A few days ago, I
did one of my favorite high elevation hikes.
Since it has been excessively dry here this year, I was curious to see
how the wildflowers were doing up in the mountains. I was pleasantly surprised to see an abundance
of glacier lilies in the forest, and quite a few sky pilots up on the tundra at the top of the
trail.
Glacier lily |
Sky Pilot |
The other reason for
choosing this particular trail was to get a view of a fire that had just broken
out on another of my favorite trails in the same area. My hope was to get above the smoke that was pretty
much permeating the air of our whole area, but no luck. The photo at the top of the post was my view
of the “Burro” fire.
What a difference a
year makes! The first photo below was taken
on July 1st of last year, when we had lots of moisture in the
mountains. Quite a few of trails were muddy all summer, and snow drifts were
encountered even into July. The photo
below that one was taken in the same spot a few days ago on June 9th. Here we have a totally opposite situation with
a dry and dusty trail, and very little moisture because of the drought.
The lesson
here? Life on planet earth certainly has
been challenging for a while now, and one never knows what is coming our way next. That does not mean that we have to sit
back and let our difficulties overwhelm us.
Keep in mind that you and you alone have the power over your life. Be flexible and always have a backup plan. Take our native wildflowers for example. Because of the drought, some plants have not
made an appearance at all this year, while others are thriving and even doing
quite well. Just like the plants, are you
thriving even if you are encountering some difficulties, are you taking some
time out to regroup, or have you buried your head in the sand and are trying to
ignore it all? None of these choices are
wrong, as each of you, as the master of your destiny, will find the mode that
is appropriate for you.
While I was sitting at
the high point of the trail observing the smoke from the Burro fire, I
contemplated the energy of fire. On the
plus side, it is a really useful tool when one wants to create a combustion or transformation
of something that has outlived its usefulness.
The light is released from the darkness or matter via the fire. This is what takes place at the equinox and
solstice fire ceremonies that I conduct at my house. The fire is started, and we then wait until
it is “friendly” before starting to work with it.
The fire that is burning
in our forests is not so friendly. In fact,
I detected a pretty angry and out of control energy with it. It is destroying everything in its path. BTW, are you this way when you get
angry? The occasional controlled burn is
used in the forests throughout the west to clear out piles of debris that might
pose a future fire hazard, and this is more of the friendly kind of fire. When you want to process something that is
making you angry, do you use this slow and steady method?
There is a very
large fire burning north of Durango, and it has not been contained because of the
difficult terrain and high winds. This
fire started around June 1st, and I have been able to see the smoke
from my street, even though it is about 65 miles away. When I got back from my hike, I was shocked
to see how the smoke plume had grown in a short amount of time. Turns out that because of the wind, the fire
had doubled quite suddenly. Below is the
photo taken from my street. Not a friendly
fire indeed!
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