The Free Radical

More and more humanity is being called back to Nature… and joyously heeding that call.

(Tamarack Room by my band Missing Peace from our 1996 album Tense Moments, composed by Niels in the early nineties)

(Another name for larch is tamarack. Though the above song has little to do with trees, it digs at the heart of humanity, asking tough questions about those less fortunate… which are enthusiastically answered by an “unfettered smile.”)

Here in Canada, it’s the Thanksgiving Weekend. The cottagers are here in droves. In some ways it’s nice to hear so much human activity out in the Forest; it didn’t always used to be that way. It is humanity’s inexorable return to the womb of beauty. Unfortunately, it is also hunting season, and nearby gunshots have recently cut our walks short or forced us to take low-risk detours.

Instead of taking our usual zig followed by the inevitable zag, once we hit the power line, we cut straight toward the Mesa. That’s the spot where we camped two weeks ago during the Concert for Bigsquatch.

Overall, the Mesa is vaguely keyhole shaped. Above you can see the narrow flat-topped ridge leading directly north toward the river. This day we followed the tiny brook which exits the swamp, running along the base of that north-pointing ridge.

There’s something very peaceful about this gentle bend around an old tree.

But Lhasa gets so excited by any opportunity for a swim that she can hardly keep still.

This is just below where the last beaver pond used to be, and right before it drops sharply toward the river in a boisterous waterfall…

The bush-whacking was a little more intense than I remembered it, although Sitka and Toby seemed to have little trouble.

Little pools along the way were useful for washing the accumulated debris from my shoes.

And once we got to the river valley bottom, among the intertwangled red osier dogwood bushes, I happened to glance over my right shoulder to notice a perfect forest portrait! Nature has all the time in the world for superlative art.

Here we see the rainclouds trying to amass above the eastern peaks of the Rockies. What a difference from the clear skies of just the day before!

My river pics are usually looking downstream… Here’s one looking back to our ancient past… our glorious future!