It's a Pittie-full Life
  • Home
  • Travels with Tucker
  • Is it Tucker-Tough?
  • Precious Cargo
  • Renovating Rover
  • Tucker's Favorite Folks

Travels with Tucker

I'm not John Steinbeck and Tucker is certainly no Charley. But after our first year together travelling over 14,000 miles, criss-crossing America, hitting 17 states, I thought it was about time we started documenting our adventures.

Seeking Solitude in All Directions

11/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Most of our adventures involve sweeping landscapes or the peace and solitude of the forest. But every now and again our journeys focus on friends. It just happens that in this case, the sweeping landscape is still a feature.

This weekend, Tucker and I headed north over the bay bridge. Our friend wrote a book, and since it was inspired by the sea, we went to the beach to read it aloud and discuss editing. Since there was no chair for Tucker to sit in during our meeting, he chose to sit on the log.
Picture
​Tucker had a long leash, allowing him to sift through sand, roll around in the seaweed and take in the ocean air. Instead, he had to be in the middle of it—as he is with all things.
Picture
After a productive and fun editorial meeting, Tuck and I headed north to the solitude of the forest. However, we weren’t alone in our quest to be alone. With no parking left at the trailhead, and only precarious “spots” on the side of the cliff,  I chose to head back down the mountain a bit and take a trail less travelled.
Picture
​Not as forest-y as I would of liked, but it was still some time in nature. One of the many things I love about the Bay Area is how quickly one can get from the beaches to the trees. And even from our vantage point among the treetops, we still spied water.
Picture
​From ocean to mountain and across the bay: all in a day when you’re in San Francisco.
Picture
It didn’t feel as if we had gotten our true nature fix for the weekend, so the next day we headed south to find solitude. I really wanted to hike to Castle Rock, but being a state park, my faithful companion was not allowed. And so I, too, missed out. We are a package deal; I only go where he goes.

We paid the $10 to park at Castle Rock because there wasn't any free street parking, but rather than follow the people up the western trail to the forest reminiscent of a fairyland with gnarled trees and amazing rock formations, we crossed over Skyline Blvd to where we were allowed: the east side.

I don’t know what we missed out on being on the east side, but we did have our own unique experience where we were welcomed. Once I was out of sight of the cars and pavement, I was in a place like no other I had experienced on the Peninsula. The rocks and trees had grown together throughout the centuries and stood in a still frame of their life dance together.
Picture
​I can’t say which came first: the rock or the tree, but clearly they are forever bonded.
Picture
​The Skyline Trail which runs alongside Skyline Blvd (which, incidentally, rides along the San Andreas fault line) seems to be a place of coming together—plates of the earth, rock and vegetation… perhaps even sea and mountain.
Picture
​I wondered why one trailhead was called Seagraves.
Picture
​It probably is an uninteresting tale of some guy in the 1800’s who decided to slap his name on a parcel of land. But looking at some of the rock formations, I wondered if perhaps this was an actual sea grave. I could certainly imagine it underwater, the tides eroding the rocks, and coral and seaweed growing up around the sediment.
Picture
Further up the trail, the path led us away from the road, but turning back, we could see the mountain ridges beyond, knowing just on the other side was the edge of the land, and miles upon miles of ocean beyond.
Picture
​We walked almost seven miles among the trees on leaf-strewn pathways, and by rocks of magical dimensions.
Picture
Picture
On our return, as the sun was starting her descent to the horizon, I stopped to take in that which we had sought: solitude. I realized as I stood there that although I used the word “solitude” for my goal, it wasn't an accurate description of what I sought nor accomplished. What I needed, and what I got, was to be surrounded by Nature. And in Nature, you are never alone. Nature is not devoid of life, but rather, teeming with it in a myriad of unique and magical forms.

Whether it’s in the woods, on the bluffs, along the mountains ridge, or walking at the sea’s edge, Tucker and I are not trying to disengage from the world; we’re yearning to reconnect to the universe.
Picture
Only here, without the noise of fellow man, can we hear Nature sing; we feel the soft earth under our feet, the gentle breeze on our skin, and see the sun shining, its rays dancing through the treetops and the clouds sweeping overhead. As small as we are in the grand scheme of things, here, we recognize we are part of it all. And as we take it all in--the vision of beauty, the scent of the earth, the sensation of the wind through our hair, and breath of life that fills us--it all becomes a part of us.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    May 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014

