessary, to have a high clearance vehicle.
“Keep company with God, get in on the best.” Psalm 37:4 The Message
We unloaded our chairs at an isolated spot under an enormous pine tree. Our foldable chairs fit under a canopy of sweeping branches. Our simple lunch was ready in minutes. There was no indication that the “desires of my heart” would be granted in a few moments of forest bathing. But it starts with trees.
As i began to look around me, I saw the odd alignment of rocks. Under a smaller grove of pine trees, rocks were strategically placed. There was an entry and exit, rooms laid out straight between trees, and designs laid out on the forest floor. A blueprint of a dwelling made visible by rocks. Oddly enough, there were no rocks ion this area and this had taken much time to design.
One design was especially mysterious. What do you see? A pair of glasses, a bird, a women’s body, or a car?
My husband walked a bit further into the forest. From underneath the forest boughs I could see the western face of Mt. Antero, one of Colorado’s amazing 14,000 feet peaks. Unfortunately, power lines were draped through the valley. The sound of trucks ascending the Monarch Summit pass spoiled the much needed silence.