Four score and seven year ago…

No wait, that’s not it.

It was only one score ago that I first walked the streets of San Francisco, visiting a friend before heading south to start my Los Angeles life. Seven years ago, as I had hoped from that first day in 1998 in San Francisco, I finally got a gig here. During the day, I sat at my desk and looked out the window that faced the Bay. At night, I drove up 92 and across Skyline Blvd to a guest house in the redwood forest. I spent my weekends hiking the woods along Skyline and every other place north and south of the city. The seven months I lived here engrained in me what I knew my whole life: I belong here.

The movie that brought me here was Chasing Mavericks. I new nothing of surfing and had no desire to take up the sport. However, what I learned on that film has given me a deep respect for those who surf, as I realize that surfing for them is what hiking is to me: it’s a connection to the planet, to life, to all existence. I feel that when my feet tread forest floors; they feel it when they ride that wave.
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In all those seven months, and even all the times I’ve come to visit since then, I’ve never hiked the bluffs above the beach the movie is named for—the premiere surfing spot Mavericks Beach. I felt it was about time to do so, especially with Tucker by my side. Starting across from Half Moon Bay airport, the trail takes you up and through Pillar Point Bluff, up to Pillar Point, and down to Mavericks Beach in a little over 5 miles round trip.
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The trails looped around on the bluff, and before heading toward the open waters, we travelled inland, where the clouds hung low on the tops of the mountains peaks.

​Upon seeing the ocean, that brilliant Tucker smile appeared.

​Out in the distance, that golf ball shaped thing (apparently radars for the US military), is Pillar Point.

​Tucker was allowed along the cliff’s edge, but down below the beaches were off limit to him. It wasn’t until we reached Mavericks Beach that Tucker could climb up onto the rocks in the harbor.

He even ventured far enough to get his feet wet.

But of course he had to if he wanted to enjoy the natural agility course--and he's never been one to turn down a chance to climb on anything.

There were no surfers out that I could spot, but there were birds aplenty out on the rocks and people with dogs running about the beach and rocks at low tide.

Tucker enjoyed the experience so much, he decided to act as greeter for a short spell to those who walked up the trail from the parking lot.

​Although I am not a surfer, I feel a connection to Mavericks for what the film was for me. It was during that shoot that I found where my heart belongs; I envisioned exactly what I wanted in a house if I couldn't live here now; I found that house in Burbank and the job provided what I needed to buy it; and most importantly, because of all that, my life was set up so when I met Tucker a year later, there was nothing stopping me from adopting him.

Mavericks, then, is responsible for not only letting me find and experience my soul space--that place where my heart soars and my soul is at peace--but also for blazing the trail to my soul dog.

While surfers love Mavericks for the giant waves that challenge their skill and give them the ride of their life, I love Mavericks for the wave it produced in my own life. I'm still riding it, and loving every second of it.

When I envision Christmas, I think of New England. Bing Crosby’s White Christmas and Holiday Inn (two similar plots which get mixed up in my memory) are the epitome of winter. In real life, there’s sledding and snowball fights and hot chocolate while your snowsuit dries by the fire. That’s my childhood version of Christmas.

As a travelling freelancer, my adult version of Christmas differs quite a bit from my New England upbringing. And yet the spirit remains the same. The feeling isn’t carried down from the heavens on snowflakes; it comes from within us as we experience and celebrate the light returning to the earth: The Winter Solstice.
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While others bundle up Christmas Eve and head out to their parishes for communion, sermons, and singing, I go to bed early to be awake for my Christmas morning church service. It is not in a manmade cathedral, but rather out in the woods, under the towering redwoods and along the bluffs, overlooking the vast and powerful ocean. My church has no walls, and its ceiling is the sky above.

This year, with the national parks being closed or unattended, I chose county parks and beaches as my church. The highways around San Francisco were clear on Christmas morning, so it was a short drive down the coast to Santa Cruz. Greyhound Rock was to be the ultimate destination, but because high tide was noonish, I chose to delay our travels to later in the afternoon and explore Santa Cruz from Moran Lake to Pleasure Point.

Starting in a neighborhood of seaside town bungalows, we took a dirt path between residences and around what was supposed to be a lake. It appeared to be more of an ambitious pond, rather than a lake. Here is where I realize that New England has an entirely different criteria for “lake” than California does.

The lake/pond ended at the road that cut across and above it. On the other side was a plot of beach, no bigger than my Burbank front lawn.Our feet hit sand and Tucker sniffed the rocks and seaweed that had come up on shore. It was before noon, but the tide was clearly rising, evidenced by the water lines that were almost to the road.

Tucker climbed up on some rock outcroppings on the edge of the beach, looking out over his domain. The leash being short (since we were near the road, he wasn’t allowed his usual extra few feet of freedom), I had to join him or he’d be pulled down off his perch. I put one foot upon the nearest rock, and instantly discovered it was not yet quite rock but still in its sand phase of existence. My foot fell through, crumbling the sandpile and my balance. I fell backwards, just as the tide roared up on shore and ran under me, soaking my feet, pants and butt. My backpack had broken my fall, so at least my shoulders hadn’t gotten drenched.

I righted myself quickly, feeling the salt water slide into my back pocket where my phone was. I grabbed my phone, and immediately silently praised Otterbox for its impenetrable case. I still took my phone out of the case just to make sure there wasn’t any trapped water, and found it to be perfectly dry. I checked my backpack—my paper journal had also been spared. It was 10am on Christmas morning, and although I stood on the side of the road with wet and sandy jeans, my socks full of water, soaked underwear, I was overwhelmed with thanks that my words and my digital map/camera/communication device were all in working order.
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Tucker and I carried on along the streets, and I was first surprised at how many people were out and about. Then I realized I’m in a place with like-minded people, so why wouldn’t they all want to spend the day as I did? More surprisingly, not only did no one who actually witnessed me take my fall at the beach say a thing to me, but no one gave me funny looks or said a word to the inexplicable wet woman with a pitbull as she walked along the sidewalk toward Pleasure Point. I suppose in a surf town, you’re just used to seeing damp people wandering about.

​The sidewalks were full of families and couples and individuals. There were dogs aplenty with their human companions. Out in the ocean, surfers waited patiently to catch the perfect wave (see black dots behind Tucker.)

​Tucker seemed as happy as I did to be out and about on this adventure. 

I hadn’t expected it to be so populated, nor so civilized. From the map, I expected open land, not a sidewalk around the cliffside with homes on the other side of the street. But that’s okay—we’d get our serene moments later on at the beach. This was our fellowship time.

“Oh my god, he looks like Lily,” I heard a woman say as she walked toward us with a man, a child, and a very happy, tail-wagging brown dog about Tucker’s size. “We recently lost our Lily and she was a brindle just like him, “ she said to me.  “He’s been really sad since she passed away. We all have.” Her pup was all wags, and I imagine Tucker was hearing tales of Lily as well. “They were best friends. I wish I had my phone so you could see a picture.”

We all spoke for a short while, she telling me stories of Lily, and I answering questions about Tucker. Our canine companions finished up their conversation as we did, and as they walked away I thought about those little signs we get from the universe. Coincidences maybe. Or maybe we attribute meaning to things that aren’t there. But maybe, just maybe, they are indeed messages. As my thoughts came together about the eternity of the soul and relationship to the physical world, a black and tan dachshund walked toward me with her person at the end of the leash. I almost laughed out loud. If that little doxie was a nod from Dutchess then perhaps Lily had somehow arranged for Tucker to come across her beloved family this morning. While we look for signs in the universe, we might very well be the signs others are waiting for.

