There is a grove on the mountain that reminds me of home. Hidden in
the desert high mountains of San Jacinto, is a tucked away stand of
old growth Cedar, complete with two watching black ravens. We stayed
there overmost of the day as hiker after hiker ran down the hill to
get water from the clear springs. Each looking around and the moving
along to get to Idyllwild and town comforts. Slowly we packed upand
left our forest haven.
Back on the desert ridgeline and in the high gustsof wind flowing over
the 7000+ foot divide, we moved quickly along the crest. Just out of
Forbes Saddle I saw a rise of smoke on the horizon. Realizing it was
not a good sign , Line and I moved quickly towards it's source, Apache
Springs. It was around 4 pm and we had planned tp campat that springs
for water. But by the timewe reached Spintster Saddle the whole peak
was ablaze in an inferno. We just seemed to be drawn closer.
The power of fire over life isalong known force. Ecologists know it
for it's regenerative forces. Fires like this clear the land and break
open seeds. For the pyro there is an alureto the brillance of the
orange flames, carrying in it a beauty of creation and destruction at
the same time. To a chemist, the orange red flames mask the many Redox
reactions that bring electrons from their high excited state in Oxygen
to a lower Carbon Dioxide state. But for me at that moment I saw the
groves of pines burning away.
As the helicoters and tankers buzzed us from above we moved back down
the trail towards Forbes Saddle. High winds making the travel
difficult along the ridgeline. But truely of was the constant looking
back over shoulders to watch a 5 acre fire grow in intensity to a 300+
fire. We meet three more hikers and made it down off the ridgeline by
7 pm with just the glow of the flames behind us. By morning most of
the Pct in that area had burned. Yet luckly, the winds had turned away
from the direction of Cedar Springs. The spirit of the mountain was
benevolent.
Now, hikers wander around Idyllwild debating their next move. Many
will move on like us. Others will stay to be pure and follow the
trails full course. There are many more miles of beatiful groves yet
to see, and the trail still lives in my memories. But for now just
enjoy the shelter of the pines of Idyllwild.
Ridgewalker
Sent from my iPod
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