Ventured out in need of some mind-quieting exertion and negative ions. Latourell Falls is one of the easier hikes in the Columbia River Gorge - a two mile-ish loop that takes you up to the upper falls where this picture was taken from a slightly precarious perch not quite out of the spray. One can actually step behind the falls for a more thrilling - and wet - experience. April is a bit cold for that however.
As my very unquiet state of mind was caused by one of the male persuasion, this very suggestive tree root made me smile for a moment. Came across it very near the trailhead, after only a few switchbacks above the paved path to the viewpoint. My mood started to lift ever so gradually. Hard to be pissed off and angsty when out of breath from the steep pitch of the trail and when Nature Herself is throwing such nice visual jokes in one's path.
The trillium were out in force with only a few still tightly furled. Not this one...
Pausing just before reaching the upper falls to allow the folks ahead their space. Even more than walking on a beach with the waves crashing, standing in the presence of a waterfall blots out everything else but itself. The pool below is meditative and you can flow away with it in your mind's eye but the falls themselves take you outside of yourself. Like good sex takes you outside yourself at the moment of orgasm. This metaphor is particularly apt at Latourell as one starts down the return path away from the falls. As the trail climbs and dips to and away from the stream, the sound of the water ebbs and flows like the waves of sensation as one recovers oneself and one's surroundings, slowly, post climax.
Nature answered and affirmed me with an image of the feminine and I made my way back down to the parking lot and back to the city in a much calmer state of mind.
2 comments:
You came across it did you? Hussy! :-)
Um... poor choice of word? Git yer mind outta the gutter! It was just a hike :-D
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