With cheer in my heart, I stopped for Tucker to enjoy a little story time along the beachfront where someone had set up this adorable scene.

The sound of jingle bells—actual jingle bells, not the song—made me to turn toward the street. There I witnessed the equivalent of New England’s Norman Rockwell Christmas, California style:

In the empty road, a lean black dog in a red and a white sweater, donning sleighbells around his neck, raced down the street on a ten foot leash, his twenty-something human guardian on a skateboard sailing behind.

Now that is the quintessential Santa Cruz Christmas.

Knowing we could never top that, Tucker and I headed back to my trusty steed where we loaded up and headed to our more private portion of our church service: Greyhound Rock.

From the highway, it was rather unassuming: just a parking lot sparsely populated. Indeed this would be the quieter part of our day.

Once parked, looking over the cliff, we could see the beautiful beach below and the waves crashing up on the rocks. The trail down to the beach wasn’t obvious. It was definitely keeping itself hidden, special, only for those who truly wanted to find it.
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The steep incline had a few tiers to look out over the beach.

​And down below, the tide was halfway to it’s lowest point, allowing us a vast area to walk:

​Tucker always seems happy at the beach. He walks briskly away from the tide coming in, but always seems to love walking and galloping upon the sand.

His ears in the wind and smile on his face is all I need to fill my heart with joy.

​Mother Nature even provided him a little Christmas gift:

​I don’t know why I spend money on manmade toys when nothing can beat a simple stick steeped in seaweed and crustacean carcasses.

As with any walk or hike, Tucker needs to go from one boundary to the other, pushing the limits as to how far he can go. We probably could have walked further, but I was worried that I might not judge the tide and end up stuck on the wrong side of a cliff’s edge. I was finally dry; I didn’t care to be covered in ocean again.

​With the sun about to set in less than an hour, I was hoping to make it up to Skyline Blvd to watch the sun set over the ocean after driving through the sacred redwood forest where my heart is home. ​

We stopped off to give Methuselah Solstice greetings. I don’t believe Tucker has ever met her, but he seemed slightly unimpressed… or perhaps just tired from his long day of Christmas adventuring.

​Back at our humble San Francisco cabin in the city, Tucker had his special dinner (I have no idea why it tastes good… it sounds disgusting.)

​And then it was time to open gifts.  After seeing Tucker with a broken tennis ball he had found on the beach a week earlier, I questioned my purchases. Perhaps random trash was better than a new toy.

​But it seems he liked what he got as well. So, I guess his taste is like mine: I like new things, but truly appreciate the antiques for the stories they hold.

Christmas is no longer the Bing Crosby and Norman Rockwell images of my childhood. But that’s okay. We make our own traditions as we grow up, and the Christmas spirit is alive and well no matter where we are as it resides within us.

Tucker and I wish you all a happy holiday season. May you always find the Christmas spirit within your heart, no matter where you are or what time of year it is. Wishing you all blessings of love and light.

Three hundred and fifty-eight days (just shy of one year) after Tucker and I arrived back from our last location gig and subsequent trek across the States, we loaded up our trusty steed and headed north. Back home to the redwoods… sort of.
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Although our weekend personal getaways take us to San Francisco proper, our own home-away-homes during our location gigs have always been among the redwoods on the peninsula. There, the sidewalks are paved with fallen leaves and the smell of earth permeates everything, even when the windows are closed.

This time though, there were no such cabins available. As a runner up for accommodations, I had been hoping for a beach house in Pacifica or even a house in Daly City that might have a yard but even that search came up empty. And then, a week before take off, a search lacking filters came up with this beauty (photo from MLS):

It was as if someone had secretly stolen a redwood cabin from the woods and tucked it away in their backyard in the city. Although I would miss my morning walks in the woods, the commute to work would be wonderfully short, and once the door to the street was closed, Tucker and I would have our own private cabin. No one floor flat and no cramped quarters of a junior one bedroom like the other city options I had inquired about. A proper house (only 700 square feet, but still a stand alone house), in a small garden, where Tucker and I could be safe, secure, and forget we were only steps away from a concrete jungle.

I must admit though: it's not all concrete.

At the end of our street, just a ten to fifteen walk away (depending on how much sniffing Tucker needs to do), is Kite Hill—a quarter acre mound of green where numerous trails from different parts of the city (and elevations of the city) intersect. Here, people come to just look out across the bay or let their dogs socialize in the morning. 

Even within the city, there are strange pockets of nature, as if nature fought back, refusing to give up every square inch to manmade edifices—no matter how beautiful they might be.

​One afternoon Tucker and I wandered about this forest known as Sutro Park which, although it had only a couple miles of trails, seemed many miles away from the city that surrounds it.

Tucker found this meta art piece rather ridiculous. Humans are always trying to replicate Mother Nature's work, but here in her own gallery it was blasphemous. 

On the other hand, this is exactly what this city is about: little gems of creativity and individuality. And an incredible respect and reverence for nature. This was merely someone's expression of that. That love of nature is reflected in the architecture and in the city design as a whole.

Just from Kite Hill, I could see three green spaces: Corona Heights, Tank Hill, Twin Peaks. I could see people on those mounds of earth, so I estimated they couldn't possibly be that far sway. I decided Tucker and I should trek to a couple of those green spaces and get to know the city.

Indeed it was not far—it just a lot of ups and downs to get there.
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Corona Heights Park was only half an hour walk on city streets before our feet touched soil again. Up through the dog park to the tippy-top where we could see much more of the city and the bay.

That mound out near the water is San Bruno Mountain. I had looked into staying near there as well, but learned that Tucker would not be allowed on that grassy knoll. It's one of the few green spaces within the city that is not dog friendly. It was immediately taken off my list of possibilities.

Although Corona Heights offered a lovely view of the Bay, I still longed for the westward view, the ocean, the place where the fog rolls in, and so we headed northwest to Tank Hill.

Many hills (and about twenty minutes) later, we arrived at its base. There, in the distance, those two little reddish pillars are the Golden Gate Bridge.

​We climbed the hill to find more people here than at Corona Heights. 

Everyone was standing facing east, looking out at the Bay that we had seen from Corona Heights. I wanted something different. So we went around the rocky outcropping to find the view that suited us better:

​There was still city, but much more of Nature and a lot less of Man to be seen.

​Tucker and I sat on the grassy knoll with rocks behind us, getting to see the most of nature that we could this deep in the city.

​San Francisco is a beautiful city. I’m not knocking it. I’m just more of a woods and sea kind of person. However, every night when I walk Tucker, I take the time to really see every individual house (and hope no one thinks I’m casing the joint) to appreciate the attention to detail. The details make up the whole and every distinctly individualized house makes up the city itself. These patches of green spread about the hills and valleys is what makes San Francisco so unique. People realized that Nature is important and that open space must be preserved. It’s why real estate is so expensive here: there’s a limited amount to reside in. The rest is for Mother Nature.

​Even secret passageways have the touch of Nature—like this one we took to get down from Tank Hill. It’s called Pemberton Lane—four city blocks of stairs. And on every riser flat was an entrance to a home. People live here as if tucked away in a fairie glen.