    Posts

    All
    2016.01.03 Home For The Holidays
    2016.01.04 A Hike On Another Planet
    2016.03.25 Equality Is For Everyone
    2016.03.27 Our Easter Weekend Services
    2016.04.15 Just Des(s)erts
    2016.05.29 Max Patch
    2016.05.29 Rising To The Peak
    2016.05.29 Spring Adventures
    2016.06.11 The Best Of The Unexpected
    2016.06.25 The Ghostly Tale Of Greybeard Trail
    2016.07.03 Escape...to Storyteller Rock
    2016.07.05 A Salute To Asheville From Chimney Rock
    2016.08.15 Up
    2016.10.01 Since You've Been Gone
    2016.12.09 How We Spent Our Summer Vacation
    2016.12.10 Let The Sun Shine In
    2016.12.11 Eyes To The Skies
    2016.12.11 Where The Rainy Day Takes You
    2016.12.18 Waiting For Whistler
    2016.12.31 Only In Canada
    2017.01.10 Christmas On The Coast
    2017.01.11 Christmas On The Coast
    2017.04.22 Out Of The Desert And Into The Land Of Enchantment
    2017.05.05 Someplace To Be; Not Somewhere To Go
    2017.05.20 New Canada
    2017.05.28 Rise To The Challenge
    2017.06.18 Exploring The 'Hood
    2017.06.24 Bishop's Lodge: Anything But Heavenly
    2017.07.01 Finding Your Church
    2017.07.08 Mother Nature's Springs
    2017.07.22 Beside Every Great Woman
    2017.10.15 Finding (Water)Fall(s)
    2017.10.28 This Is 40... Part I
    2017.10.29 This Is 40... Part II
    2017.11.18 Battle Amidst Beauty
    2017.11.25 To The Looking Glass
    2018.02.25 Where The Dog Takes You
    2018.03.31 After The Rains
    2018.04.14 Truly Home Again
    2018.06.02 Just A Walk On The Beach
    2018.07.21 Ready? On Set!
    2018.08.04 Return To The Redwoods
    2018.08.11 Return To The Redwoods
    2018.10.27 The Forty-First
    2018.12.15 The End Of The Tour
    2018.12.30 Santa Cruz
    2019.01.05 Chasing Mavericks
    2019.01.20 Finding Your Soulspace
    2019.02.09 Muir Magic
    2019.02.23 The Point Of Point Reyes
    2019.02.25 From Muir To Mori
    2019.03.02 Our Own Monterey
    2019.03.09 An Irish Escape
    2019.03.16 Hidden Vistas
    2019.04.06 Our Life: The Carnival
    2019.04.20 One Man's Trash Is Another Dog's Art
    2019.05.04 Black Rock And Blue Skies
    2019.06.08 Water
    2019.06.15 In Conversation... With Nature
    2019.06.29 Go Tell It On The Mountain
    2019.07.06 Not So Yosemite
    2019.07.07 Magic Chimneys
    2019.07.20 The Long Way Around
    2019.11.23 All Trails Lead Here
    2019.11.30 Seeking Solitude In All Directions
    2019.12.14 Forest Friends And Soul-Places
    2019.12.21 The San Franciscan Canine
    2019.12.26 An Unexpected Christmas
    2020.01.11 Kicking Off The New Year On The Coast: Part I
    2020.01.12 Kicking Off The New Year On The Coast: Part II
    2020.01.12 Kicking Off The New Year On The Coast: Part III
    2020.01.19 From The Beach To The Bay... Almost
    2020.03.01 Livin' La Vida Local (SF Style)
    2020.03.20 A Place In Which To Shelter
    2020.03.23 Socially Distant
    2020.03.26 Shelter Of Majestic Beauty
    2020.03.28 Follow Your Heart
    2020.04.04 South For The Spring
    2020.04.21 Finding The Way Back
    2020.05.11 First Rate Second Choice
    2020.05.30 Trails Worth Taking
    2020.07.15 A Reflection Of The Bay
    2020.07.22 A Quarter Of The Way To Half Moon Bay
    2020.10.10 Mountain Air
    2020.11.21 The Great Donut Drive
    2020.11.26 Holiday Special
    2020.12.21 The Great Conjunction
    And Away
    But Not Far Away
    Comes The (Water)Fall
    Everywhere
    Maximum Wind Speed
    Nose To The Wind
    Not The Map
    Part I
    Part II
    Santa Clause
    Santa Paws
    The Look Of Discrimination
    The South's Answer To The Southwest
    Tucker Wescott: Interior Designer
    Up
    Water

    RSS Feed

About    Contact   
c 2014 August Nights Press