Defying Gravity

Wicked.

Maguire's retelling still reaches inside and evokes harshness buried in the ruins of my first decade in the new millenium. Angered by the actions of those I trusted, I still accept personal responsibility for allowing others to steal away so much that was valuable to me.

I stayed in my seat this time as Elphaba declared her rejection of the Wizard, of Madame Morrible, of all her patched-together hopes for a meaninful life ... "I can't want it any more".

Still shaken by his memories of a troop train that had been bombed into ruin in the Rhône valley years ago, my father tried to teach me better -- but I chose to listen to the Aquarians' fantasies instead, ignored the pendulum swing, looked away from the slide into the fear-driven state of close-minded and destructive actors that we have become.  Perhaps we always were.

Shi kata ka nai. Still honoring my oath of office, in any case.

Back from an overnight climb to Boulder Lake, only 680 m in six hours. That's about a third of the Mt Fuji climb that I need to do at a higher altitude some day in about eight hours, albeit with less than a forty pound pack.

Boulder Lake

The scenery on the way to the lake was worth the climb, though; we walked narrow and uneven trails on slopes whose end was hidden in the treetops below us. Our steps were wrapped in the silence of towering giants that measure their lives in decades and the company of their companions in centuries. The waistline of one tall ancient we met easily cleared 14 meters. Its neighbor, twisted through a forty degree arc by some accident in its youth, was just as awe-inspiring.

Mosquitoes at the lake were also impressive. Exhausted, we wrapped ourselves in raingear, made dinner quickly, and retired. I slept, as J. R. R. Tolkien once wrote, "in deep content, if logs are contented".

Serious trail bridge

Best waterfall on Boulder Lake trail

Difficult as it is to see here, this rain forest is suffering in its own way from the drought afflicting the West. Snow caps are nearly gone already and glaciers are retreating. Large swaths of hillside are covered with dead pine trees stressed and made vulnerable to invasive insect attack.

Everything changes, only change remains.

Best bridge on Hot Springs trail

Best hiking break