In under two hours, Tucker and I had traversed over four miles of the city and spent a good deal of that time on soft earth. So overall, it’s not bad to live in the city. But we will absolutely be venturing beyond the city streets as often as we can to be under towering canopies of redwoods and along the shore, taking in the sea air and watching the fog roll in.

And that's another great thing about San Francisco: you don't even need to leave it to get to the ocean.

Seldom am I in Southern California for my birthday. I knew that after spending last year in the Blue Ridge Mountains, nothing I could do this year could possibly top that. That’s the downfall to doing a big thing for your 40th: the rest of your 40’s pales in comparison.

However, my annual quest remains the same regardless of where I am: to find Fall. In Los Angeles, I worried autumn may never come. After a hot summer, the fall wasn’t looking any cooler. Leaves change color when the kiss of frost is touched by the morning sun. We had sunshine aplenty, but frost was nowhere to be found.

An online search for where to go to see autumn colors in Southern California brought up a trail called Ice House Canyon in part of Mt. Baldy—a mountain I had yet to explore. It was listed as 7.7 miles up and back which is a bit long for Tuck and me, but with an elevation gain of 2637 feet, I thought the length might prove in our favor as it would be less of an incline. I honestly was going for the parts that touted the fall colors near a stream on the canyon floor, so if we didn’t make it all the way up the mountain, so be it. At least I’d see fall.
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Autumn in the Golden State is exactly that: golden. Seldom do you get the reds and oranges and other colors that blanket New England. It’s all a yellow-gold.

In that way, the trail did not disappoint. It only disappointed me in comparison to last year’s North Carolina’s adventure.

After less than an mile of hiking, I figured out that this trail was named Ice House Canyon not for the chill in the air, but because the giant white rocks gave an illusion of bricks of ice tossed into the valley.
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For Tucker, this was instant agility heaven.

A stream ran along the trail for quite aways, a bubbling brook for our auditory pleasure.

And then the ascent began…

​The ice blocks petered out, and what was left was a sandy trail. But up above, the sky was a stunning rich blue, unmarked by clouds.

Down below, the trees clung to the steep land, still reaching to the heavens.

A fews hours after leaving the canopy of gold on the canyon floor, ​we did indeed reach the Saddle. However, my GPS had clocked us at 5.5 miles, not 3.6—a hefty difference in space and time.

The thing about the saddle is that it’s the low point, not the pinnacle. The best views were right before we dipped back into the saddle. But I still longed for Blue Ridge Mountains. Here the mountains are majestic and high—but also often bare from the climate. I am, afterall, in a desert.

I made it a point to still find some green:

​Tucker decided he needed a rest having reached our goal, without concern that we now needed to go back the way we came. Since he is always courteous when I need a rest, I allowed him his and waited.

​I don’t know what dreams Tucker was having, but I think what I was seeing beat anything he saw behind his closed lids.

It wasn't the Blue Ridge Mountains or the rolling hills of New England, but it was still beautiful. It's just a different style of beauty. Mother Nature is diverse, and as I sat there looking out over the thorny plants and harsh landscape, I felt blessed to be able to visit so many of her different, yet equally stunning, galleries.

We had been hiking for over 3 hours, and although I wanted to let Tucker rest more, we needed to get back down the mountain. I assumed the descent would be significantly quicker than the ascent, but I was wrong.

Tucker is very goal-oriented. He will push through to reach the finish line (i.e., the top of a mountain), failing to realize that we aren’t actually finished; it’s just the first goal. The second goal is to make it back to the car.

Less than a half mile into our descent, Tucker held a sit in… then a lie down. I waited five minutes, uneasy that this portion of journey could extend into nightfall if we continued at this pace.

As I watched him nap, I realized I need to add a rescue harness to my backpack—something to carry him out should he become injured. He wasn’t injured. He wasn’t suffering from a life-threatening incident. He was just too dang tired to keep walking.

I urged him on and when we came upon three boys in their twenties taking a break on their way up to smoke some pot, Tucker decided these guys were totally his speed. He lay down beneath one of them who was sitting on a rock in the middle of the trail.

I enjoyed conversation (and a slight contact high) while Tucker took another ten minute nap. Once the boys were done with their break, Tucker and I resumed our downward journey.

Every time Tucker stopped, I wished I had something to carry him in. Back on the canyon floor, Tucker came across a family who had stopped to eat lunch among the golden leaves. With no formal invitation, Tucker let himself into their circle off the trail and lay down as if this was his family now and promptly fell asleep.

It hadn’t been since Mt Shasta that Tucker had been this exhausted on a hike. I had wanted to wear him out some so I didn’t feel guilty leaving him behind for my birthday dinner in the evening, but I guess we went a little too far.
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​One of the boys had questioned if perhaps Tucker’s hiking days were over. I exclaimed No! Absolutely not, he’s only six. He’s got at least five more years left. As he ages, I know our hikes will need to be shorter and less strenuous. But I’ll never go hiking without him. And if he needs to stop, then I’ll stop with him. Because I’ll never leave him behind. And he’ll never leave me either.

So I didn’t get a New England Autumn this year; I had one last year. So I didn’t get an easy hike; I still got to explore nature. And ultimately, the greatest gift of all is with me every day: my constant and loyal canine companion. Whether we’re hiking to the highest mountain peaks, strolling through meadows, or stopping to take in the fresh air and view, we’re on this journey of life together, side by side... even if I can't manage a proper selfie together to prove it.

Different neighborhoods of the same city have their own energy, their own feel. Whether its the inhabitants or the houses, or the traffic patterns, or a combination of all those things and something more ethereal, the same is true of the forests. Except the houses and traffic patterns play no role. It just is the personality of that particular tract of woods.

Guernsville had a dark undertone to its personality. Deep in the woods, where the house we rented was placed, the forest was silent. At night, and especially during the day, I expect to hear the leaves rustle, woodland creatures scurry about, and the sound of birds. Inside the house I could not tell if the windows were open or closed—both situations were equally silent. There was no sound of birds in the morning. And no sound of night creatures after the sun had set.

However, sound travelled easily. Two men building a cabin a quarter of a mile down the road could be heard conversing as easily as if they sat across the dining room table from me.

Despite this, Tucker was ease. He gave no hint of feeling we would be set upon by either a very real living human murderer or, less likely, demonic goblins of the night. So I merely noted the eery silence and gave my respect to the towering trees above.

Not wanting to spend another day on pavement, Tucker and I headed north out of the silent redwood grove to Stillwater Creek Regional Park. Unlike the state parks, Sonoma County’s parks allow human and canine partners to traverse their trails together.

The road to get the park was a coastal highway, winding along the curves of the bluff overlooking the ocean. So unfortunately, I have no photos of its beauty due to the tight turns and the need to have both my hands on the wheel at all times.
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We arrived at the campground, parked, and every molecule of my body sighed in peaceful thanks as my boots hit soft forest earth.

Ah yes, this is what we came for.

Tucker was just as thankful:

​The prehistoric ferns and mosses…

​The rock-bottomed streams…

The towering trees—although not ancient now, they were new growth, to be ancient a thousand years hence...

The random little meadow…

And a schoolhouse.

Wait what?

Along the well-marked path of the park was a small cul-de-sac trail that ended in a meadow marked “Fort Ross School.” Locked up due to vandalism, we couldn't go inside, but we were able to peak into the windows to see what 1800’s schoolhouse life was like. The school was built in 1885 and perched on a bluff overlooking the village of Fort Bluff a few miles south of its current location. It was disassembled piece by piece and re-erected south of the village, in the early 20th century. Then it moved again… and again. Until it finally landed here, this little piece of history tucked away in this redwood grove on county property.

