A Day of Wandering in the Alpine Lakes
July 13, 2001
"Not All Who Wander are Lost"
-JRR Tolkien
One wrong turn
And retraced steps
Back to town for beta
Back down that road
The worst I've traveled
To its very end
On with the boots
And bug spray, too
Down the trail so briefly
Into the brush
Schwack schwack schwack
Schwacking for an hour
And then a trail
A faint, slight trail
Along a road once built for loggers
Through old clearcuts
Still bleak and barren
Human trash still strewn about
A spraypainted rock marks the end
"Private Property Boundary"
I shake my head in shame
We press onward
Toward our goal
A mystery before us
Up and up along the creek
Then suddenly before us
High cliffs guard a pristine lake
Boulder hopping
along its shore
I feel I'm dancing in an Eden
We climb still higher
To its twin
In a cirque of equal grandeur
A rest stop here
For drink and food
But the bugs prevent a long one
We continue up
Toward the ridge
Energized by the nearness of the answers
At the ridge
I'm stopped in my tracks
By the views unparalleled
We stop for lunch
Our questions answered
But many new others raised
This place, this place
This wondrous place
Nourishes my soul
I take it in
It takes me in
Permeating my being
Time passes quickly
And we must leave
To make the car by dusk
We leave our perch
Move quickly down
Past the lakes and trees
All the while
We scheme and plan
Our return for further play
