On the Mountain

Listening to raindrops falling on a tent while I'm cozy and dry is a wonderful delight. Rain has a most soporific effect, don't you think?

But Sunday dawned dry, if not sunny. We put a few things into a day pack and went for a wander. Behind Julia and Casey's house the mountain rises steeply. We meandered up and up, stopping to look at interesting mosses, a rough-skinned newt, various mushrooms, and other things that caught our attention. There was no hurry, just enjoyment of God's beautiful world.

Our walk took us to the spot pictured above. It's the same spot in the last post. If you look carefully, you can see the lighthouse as a tiny speck on the rocks. In the distance are the Octopus Islands, and Quadra Island, long and narrow.

It's hard to drink in so much beauty. At every turn the vista is awe-inspiring. My heart feels like it can't expand to hold any more.

I took this photo to give an idea of how high above the water we were. You can barely see the people on this sailboat. It was interesting to watch boats coming through Hole in the Wall. They waited at the east end of the passage until the tide turned slack before attempting the passage. We stayed up on the mountain for quite awhile, and one boat, quite a bit behind the others, started through then turned back as the tide turned to flood and the currents became too strong.

This tiger lily bloomed in the forest, gorgeous and intricate. Julia and I wondered how many other flowers bloom and no one looks at their beauty, but they display their gorgeousness anyway. We thought that probably God looks at them all and appreciates them.

We drank water from pure mountain streams, clear and cold and delicious.

These shelf fungi are like little stair steps up the tree - for fairies or elves, perhaps?

Here is the "Grandma Tree" - gigantic and probably 800 - 1000 years old. This part of the forest has never been logged and everything there is first growth.

After 6 hours of tramping about the woods, we returned to our little tent, happy to lie down and read a book. Here's the view we could see - a little fuzzy since I took the photo through the screen. 

Oh, and the reading didn't last long - the books soon dropped, our eyes drooped and we enjoyed a lovely nap.