​This forest isn’t silent like Guernsville. It has the rustling of life that feels safe and protected. It retains its mystic qualities while being welcoming to outsiders, and protects any and all who come to visit.

Perhaps that openness is due to it’s approximation with the sea. A trail from the grove led straight to the ocean (crossing a man-made two-lane highway.)

A little cove, tucked away from the large expanse of ocean, was small and covered in rocks. ​It didn’t seem as comfortable for Tucker as Shell beach was, but maybe after six miles in the woods, he just didn’t care where he lay his body.

​More than other worldly, it felt other-timely. The forest itself always harkens to an age before humans. This beach seemed to go back in time too: to a simpler time when families would come to this little private cove to teach their children to swim, or teenagers snuck out of the house to meet up to drink beer and have a bonfire in this little bit of beach hugged in a loving embrace by rocky cliffsides. It was from another time.

​Perhaps it was some playful sea sprite then that hit a button on the camera to show me what Tucker would have looked like here in the 1970’s.

It was a small cove, but Tucker made sure he explored every inch of it.

By the time we reached the campground parking lot, the sprite whisked us through the decade and into the 1980’s.

From forest to beach and through decades of time, our little trek in this neighborhood was through. It was time to head back. On our southward journey, I spied the fog starting to make landfall. We had to make one more beach stop.

Goathead Beach was off limits to dog, but the beach just south of it, Blind Beach, was dog friendly. The road led to both Blind and Goathead, so I stopped at the tiny parking lot above Blind (I imagine not being able to see it from the parking lot would account for its name), and waited for one of the dozen spots to park my trusty steed.

Although we couldn’t see the beach that was our destination, Goathead was prominent in our view.

​Although the only thing separating us from Shell Beach which we enjoyed so much yesterday was an insurmountable cliff outcropping with waves crashing against it, this beach, like different forests, had its own personality. The black sands that twinkled with a rainbow of colors was still the same, but the boulders and rocks were nowhere to be found on the beach itself. Out in the ocean, though, huge cathedral sized natural monuments stood.

Rocks like this always make me think an ancient city has collapsed and these are the remnants of their fortresses.

​Petrified trees still had a few centuries to go before turning to rock, but were just as interesting to look at and sit on.

Tucker surrounded himself with them.

He lied on the soft, warm black sands as the fog rolled in.

​There is an inexplicable magic that settled overs the cliffs and beaches as the fog rolls in. As much as I enjoy a watching a glorious sunset, I love to breathe in the evening fog even more.

Tucker and I took one more deep breath, and then headed back to the silent redwood valley of Guernsville.

​The next morning, I couldn’t leave the Bay Area without truly going home first. Although I was in the redwoods, I hadn’t stopped into my own redwood neighborhood quite yet. After a brief walkabout with a friend in Marin, Tucker and I stopped for lunch at Alice’s Restaurant in Woodside, California. A sprawling lawn and wooden wraparound deck, across from a filing station, it is a pit stop for bikers and hikers, and truly feels like home. Just up the steep hill is a little path that could take us to the cabin we spent our holidays in in 2015. Built by the Masons, this cabin neighborhood had a little mystery to it, but no darkness.

​The food was good, the atmosphere even better. Here, the ocean breeze makes its way over the mountains, and the redwood trees dance in the morning and evening fog. They open up their arms and welcome Tucker and me home.

​I had lived on Skyline Blvd a few miles north of Alice's, long before Tucker sauntered in my life, and I knew from the first moment I drove the windy crest of highway, this was home. And that I would always return. There maybe be many months in between, but like good friends, time has no meaning to these trees and me. I—now we, Tucker and me—will always come home, and we know we are always welcome. Even if it’s just for a snack and a nap.

If I ever go off the grid, the most likely place you’ll find me is home: in the redwoods. Lucky for you, that narrows down the search area to only about 300 square miles in the northwest portion of the United States. Unlucky for the redwoods, their habitats have been shrinking because we humans have, in years past, taken up full campaigns to injure, harm, and destroy these majestic beasts.

People will say they were cut down for their lumber, their sapwood and bark all but impervious to fire and pest so that we could build homes. Some felled trees because it was botanical equivalent of hunter taking down a rhino. Some sort of sick pride goes into taking the life out of a beauty you yourself will never have. Maybe it’s an unconscious fear of that majesty, that timelessness. The same thing that some humans, fear, I go to explicitly to experience.

When you stand beneath the canopy of a redwood tree, you sense how small, how short, how insignificant your life must be to this being who has withstood earthquake, fire, flood, famine, and human interference for sometimes thousands of years. Your act of walking by the tree, to this tree, is the same as a fruit fly flying by your cereal bowl one summer morning when you were three years old. For the tree or you now, neither event is particularly meaningful. And yet…

Look at all you’ve done in your life. All there is to do. Your life isn’t meaningless. It’s filled with joy and tragedy, love, and laughter and every little thing you do can affect the world around you—and the world within you.

And yet, you are just a fruit fly to this redwood.

The potential that every single soul has is astounding. Stand beneath a redwood tree, and look stories up into the canopy, and think of the stories in your life, and the stories in your own imagination yet told.

This is why I come to the redwoods. To see how high one can reach into the skies when you have the support of the grove around you. To listen to the stories in the wind. To feel soft, solid forest floor beneath my feet. And to breathe in earth and rain and leaves and tree. Here I am renewed.

Clearly Tucker seems to feel the same because he was pretty excited when I told where we were going.

​As with much of our adventures, in order to get the most hiking in during daylight hours, we started our journey the afternoon before. Tucker and I literally drove off into the sunset, leaving the City of Angels behind to explore the forest around the Russian River that winds it away north of San Francisco.

The best thing about arriving at night to a new place is that you get to wake up in a whole new world as if you’ve been transported there by some unearthly means into a dream universe. Although we had a hike planned, we really didn’t need to leave the multi-tiered fenced-in backyard to experience the redwoods.

From this upper tier where I ate breakfast at a small bistro table, Tucker looked out over the edge.

He then held sentinel along the ridge, able to look out into the neighborhood below while being far from me saying, "Don't stand so close to the edge!"

After a leisurely early morning breakfast, I packed our bags for our planned short hike. California State Parks seldom allow dogs on trails. These are the people who say, “Of course your dog is allowed to camp with you! But if you go on a hike, leave in him your tent.” Um, have you ever met a dog? Or a dog owner/guardian/parent?? That’s not only not safe, but really particularly mean. It’s like inviting your recovered alcoholic friend to a winery because he might like to see the vineyard and beautiful landscape. And then have a flight of wines and finish off a bottle by yourself while he sits there with a glass of water.

It was going to be a short hike in the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve because although dogs were allowed they had to stick to the paved areas. The paved road runs pretty much side by side with the trail like an access road along the freeway. I was a little annoyed with not having boottread hit earth, but Tucker got a little ground on the edge of the road and we saw pretty much what everyone else could see.

My heart swells with joy when I see that Tucker is just as happy to be among the redwoods as I am.

He even got to stand next to one of the oldest trees in the park.

​At one of the intersections with a dirt trail, a fallen redwood lay, its petrified roots exposed. Tucker and I watched a horde of school kids (probably campers) cross the road and then try to climb it as their teachers yelled for them not to touch.

