Yesterday, despite all the work i have to do for Desert Medicine Woman Herbals, i decided to take the day off and go for a good hike in the mountains. My friends and I headed up to the top, near Summerhaven and headed down the Sunset trail to Marshall Gulch, and then on to the Wilderness of Rocks trail. It was a good 8 mile round trip that took most of the day.
As I usually do, I stopped to look at plants and take pictures, and found several new plants that I need to indentify. One in particular smelled just like pinapple sage, but it wasn't a salvia at all!
Down in the gulch i found mountains of Arizona Valerian, and so stopped to taste some leaves and dug up a small part of the root. It is so bitter, and so aromatic. hmmmm...and so calming. It was almost hard to hike the rest of the way after munching on that root. Just wanted to stay sitting by the creek under a log on a sunny rock.
Along the trail I also saw cliff full of growing Huechera plants, Alum root. And of course, there were so many big old ponderosa pines just begging to be hugged. Stopped and hugged 3 or 4 of them for several minutes. I know, i 'actually" hug trees?? It isn't just a silly label for an environmentalist? No, i do actually hug trees...have you?? There is something magical about quieting the mind and opening you body and heart to a tree....arms wide open and holding this amazing, huge, ancient living being, pumping life from the ground to the leaves through its sturdy trunk. I could just sink into the trunk of the tree, and feel that life flowing upward through me as well....I tell the tree many things, give my gratitude for its life and presence, and open my heart to feel the tree, and what the tree has to say to me. I come away from a tree hug with peace and renewed strength.
After a long trudge uphill, came to an exposed outcropping of sunbaked granite rocks...these rocks were huge, mostly flat and perfect for shedding layers of clothing and shoes and just bathing in the sun, and soaking in the years of earth energy in the crystals of the rocks, listening to the wind in the trees, with eyes closed.
these are the moments i appreciate so much when i'm outside, when i feel so connected with life, earth and so at peace. i feel that all is right...stress and repetive thoughts fall away out of my head and my mind is quiet and open....
When i came home i shared some posole and pecan pie with my hiking partner, and then headed to casbah to meet a new friend. This guy had just graduated from college, and doesnt have much real world experience. Didn't know how to cook much other than eggs. Hrmmm....
I came home late and headed to bed, tired and ready to drift off into the dreamworld.
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