Category: Nature

Three and a Half

The first three pictures are from the summer in 2018. My daughter and I were on our way back from Northern California to San Francisco.

We stopped for a night in Mendocino, precariously perched on a cliff, the morning fog obstructing the view of the beginning day.

The last three pictures were taken this January, 3 1/2 years later, again on our way back, again in Mendocino.

This time the evening clouds leave the view open.

What happened in these 3 1/2 years? And what will happen in the next 3 1/2 years?

Humboldt Lagoons

The Humboldt Lagoons in Northern California offer plenty of exposure to the elements, even on a mild winter day.

Walking the dark sand bank that separates the ocean from the lagoon becomes a search.

Nothing could be more ostensibly temporary, but still life holds on.

Shouldn’t we live so that our life becomes a story worth telling?

This place – like each of us – is a challenge – what words, what language can contain it?

Walls (Ohio XII)

While the concept of a wall is simple, its function or pattern is complex. A wall can block the way, prevent us from getting elsewhere.

A wall can also provide protection, like the cave wall here in Hocking Hills State Park.

Sometimes a wall provides support for hidden growth.

A wall can become a space for something else to exist.

A wall can even recede and disappear.

Our inner walls are like this, too.

Stubbornness (Hemlock Cliffs VII)

About 9 months ago I went looking for the Arrowhead Arch near Hemlock Cliffs, and I thought it’s time to see how this place looks like in the autumn.

The stubborn spiders are out and about, and the stubborn leaves cling to the trees.

But, of course, what is really stubborn are the rocks of the Messmore cliffs.

This time I was stubborn enough to explore them all the way.

I like the complex and noisy landscape.

And there is the surprisingly harmonious contrast between the cold rock and the warm autumn colors.

Contrasts like these seem to need each other.

In places like this, sometimes, something magical can happen, pure serendipity.

Aporetic Water (Ohio XI)

The second long hike this fall in Ohio took me to the waterfalls in Hocking Hills State Park.

Flowing water is infinitely attractive. It’s common to capture waterfalls through long exposures to get that seductive silkiness.

Waterfalls can be as beautiful as the human body.

One little project I have is to make a time lapse movie with long time exposures of waterfalls, ideally in Iceland, over 24 hours, taking one shot every minute, which would give a single one minute long clip.

Then one can also capture instants time with very short exposures, dissolving the flow of a water into isolated droplets.

Here the plan would be to create a slow-motion film, taking hundreds of shots a minute, and exposing each for 1/8000 of a second, so that we can follow each droplet for much longer that it takes to fall.

Scragglies (Ohio X)

When I visited state parks in Ohio at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, I didn’t expect that we would still be struggling with isolation.

One of the places I visited then was Conkles Hollow, whose rim trail offers fascinating views of scraggly trees on the steep slopes of the nature preserve.

I was curious how all this would look in the late fall, and the difference is not big.

If at all, the trees have become a bit more scraggly (and older, like myself), many individual lonelinesses in immutable clusters.

Maybe they are patiently waiting, too, for time to pass, wounds to heal, and spring to come.

Would they move elsewhere, if they could, and become tall and beautiful?

Fungi

With cooler temperatures and less humidity, it’s time to say good-bye to the mushrooms, and maybe these close-ups will do.

The now decaying fruiting bodies of have done their work and put out spores for new mycelium to grow.

Underneath the mycelium will keep composting and cleaning up and waiting patiently for spring and warmth.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if inside us could grow fungi, too, with moody tendrils of a soul-mycelium absorbing worries and fears, and strangely shaped fruiting thoughts sending out spores to grow elsewhere?

Spring and warmth will come.

Autumn Tapestry

The autumn colors are finally here, too, and Shades State Park, about which I can’t possibly have written often enough, offers from it’s Inspiration Point an excellent view across Sugar Creek to the tree covered hills of the other side.

I could have spent hours there, letting the colors soothe mind and soul, like music for the eyes.

Does it ever get boring? The trees don’t think so.

Well, to have some variation, here is a wider view of the scene:

Lonesome Lake (Colorado III)

My third and last day in the Holy Cross Wilderness took me to Lonesome Lake, a suitable day hike for recovery, because it has little elevation gain and is easy on the mind.

The first part is gently uphill through old growth forests. Aging can be beautiful.

The middle section leads through lush meadows with an abundance of wildflowers. This would be a place to grow old.

Then, after a short last climb, there is the lake, lonesome alright, as is the entire valley.

Behind the lake the valley closes with mountains from the continental divide. Crossing it means going west.

Sadly not yet. Hopefully soon.