​After seeing that, I really didn’t think there would be any harm in Tucker getting up close and personal with it—afterall, he wouldn’t disrespect it like the young humans did.

At the end of our alloted paved roadway within the Redwood Preserve, we were presented with an opportunity to go further. The ranger we had met upon entering had said that if we didn’t mind elevation we could continue up to Bullfrog Pond Campground. It would be about 10 miles round trip. The only caveat (besides the elevation) was that it was paved the whole way—and once above the treeline, very little shade.

I decided to go for it anyway. The best thing about starting the trail at the bottom is that if it gets too tough, you can always stop and it’s all downhill from there.

Tucker and I had the road/trail to ourselves for many miles. Dry grassland and green canopies blanketed the mountain tops.

​Tucker had some edge along the pavements to trod soft earth and fallen leaves.

One mile from the campground, at a turnoff for a parking lot and two trailheads (which dogs were not allowed on), Tucker and I took a break to enjoy the view.

It had gotten hotter than I had expected here. It could have been Mother Nature providing a little heat. Or it could have been my own body as it rose 1200 feet above sea level over the course of three miles.
​
Either way, after consulting my four-legged partner, we decided we didn’t need to walk another two miles round trip just to get to the campground. This pinnacle was good enough for us.

Sweeping views from above the forest treetops are glorious in their own right, but now we preferred to be under the treetops, in the forest.

​On our way back down, we stopped off at Pond Farm Pottery,

It was locked off with no trespassing signs, so of course Tucker needed to see inside.

Endless miles he’s free to explore, but no, it’s the one acre of land off limits that he desperately needs to see.

For me, I just wanted to be where the treetops touched the skies.

​We walked through the grove in reverence of the beautiful giants...

... and ancient mystics...

...and then we bid farewell to the forest.

​In less than half an hour, we arrived at our next, completely different, walkabout.

​One of my coworkers who spends his holidays near the Russian River  advised that I absolutely needed to go to Goathead Beach and Shell Beach. Goathead Beach was off limits to dogs, so Shell Beach was next leg of our hiking day.

​I was not disappointed.

And this is just the trail leading to the beach.

There’s just something about it: when land not only touches sea, but the two intermingle, rocks jutting out in the ocean, the waves crashing against the cliffside. All is connected.

And then there’s my boy, my adventure dog, my soulmate of another species who is happy to be anywhere new, but especially in places like these:

Down at sea level, his affinity for rocks was satiated as it is less shell beach and more boulder beach.

It was late afternoon, and the fog began to roll in, that mysterious, magical layer of clouds whose nautical and aerial origins are unknown. It drifts in subtly, capturing the sea, then the rocks, then the cliffs.

​There were few people on this tucked away shoreline, so Tucker made himself comfortable among the rocks to watch the fog roll in.

There were no children running around screaming or even people wading into the water. It was as if we had made some pact together that we would all remain silent, to give the sea and fog the reverence it was due. 

Tucker and I sat on the beach experiencing Nature as each rock disappeared from sight in the ocean, and the ocean itself became shrouded in a haze, while it’s crashing waves could still be heard.

We let the fog wash over us, breathing in the salty air until we both felt at peace with walking away. Walking away, taking with us the peace and the timelessness of the beach:  its rocks, its sand, and its fog filled with stories from far off lands.

That evening as dinner cooked on the stove, Tucker crawled up on my lap. I occasionally lament that I missed out on Tucker's puppyhood, having met him during his second chance at life. But as he gazed up at me in this one moment, I saw that puppyhood echoed in his eyes as real as if I had been there.

There really is magic in the forests and fog of Northern California. It renews us, makes us young again, and makes us believe that anything is possible.

And that was only the first day.

Sadly, having an adventure every weekend was stymied by that thing called a job. As on every production, once the camera starts rolling, my days in the office get longer and my off time is reduced to sleeping, snacking, and more sleeping. Tucker spends the majority of the days and nights in the office like this:

This is frequently interrupted by co-workers who take him up on his offer to play Tug or by crew members who come in to get snuggles from him. Tucker is stuck behind the gate in our office the entire day, and the only people he meets are those who happen to stop by. However, this time was a little different.
​
LA Center Studios has to be one of the most dog friendly studio facilities in Los Angeles.

Although the grassy park is often closed for shoots or events, it does exist. And dogs are allowed everywhere—out on the streets, in the offices and halls, and around the stages.

Not only did Tucker make friends with crew dogs from our show,

​But he met other crew dogs and office dogs while on his afternoon walk—which ultimately turned into play.

Although fun could be had any day of the week, I deemed Thursdays to be Payday-Playday.

First it was because it was our weekly playdate with Pete.

But when we started working too late into the night for playdates, play meant carrying out his duties as the Payroll Pitbull: bringing good cheer and paychecks to the crew.

​Wardrobe offered up their red wagon for Tucker to get wheeled around in should he need a break from all that walking.

​Tucker climbed every set of stairs, at basecamp hopeful they’d lead to some new land to explore.

Using his extraordinary sense of smell, he found the most frequented location of any set: the craft service truck.

​There he waited patiently and was soon rewarded with gifts of food and love: bacon, scraps, and the best of all: hotdogs.

​After eating, Tucker and his hot dog supplier commiserated about set life…

…the long days, the endless nights, and how their jobs were basically the same: to bring happiness to the crew. Craft service brought it in the form of hot dogs and pancakes and freshly baked cookies; Tucker brought it with his games of tug and his big dog hugs.
​
After a snack, he headed to the make-up trailer to get the star treatment.

​He even tried out what it was like to be a rigging grip one week.

Tucker took a few minutes at the smoking section, hoping to catch some set gossip. Unfortunately for Tucker, there aren’t as many smokers in production as there were twenty years ago. He usually came up empty for visitors there.

Regardless, it was quite clear that Tucker loved being on set:

​Of course he only saw the fun side: the talking to people, giving them money, seeing them smile and take a moment out of their day to say hello. He didn’t spend 14 hours standing around with no comfy bed to lay on, and then be ready in a moment’s notice to do his job.

The office isn't as exciting as set, but I did try to make it fun for him. Tucker loves to learn new things and feel a part of it all, so I had one task I was determined to teach him before the gig was up. 

The gate at my door was to keep Tucker in and make sure he didn’t run off with another crew. However it had the additional effect of keeping many people out—simply because, like Tucker, they couldn’t figure out how to open it.

The task for Tucker was to run information between my desk and the gate where people couldn't get in. People could put documents in a briefcase I had hanging next to the door, hand it to Tucker, and he would bring it to me at my desk. I would empty it, give it back, and he would return it to the person at the gate. 
​
Four months later, I’m not sure who’s more proud: him or me.

Tucker loves to be in the middle of everything and everyone. He makes an indelible impression on everyone he meets. So much so, that people have started rendering him in artwork.  My boss made a Tucker-doodle on a Post-It:

And the barista at the coffeehouse drew him in my morning mocha:

​Tucker became so popular, he was even invited to a dog party. He hung out with new friends and old.

Our attempts for a group photo weren't much of a success, but it was clear from the outtakes who had humans who took a lot of photos of them. Like a leading lady who can always find her light, Tucker and Bartock always found the camera lens.

Tucker is all professional when we're at work, but when he's off the clock, he's all play. And he plays as hard as he works. 

Production wrapped up at the end of June, leaving Tucker no one to visit on Payday-Playday. Instead he wandered the streets in search of his pack.

