The Land of a Thousand Waterfalls

Spring is an awesome time for those who love the woods. I usually try to schedule some vacation days in April and May so we can get out and enjoy what we consider to be prime hiking and backpacking season.

This Friday was one of those days. It was sunny and breezy and chilly and crisp, invigorating, a great day to be alive. We stopped first to stoke our fires with a wonderful breakfast from Eat 'n Park, and it got us through this day, in which we hiked five or six miles. If you're going to go into the woods and plan to really whale on your environment, a good breakfast is a MUST.

We had talked about several different destinations, we had even talked about backpacking. But in the end, we headed out for a day hike in Sproul State Forest, not far from a big hill where we sometimes go sledding in winter. But there was no snow on the hill on this day, just green grass and trees.

And then we made our way down, and up, and down, and up again, through green, hidden valleys unmarked on any trail map. The woods were green and they felt washed clean. That's one nice thing after winter; the snow pack squashes down the vegetation, and after the snow melts, you have a clear ground surface for clean hiking. And there was water, water everywhere: springs, and vernal pools, and a thousand tiny waterfalls.

Do not think that it was warm, for it was not. For most of the hike, I had on a hooded fleece jacket and a wind jacket over it. There were ice crystals on the twigs along the creek, even in the middle of the afternoon. I wished for gloves, but alas, had not brought any. 

We walked down to a big spring we know: actually, possibly one of the best springs I know of anywhere. The water bubbles up out of the rocks like the earth is making it fresh. It is good and clean and drinkable right from the source, and I had brought a cup to drink.

We filled up two empty water bottles and brought them home: a tonic for later. Water, clear and clean, fresh medicine from these good, green woods and the land of a thousand tiny waterfalls.

When we got to the spring, we set up our chairs and took off our daysacks and sat in the sun. It was too chilly for wading, even for me. But, as is our custom, we got out one of our iPods and a small speaker and livened up the woods with our tiny concert.

One of the albums that we played all the way through was (quite fittingly) the marvelous soundtrack to the movie Into the Wild, and this was one of the songs I heard as I sat and enjoyed the laughing waters: Eddie Vedder, with Society.