Friday, March 30, 2007

"Mystery Of Canyoneering..."




E. Van Tilburg wrote: "To Canyoneer...is to enter another world...one with cold water, slippery rocks, tight narrows, and tall sheer cliffs. A little Narnia world locked into its own."
Canyons offer opportunities for adventures full of wonder and mystery...
They are simply waiting to be discovered... I dreamed and mused about heading out canyoneering for years... Finally last year we made it to Utah. What an amazing adventure experience it was... After just sitting here, musing over some maps and pictures, I had to post again about these places of mystery...
Canyons themselves have often been described as inverted mountain ranges. I quite like that description. There is intense fun to be enjoyed there involving rappelling, climbing, scrambling, route finding, and endless lowerings...
Then there exists the surprise of discovering water and greenery in the depths of a desert, tracks of unknown creatures, and the simple joy of finding ancient polished rock... And of placing a few stones of my own as well...
Returning there will be special; if not this season, maybe the next... Thoughts like these are what often keeps us going and feeds the flames of enthusiasm...
DSD



Wednesday, March 28, 2007

"Painting Rocks..."





Rock painting is an ancient practice of placing images upon stone... The strength and durability of the stone was said to add to the power and presence of the paintings...
Aboriginal peoples on many continents have also colored and painted stones as gifts, rocks as markers, and rock walls as a means to record their histories...
At times it was the character of the stone itself that would also influence the eventual image that appeared. The paints themselves were often made of water and clays, berries, selected soils, animal fats, even blood. Some rock was also etched and then painted to enhance the chosen image with more than one dimension...
After collecting these little rocks on many adventures, cleaning and polishing them, musing over the stone, I now splash a bit of paint upon them, and then give them back...
Just my own simple way of passing forward and yet being a tiny part of an ancient past ritual...
DSD
(FlickR Images by: Top - Goblin Valley/Faca; Middle - Superstition Mountains/NatureMandala; Bottom - Brian9000)

Thursday, March 22, 2007

"Twenty Years From Now....."




What adventures do you have on your horizon.....?
What hopes and enthusiasms will you create these seasons.....?
The time will pass anyway... So what do you want to do out there; to experience; to share; during these adventure filled days while out in our wild lands.....?
What do you want to try... Which different adventure do you wish to enjoy, even if only once...?
Hope is a process of keeping our adventure dreams alive...
Enthusiasms seem to be about staying connected to what creates fun and challenge for us within our adventure endeavors...
It is, for all of us, very much about small steps, initial goals, short terms plans... Yet the above quote re-minds us of the longer term perspective too...
I get a sense of this when I muse over how it is a wonder to me that I've tried so many different adventures, let alone kept going now for over thirty years...
We do seem to create our own adventure futures by present efforts... As in Blair's image of the "Once & Future Forest" above, what we plant and tend, is what will grow around us...
Such questions and musings may help us clarify and amplify our adventure motivations...
DSD


Thursday, March 15, 2007

"Earth Teach Me to Remember....."





Below is a reading from the Ute Peoples of North America, as quoted by P.Novak, that I've mused by this week... When pondering over adventure and life lessons learned and experiences remembered...
It could be said that the Ute Peoples were among the first climbers, canyoneers, and rock artists out in our wild lands...
"Earth teach me to remember...
Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled by light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me forget myself
as the melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me kindness
as dry fields weep with rain."
Metaphors with such meaning...
Each day a new beginning...
Every day something worth learning...
All adventures within themselves...
DSD

Monday, March 12, 2007

Not So Seriously...




I was musing some about deleting last weeks post... It was a difficult week...
But a friend and mentor reminded me to be more aware of not taking it all so seriously; and where is it written that others are not entitled to their opinions; and also that such comments are actually what I myself invited anyway, and maybe may learn the most from, if I just relax and listen...
It would seem my challenge within this quest is to be passionate without being preoccupied, that this is a climb in itself to consider things important but not overly, that this is an adventure too in believing so much in stewardship without pushing my own attitudes upon others...
I recall the great human Ghandi, who wrote: "Almost everything you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it". And also what Bernbaum meant by: "Rather than conquer the mountain, the climber vanquishes himself, much as a hermit or yogi overcomes the enemy of his own pride and arrogance on the way...".
So much more to learn about adventures, giving back, myself, and others...
DSD
(Images by: Top - Brown; Center - Marrott; Bottom - Henry)



Friday, March 09, 2007

"A Somewhat Interesting Oddity..."