He sniffed the empty parking spots where the trucks had been and refused to leave. He hadn't ever been so attached to--and so involved with--a crew before. As much as it made me happy when we were shooting, it made me equally sad when it was over, unable to explain to him why everyone had left.

​Back in the office full time with no crew to visit anymore, Tucker the set dog expressed his disappointment in not being able to return to the bustling activity of production.

Now that adventures weren’t had in the office, we needed to have them outside of work—once I could get some time off.

On the hottest day of the year with my house baking in triple digit degree heat in the Valley, I packed Tucker up and we headed south. I had to meet with a contractor in Escondido, and figured we'd make a day of it, spending some time at the beach near San Diego. 

There are a number of dog friendly beaches in and around San Diego. Dog Beach is the most known, an off leash mecca of sand and ocean. It was still warm at the beach, and I didn't think Tucker needed a full-on romp among other dogs. We just needed the sea breeze to cut through the heat. So I chose one a little more north that required leashes, hoping it wouldn't be so crowded.

​Tucker is happy to be anywhere new, but he didn’t seem to like this beach as much as he did Point Conception. I guess he and I are just Northern California beach people. The beach down here is flat and crowded with swimmers and sun bathers (not pictured.) 

Up north, there are dramatic bluffs and cliffs. There are surfers and hang gliders, and birds sitting on rocks as waves crash against them. 

Perhaps it is the rocks that make all the difference. At the northern border of the beach area designated for dogs, outside an extremely expensive restaurant, Tucker enjoyed his favorite aspect of the beach: climbing on rocks.

The sea breeze only made a tiny slice into the heatwave, and with no trees for shade, we needed to seek shelter under manmade edifices. The restaurants on the beach weren't quite our style, but across the street was a  little bar that I could have a cool beverage and snack, and Tucker could lie on cold, slightly wet slate.  Looking down at my loyal companion using my backpack as a pillow, I was filled with gratitude for whoever or whatever had brought Tucker into my life.

When I signed Tucker’s adoption papers almost five years ago now, it wasn’t just a contract to a rescue saying that I would feed and house him and meet his basic needs. It was a contract with a living, breathing soul who came in the shape of a dog stating that I would be his partner through thick and thin. I had to do my human part to create a life for us as he did his canine part creating obstacles, opportunities, and bringing his boundless love to the process.

Somewhere in the fine print it stated was that my main duty was to be his chaperone and chauffeur on his Tour of Joy (giving and receiving) in this world. I don't always think I'm living up to that duty. I know not every day can be a hike in the woods or a walk on the beach (Northern California beach, that is.) But I do feel like we need more of those than we've been having lately.

Life is short--especially if you're a dog. I imagine the contract he signed that adoption day stated that his main duty was to lead me on this Tour of Joy. After all, it isn't just his life or my life, it's our life.

If you’re doing it right, it’s not the dogs who come along for the ride with us; it’s us following their lead.

I can't wait to see where Tucker's Tour leads me next.

After the last post, I feel the need to quote Monty Python here:

“And now for something completely different:”

Tucker and I haven’t spent a night away from our humble abode in almost six months. That’s a record for us—and not one I’m pleased with. We’re adventurers and wanderers. Home base is a lovely place to be, but it’s just a base. Our real home is the open road.

Usually it is the mountains and forests who call to me when I lie awake restless. But this time it was the ocean who called to me. I longed for the northern Californian coast with it’s dramatic cliffs and flowery bluffs.

But 48 hours wasn’t enough to drive the 300 miles north, enjoy a hike, and drive back. I had to settle for a compromise. One hundred a fifty miles north, southern California becomes northern California. At that critical juncture is the hike from Jalama Beach to Point Conception. It’s 11 miles out and back along a beach to a lighthouse. It was exactly what we needed. I packed a bag for Tuck and me, just in case our longest-hike-ever left me too tired to drive back at the end of the day.

Because we had to skirt the ocean the whole way there, the tide schedule was critical. High tide was conveniently at 9:30am before we arrived and low tide was 2:30pm, just about the time I expected to arrive at the lighthouse. The last thing I wanted was for us to be stranded on a beach, unable to get back because the tide came in. Most of the hikers who had done it on alltrails clocked it at 4-5 hours, so I gave us six, not being the fastest hikers (not the most in shape.) It was a walk at sea-level, but walking in deep sand is exhausting.
​
Road trips are fun for me to get out and see new beautiful spaces:

​But Tucker adds another joyful experience for me: watching him watch the scenery.

The smile on his face started when he saw the ocean. Near Santa Barbara as we paralleled the crashing waves, Tucker cried and whined as if the ocean had been calling him too and he was finally able to respond.

​And hour and a half later, after the road swung back inland, leaving us from the ocean, I can understand why Jamala is not crowded. I wonder how many people know about it, and those that do, if they risk the journey there. Taking a left off Highway 1 on a road with a “No outlet” sign at the beginning makes you question your judgement. The two-lane country road winds through hills and valleys for thirteen miles, narrowing like a mountain road. There are no pictures of this stretch as I needed both hands on the wheel to take the sudden tight turns and avoid careening off the cliffs into the sprawling valleys below.

The campsites were booked for the weekend, but there were still spaces for day-use folks like Tucker and me. People gathered around tents and RV’s and drank and ate. Kids played. Humans walked their excited canines on leashes through the parking lot.

As we started up over the sandy dune from pavement to beach, I saw an orange triangular object come bouncing over the dune. I didn’t know what it was and thought it was travelling unusually fast given that the wind wasn’t fierce. I turned and heard/felt a “thwap!” on my back. Huh. I continued waling until I heard a child yelling, “Wait! Lady! You saved my kite!”

I turned around to see an eight year old boy running toward me, and then looked up to see that there was indeed a kite above me. The boy fumbled with my backpack, and finally released the end of his kite from whatever it had gotten hooked on on my backpack.

For those that don’t believe all of life is in the timing, you’ve never inadvertently saved a boy’s kite by being in precisely the right place at exactly the right moment.

We crested the sand dune and before us was the glorious ocean under puffy clouds. A kiteboarder was coming for a landing, and Tucker seemed a little concerned at his awkward descent:

​“Nevermind. He’s fine.”

​Unlike Fort Funston with dogs all off leash running about and really nothing else happening, this was a beach with people doing people things but who also happened to have dogs. It was delightful. People swam and surfed; further down people fished. Some people excavated fossils cliffside.

​Most of the outcroppings on the beach weren’t rocks—yet. They were fallen trees in the fossilization stages, some with black tar on them. Whatever they were, they were fun to jump and stand on.

​Once we went a mile south on the beach, where technically it’s no longer county park property, we had the beach to ourselves.

Emboldened by the privacy, Tucker practiced a few dances moves:

​The wind was to our back on our southern journey. I only noticed its power when Tucker turned back and his ears took flight.

The ranger had said that we should see the lighthouse about a mile and a half away. The lighthouse stands on Coast Guard property so you’re not supposed to go all the way there. The bluffs above the beach were owned by cattle ranchers, but recently had been bought by the Nature Conservancy. It’s still trespassing to hike on the bluffs though, so we were to stick to the beach, which is perfectly fine, as there's plenty to sniff and see and explore.

​About five miles in, we finally came to what I could only think was our end point. The rocky cliff jutted out into the ocean and with only an hour before low tide, the waves were still crashing five feet high onto the rocks. I didn’t see how we would be able to make around it—or over it. And if we had, how many minutes would we have before it was impossible to get back without being swept away to the sea? I still didn't see a lighthouse so we had to be at least a mile away.

