On Labor Day I found myself totally taken in by an afternoon river hike, despite the fact that a Google quest led us on a misguided wild goose chase around Lonesome Mountain – the name says it all – twenty plus extra minutes of hair pin turns. Even as we made the ill-judged left turn, I was eyeing a sign that read “Boat Landing” – with an arrow to the right. “Isn’t the river that way,” I asked aloud. Imagine the startled realization that if I pulled out of our driveway, turned left and maintained a straight, well periodically curvy, path, no turns, I would arrive at my goal in 25 minutes.  I admonish myself never to start out on an excursion without verifying directions with an honest-to-goodness paper-in-hand map. Where was that AAA triptik when I needed it? However, as soon as we arrived at the trailhead – another 10 minutes U turn experience – everything about the journey melted away. The destination was indeed inescapable beauty!

River Watcher

Great Blue Heron, long-legged wader,
S-curved neck, straightening into
Yoga pose, poised, paused,
caught in the act of perfecting
the Now, watching the waters stir,
waiting for sight of passing prey,
laboring in reflective stillness
Give me O Lord the patience
of an heron attending only
to the task at hand.

Sensing Beauty

Roots and rocks press deep
into passing feet. Late summer
breeze brushes my body’s
beaded sweat. Scent of campfires,
smoke rising, sodden earth at river’s
edge. Sound of laughing waters
calling children to play merges with
onlookers’ murmurs of delight.
Splashes of yellow goldenrod, red
jewelweed, and purple Joe-pyes paint
Laurel River’s landscape. No labor
today, only inescapable beauty.