In the midst of this down time and injury, I find myself ruminating, pondering and in a mindset recalling I've had more than a few comments like this over the years... They usually speak to another's impressions of these little Summit Stones and assumptions about my intentions in placing them...
So... I find myself today, writing here, as in a journal I guess, and hopefully this will enlighten my day and lift my mood...
As for being 'somewhat interesting'... Well maybe, just maybe, if my efforts have gleaned even a little of your attention, invited a small turn of a smile on your face, some tiny bit of wonder to your adventure day, then its all good... If someone is curious enough to make a comment of this sort, I guess it affirms that people will make what they will of such an experience.
An 'oddity' can be defined as something reflecting a strangeness, an unusual event, something puzzling, also a 'fantastic object', even 'something wonderful'. So I'll consider this a small appreciation of sorts... Being an 'oddity' can also represent something non-conformist. Absolutely! To be any kind of adventurer, is to be an individual. So to be referred to as such, seems to reflect a little of my simple intentions after having placed well over a thousand out there now.
As Lewis wrote: "That's the area in which climbing becomes an art, because it allows for individual expression". This Summit Stone journey has been that and more...
What we 'see' in nature and our adventure experiences, is very often odd and unusual; yet these same things often hold a special interest for us. Efforts, like art, really are reflected in the 'eye of the beholder'...
When I think of the strange rock formations I've seen, the odd knotty krumholtz trees encountered, the results of how wind and waves act upon secluded beaches - I can appreciate such peculiarities... I believe, as Patterson said: "The whole country is filled with adventures... there is also adventure in the visual landscape... There is always something familiar, but if it looks too familiar, you just have to look a little farther for the oddity".
Do I often question my naive artistic abilities, have I at times doubted my intentions, worried that my actions may be intrusive to anothers experience in the wild lands, and have there been challenges within all the time and effort required to undertake this journey... Most certainly!
But what adventure does not hold such challenges...
And in more recent years, I have also had more opportunity to muse as well that while being an oddity, there too have been many acknowledgements on behalf of other 'finders' of these gifts... In how for many, these Summit Stones, and the Adventure Muse they were placed in, have become a touch stone of sorts, even invited a bit of mystery to their day, and for a moment put a small smile upon their face...
Thus being referred to in this way may just grow on me...
DSD



Thursday, March 01, 2007

"Waterfalls and Stones..."




A terrific picture posted recently by Tom on Two-Heel Drive, sparked some memories and musings on the wonder of waterfalls for me...
J. George wrote: "To climb a waterfall, go to the foot of the mountains. Look for a cleft in the skyline... toward the mist that hangs over the canyon... the climb becomes steeper, the water wilder... hear the thundering roar? There in the sunlight plunges the waterfall. An artist might be there... He will probably tell you he has been coming back to this spot year after year trying to paint the spirit of the waterfall... Step out on the ledge. A writer might be there composing a poem about the many sounds of the waterfall... The waterfall is now part of you...".
Waterfalls are another simple magic to be found out in our wild lands... Discovering them is another style of adventuring... Visiting and enjoying these surreal interactions between water, rock, gravity, mist, and sound, has provided many unforgettable moments...
So many times, I have also let out an exclamation of excitement after finding perfect, small, polished stones near falls. Some that I have gathered, painted, and passed forward as Summit Stones... I recall also what P. Collins wrote: "The rock is what makes this waterfall".
Falling waters make for natural places of musings; natural environments for simple ponderings, waitful watchings... As in F. Sheen who wrote: "The silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud... a divine mystery... or a waterfall".
As George said, and as I believe, there always can be found a spirit within falling waters, an entity that will mirror your own spirit and enthusiasms, that reflects your own wonder, that inspires your very personal meaning for why you are there and what you wish to experience in your adventures...
I remember...
Yosemite waterfalls in all their grandeur...
Frozen falls and the excitement of ice climbing...
Falling water over cliffs and high rock hidden within the Rockies...
Finding secluded secret locations where streams & small rivers flow and fall and blend with our oceans...
And within all of these, musings and imagining, who had the first accent of these, and who will later enjoy this element...
By leaving these special areas in exactly the same way as we discovered them, we pass forward the same opportunity to yet another adventurous wanderer...
DSD
(Images by - Top/Walker, Middle/Farlow, Bottom/Lee)