So (since no one reads this blog anyway, I can say this), we took the road not-supposed-to-be-travelled. It was the path on the map, and the path that most people who had seen the lighthouse had certainly taken, given the photos they took.

Tucker and I climbed up the path, and hoped we would find a quick path back down to the beach. Unfortunately, the road took us away from the cliff and deeper into the Nature Conservancy’s land. (Dear Nature Conservancy, please create a legitimate route for those us wanting to see the lighthouse to go up onto the bluff and back down again to the beach so we don’t traipse through the land you’re conserving. Thank you!)
​
If humans didn’t exist would Nature be so beautiful? Of course it would. The natural state of the world is beautiful, even the spaces where the only domesticated ones to experience it are cows and the few ranch hands who patrol every now and again.

​The small path and the surrounding flora made me think that we had truly been transported to northern California. 

​The path led us through the bluff’s stunning landscape to a paved road. Up ahead there were buildings. And a sign:

When I was told it was owned by the Coast Guard, I assumed it was a working lighthouse, not an abandoned property. So despite the sign, Tucker and I kept walking. I mean, there was no gate to open or fence to climb. Perhaps we didn't see the sign.

Side query: Why does every abandoned government property look like the zombie apocalypse just happened?

We walked on, still not seeing the lighthouse—or even the ocean since the road went uphill.
​
Finally, at the top of the hill, next to an abandoned building with a satellite dish on it, and under the hum of the wind through the electrical wires, I looked over the wall and finally found that which we walked for:

 The lighthouse at Point Conception.
​
​I recalled some photos online of people on the stairs, but at this juncture, I wasn’t going down with the obvious consequence of having to walk all the way back up again. I wasn’t tired from walking six miles, but my leg muscles were getting delayed in their response for movement that I requested. We still had five and a half miles to get back and the wind was starting its offensive against us. I thought it was battling with us only because we were high on the bluffs.

But back on the beach, the wind was no less. And now that we faced the wind, I realized just how lucky we had been to have tailwind on the way down. I urged Tucker to close his eyes every time large gusts came through, and I can only hope he did. I got a facial: sand slamming into your face at 15mph for two hours is an excellent natural exfoliant.

I spied an old toppled sea wall to take a break behind and get out of the wind. My alltrails app had stopped recording (I guess the wind was too much for it too), so my best guess is that we were about nine miles in when we finally took a break. Tucker definitely needed it:

However, the flies were too much. I didn’t see any seaweed or ocean vomit that the flies seem to love to hover about, but they loved Tucker. It took a couple of tries and a promise to stop again soon to get Tucker up while we looked for a better resting place.

Three-quarters of a mile later, we found one. Still a little windy, but no flies.
​
And an excellent view—if his eyes were open.

​Sitting here was what this walk was about. I had wanted to stop at the lighthouse, but it was far too blustery to enjoy it. I had thought I might even lose my phone when I took the picture.

​So here, now, we stopped so we could enjoy the moment. I sat and watched the pelicans, listened to the ocean, and felt the warmth of the sun on my face. 

​This was our adventure. This was the kind of thing we needed to do every day off. This is what working is for—to have the time and money to have adventures. This one only cost $13 plus the price of gas.

After our break, we continued northward, exploring areas that hadn't been there on our southward journey. Now that the tide was out, Tucker thought he found grass.

Sea lawn (aka seaweed) was all it was, but he seemed to like to stand there in the ocean, catching the scents in the breeze.

We took in the scene on our way back. Even though we had walked this path before, we had not seen it from this perspective. Sometimes you have to remember that: where you aren't is the the place you see, but the space you inhabit and experience the world from, and that makes all the difference.

We made it back, my legs fighting my commands to get through the deep sand dunes to the parking lot. Even after all that, when a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel came running out of a campsite (ironically, the one right next to the “Dogs must be kept on leash” sign), Tucker wagged his tail and seemed ready to make friends. I thought for sure he’d be too tired to deal with a social little social dog, but he rallied. I guess his ten minute nap on the beach had rejuvenated him.

Tucker napped for another hour in car until we arrived at my second spot of adventure for us. Being the start of summer, and only a mile off course of our drive home, how could I not stop here?

I had mistakenly thought it was a vineyard. Reading up on all the dog-friendly wineries in central California, I had gotten this one confused with another. It was just a tasting room on the little main strip in Summerland, California. Only one other dog was on the balcony seating, and Tucker wished to say hello, but the dog’s human didn’t care to have us engage.

​Tucker allowed me a moment to sit and sip a glass of wine, but soon wanted more than just a spot on the floor. 

He tried to climb into the chair. The rules were posted quite clearly on the balcony: “No paws on furniture.” Granted, we had ignored other signs today, but this one would be quite obvious if we didn’t heed it.
​
Tucker was not pleased and felt it very un-dog friendly of the place. How uncivilized to not allow him in a proper chair.

I asked him to try to make the best of it while I enjoyed my glass of wine.  It's hard to really enjoy yourself though when your companion is dramatically sighing and  resituating his rump every thirty seconds trying to get comfortable. 

We soon headed out and were back at our place before night fully darkened the skies. 

Within twelve hours, we had driven up part of the coast of California, walked 11 miles along the beach, visited a lighthouse, trespassed on two different properties to get there, met a few dogs, saved a child’s kite, climbed on fossilizing trees, got sand in our hair & fur, took in the clean ocean air, enjoyed a glass of vino at a winery, and drove back down the coast with the sun setting behind us.

I suppose we don’t necessarily have to be away from home overnight to have adventures.

Don’t worry about waiting up for us; we might very well be home before dark.

It is astonishing to me that driving for twenty minutes in the right direction from home can lead us here:

Clearly I’ve been driving in the wrong direction around Los Angeles for the past twenty years.
​
North Trail Canyon Road is rated as “lightly trafficked” so I was surprised to see a line of cars on either side of the entrance to the road which would ultimately lead to the trailhead. However, we never did encounter as many people as there were cars (which is disconcerning in its own way.)

​The first portion of the hike is an actual road in which people live in cabins along the sides.

Although I would never want to live here, I feel a certain kinship with its inhabitants: Los Angeles people who desperately want to get out of the city and be in nature. There were only three houses along the way to the trailhead along with one remaining fireplace and a foundation—the only footprint left of a house burned down or destroyed ages ago.

​Once on the canyon floor, the sound of water was steady, although its source was not always seen.

It was supposed to be an overcast day, so I wasn’t worried about heat. Despite the fog still laying low over the mountaintops, the blue sky and sun were harsher than I expected. I was sweating furiously, and I started to worry about Tucker. My brain told me it was only 70-75 degrees, but my body was acting as if it was 85.

​We stopped at every river crossing and I let Tucker do what I wanted to do myself: stand in the water and drink copiously from it.

I felt like we had entered another time, not just another place. Surrounded by green on the canyon floor, I looked around in the still morning and almost expected a stegosaurus to saunter out of the hills and take a place beside Tucker to drink from the stream.

It really did seem like we had been sucked into another universe, not just another time.

After meandering along the canyon floor, the trail began to rise… and rise…
There was no ultimate destination to be seen. The trail wove around the hills, its incline unknown.

