In High Country

 

“I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.”

― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America.

The Highest Wave Every Recorded

T

Over one hundred years ago, the lighthouse at Trinidad Head was assaulted by a wave of monstrous proportions. Although the details are unclear, historians know that the storm that produced the waves was unusual. They believe that the highest wave ever recorded struck in Trinidad on December 31, 1913. Lighthouse Keeper, Fred Harrington, was performing his duties in the lighthouse perched 196 feet above sea level during a ferocious winter storm. As he turned to wipe the lantern room windows, he observed "a sea of unusual height". In his words, " The sea itself fell onto the top of the bluff and struck the tower on a level with the balcony, making a terrible jar." The spray flew forty feet above the crest. The lens was thrown off level by the wave but the plucky Mr. Harrington had the light back in operation in a half an hour. Harrington also recorded observing waves crashing over nearby Pilot Rock (103 feet) - known as "a perfect 10 over Pilot" these days.

Far Over the Mountains

“He loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them marching on the edge of stories brought from far away; but now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire.”


― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Snake River

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
 
― W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?

“What are men to rocks and mountains?”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice    

Call of the Mountains

The mountains are calling and I must go.
John Muir

Unparalleled Beauty

When we visited Alberta Canada, I loved the Canadian Rocky Mountains so much I wanted to live there if I could.  The mountains and lakes are spectacular with an unparalleled beauty.  The only downside is the Rockies are famous all over the world and bus load after bus load of tourist. particularly from Japan and China crowded the restaurants and rest areas.  We were traveling by car so we could travel backroads and visit areas away from the tour buses.  I tried to keep the human race out of my photographs. 


What does "Unparalleled Beauty" mean?
Unmatched in magnificence that which cannot be produced by humans"  

Kings River Canyon

Muddy Water

Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride

You can look for me when you see me comin'
I may be runnin' I don't know
I may be tired and runnin' fever
But I'll be headed south to the mouth of the Ohio

Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride

Well, I been down to the pain and sorrow
Of no tomorrows comin' in
But I put my pole to the river bottom
And I've got to hide some place and find myself again

Look out for me, oh muddy water
Your mysteries are deep and wide
And I got a need for going some place
And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride
By Roger Miller

Song of the Open Road

 

Song of the Open Road

by Walt Whitman


A FOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return)

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls    

                               

The tide rises, the tide falls,

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The traveller hastens toward the town,

      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,

But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,

Efface the footprints in the sands,

      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

 

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Rushing Waters of the Klamath River

The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water - Poem by William Butler Yeats


I HEARD the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'                         

Burney Falls Loop Trail

Burney Falls is considered one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the state of California. It is located in the Cascade mountains, forty miles north of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  The falls are given their longevity by the release of meltwater from porus volcanic rock from the surrounding mountains.

McArthur-Burney Falls

The Waterfall

I do not ask for youth, nor for delay

in the rising of time's irreversible river

that takes the jewelled arc of the waterfall

in which I glimpse, minute by glinting minute,

all that I have and all I am always losing

as sunlight lights each drop fast, fast falling.

I do not dream that you, young again,

might come to me darkly in love's green darkness

where the dust of the bracken spices the air

moss, crushed, gives out an astringent sweetness

and water holds our reflections

motionless, as if for ever.

It is enough now to come into a room

and find the kindness we have for each other

-- calling it love -- in eyes that are shrewd

but trustful still, face chastened by years

of careful judgement; to sit in the afternoons

in mild conversation, without nostalgia.

But when you leave me, with your jauntiness

sinewed by resolution more than strength

-- suddenly then I love you with a quick

intensity, remembering that water,

however luminous and grand, falls fast

and only once to the dark pool below.                         

By Lauris Dorothy Edmond (1924 - 2000)

New Zealand Poet & Writer