​As we came around one of the many bends, I heard the sound of rushing water as clear as if it was right beside me. But the canyon can play auditory tricks. Off in the distance, was the source of the sound:

Majestic and other-worldly, in my mind I photoshopped large birds of prey dipping in and out of the falls into the picture before my eyes. (For sense of scale, off to the right of the falls on the rock are two black spots: those are people.)

Just as the opening to Land of the Lost started playing in my mind, I heard a woman’s shrill scream… followed by a brief pause and the laughter of boys.

“Did you not see that thing?!?!” the unseen female yelled at her male friends who were laughing at her. “That snake was huge! It was right there, off the trail!”

The threesome came around another bend as Tucker and I waited to make room for them to pass by. “Well I don’t think it’s there anymore after that scream,” I said to her.

She continued with, “It was huge! Just lying there on the side of the hill!”

I asked if they had been to the bottom or the top of the falls, since their attire leaned toward swimming, not hiking.

“The bottom,” she said.

I asked how to get there, since I only had directions to the top.

“Oh you’ll see, there’s a small path and then a rope to help climb down.

“Ah, a rope. I guess I’ll be sticking to the top.”

The girl had much more faith in Tucker and me than I had. “Oh, he could do it,” she said, assessing Tucker. Sure he might have the muscle, but the lack of thumbs is a major hinderance when climbing a rope.

Tucker and I continued along the path, and found that even to get to the top of the falls, one had to get down a hill. This one didn’t have a rope:

The angle was rather steep, and I started down, holding onto Tucker, the two of us almost eye level to avoid either of us spilling down the unstable hill. I heard from down below: “Oh wait, there’s someone trying to come down.”

I turned around and saw a guy there.

“Is there an easier way down?” I asked.

“Yeah, if you keep going along the trail, you can find a better spot to climb down,” he replied.

“Okay. Thanks. I think we’ll give that a try.”

I climbed back up awkwardly with Tucker and continued down the path that I had initially set out on, but thought it wouldn’t end up where I wanted.
​
In fact, it ended up in an even better place.

​The canyon stream that fed the dramatic falls meandered over rocks and here plant life flourished.

Tucker and I crossed the stream and headed back toward the falls only because that had been our original destination.

It was rather disappointing. Standing atop on a slab of rock and hearing the voices of people below wasn’t quite where we wanted to hang out. 

So we ventured back down the canyon river. We found our own little falls, back near where we had crossed the river.

As always, Tucker had to sample the fine flowing beverage...

but this time, he promptly slipped in.

​We were both equally surprised at exactly how deep the little pool was.  

​Pride and body unbroken, I helped Tucker climb up the slippery rocks and we strolled further upstream.

​We picked a spot and sat to be a part of the river. 

​​Even a little toad found it peaceful here and shared in our quietude.

When I think of Los Angeles, I think of city. But the fact is, there is far more land that is unpopulated by humans than there is concrete jungle. You just have to be willing to find it.

​Tucker and I headed back, our lungs full of clean forest air and our minds filled with the sights and sounds of the natural world.

On our trek back, Tucker took a moment. Usually it is I who stop and want to take it all in. This was Tucker’s moment and Tucker’s spot. I agreed: it was a beautiful moment in space and time:

And that’s why we do this—we hike to find that beauty that already exists around us. In the city, we find only tiny echoes: the hummingbird outside our window, the flower that grows out of a crack in a sidewalk. Out here, we are enveloped by it, a hug from Mother Nature, reminding us that no matter how long we’re away, or how far we think we are from our roots, we are always welcome home again.

Southern California winters are a bit wet. Unlike Vancouver, where if Tucker and I didn't hike in the rain, we'd simply never hike, we could wait out the storms here in Los Angeles. After a year of fires, mudslides were imminent, and being in a canyon during a possible flash flood wasn't advisable. So, sadly, we had to take a couple weeks off from our quests for Mother Nature until she'd be more welcoming to our presence.

​Pete and his mom Nicole have joined Tucker and me on our mission to find Mother Nature here in the city. Once the sun shown again, our first venture was only fifteen miles from home at Ernest E Debs Park. There, we were treated to a lake atop a mountain.

​On occasion the hills secluded us from the surrounding urban environs,

But we were still reminded that in the distance, towering skyscrapers pierced the sky, and a city like Gotham was still within sight.

​So, the next weekend we decided to go just ten miles further away. Still within Los Angeles County, and only a forty minute drive on a Sunday morning, we found a place where Mother Nature still ruled.

“Why doesn’t LA look like this where I live?” Nicole asked.
​
Even she, with her backyard retreat to Griffith Park, was envious of those who lived in the surrounding neighborhood to this:

Technically we were no longer in Los Angeles City proper, but we were still in LA County. Monrovia Canyon Park is run by the city of Monrovia and is situated in the San Gabriel Mountains. We parked in a quaint neighborhood and walked the three quarters of a mile to the park entrance. There weren’t any spots available in the tiny lot in the park, but it saved us a $6 parking fee and gave the boys and us another mile and a half of walking in the wilderness.

Our main destination was the 30 foot waterfall, but when we climbed the Bill Cull Trail and came to a fork in the road, we took the road less travelled and not on my map: the overlook.

​Far, far into the distance, like Dorothy spying the Emerald City when she first begins her journey, the City of Angeles could be seen.

​At least, we speculated it was Los Angeles. It might have been Pasadena. It didn’t matter. From where we stood, the urban jungle was worlds away.

Here, ​Tucker knighted Pete into the Order of Backyard Brindles, naming him Sir Peter of the San Gabriels.

After the ceremony concluded, we turned around and climbed back down the 500 feet of elevation to the crossroads. There we headed in the opposite direction toward the water and the wild.

There was even a proper stream to cross.

The boys took sips from the stream,

​But afterward Pete cleansed his palette with his own LA city water from home. You can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy.

​After venturing through forest lands, we came upon the waterfall that had been recently fed by the rains.

One thing for me to get used to is that there is very little privacy in the woods here. Vancouver’s forests were always busy, but the crowds of people always appeared to belong. With their backpacking gear, sturdy footwear, and layers of waterproof clothing, they seemed to have simply sprouted from the forest floor.  While there are some naturally outdoorsy people in Los Angeles, many visitors are obviously just that: visitors to this strange land of nature. They come wearing fashion footwear, carry no water reserves, and talk loudly, blare music (have you not heard of headphones?), and harbor no respect for the sacredness and power of nature.

The first portion of our hike to the overlook had been quiet and peaceful. Few people ventured that way, so when we arrived at the waterfall even Pete and Tucker were a little thrown off by the crowds. We hadn’t seen many people on the trail, so they speculated that they had all magically appeared at this precise spot.

Due to the line of people and throngs of families, I didn’t foresee us being able to snag a photo where everyone else had, so this photo of Tucker would have to suffice.

​After hanging out for a brief spell, enjoying the water and trying to block out all the people in this serene landscape, we headed back on the trail...

Passing along a stream...

​Filling our view with visions of green and wild.

We walked back to our vehicles, happy to have found another oasis of Nature within the urban landscape. Hiking has always been a spiritual venture for me: my church. Now that I’m in the city, I have to get used to the fact that since there are fewer churches, the congregations will be bigger and visits from non-members will be more frequent. Instead of missing my solitude, I need to embrace my kindred spirits. Tucker and Pete always welcome new visitors to their pack. As always, dogs are leaps and bounds ahead of humans in emotional evolution. As a smart human, I'll follow close behind and never let go of the leash for they always lead me in the right direction.