Bear Lake Journeys Blog

“Climb into the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares drop off like autumn leaves.” — John Muir Once I laid down, there was…

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I chose to time my trip with a solar eclipse that was going to occur across the continental U.S. in mid-August.  Only a narrow band traversing central Oregon would…

To go, or not to go, that is the question.Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to endure the pains and errors of a broken down body,Or to rouse the will against all obstacles, and by moving forward end them.To try, to doubt no more.And by doubt I mean that gnawing…

“An ancient melody calls us To the awareness of who we are Infinite heart Infinite love Infinite peace Fierce compassion Ultimate power I am a Magnificent Woman” — Melanie Lutz 4. Girls’ Night Out It had been a beautiful early summer day high in the mountains, but now it looked…

“It is a commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and live for a time in the wilderness.  If he is of the proper sort, he will return with a message.  It may not be…

“The motionless mountain silence prompts with a certain secret pleasure in the soul the happiness of complete isolation.  Something which seems outside life.  Something therefore like the longing for eternal peace.” — Kostas Pasaglanis I don’t remember getting back in my tent, but I awaken in the early dawn with all…

“Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines of the flesh.  Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with sunlight and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort.” —…

“I thank you god for this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue dream of a sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes. (I who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is…

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson By the next morning, the high pressure system that had been baking the region in an enormous clay oven was finally moving on. …

“Tree qualities, after long communion, come to reside in man. As stillness enhances silence, so through little things the joy of living expands. One is aware, lying under trees, of the roots and directions of one’s whole being. Perceptions drift in from earth and sky. A vast healing begins.”     …

“Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment. To appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. Peace is…

“The most difficult lesson to learn about caring for the soul is that our best and most cherished ambitions are its worst enemies.” — Thomas Moore When the day of departure finally arrived, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and stopped work a couple of hours early.  I loaded Dimari’s Civic…

“I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau I had…

“So much of what I’ve learned, so much of what’s good in my life, was learned because something bad happened, or from making the wrong decision. Through bad decisions I learned how to find the ways to make the right ones.”   — Cheryl Strayed 3. The Intruders This had…

“The moon is a loyal companion.  It never leaves.  It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do.  Every day it’s a different version of itself.  Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light.  The moon understands what…

The spirit of the earth is the spirit of life.  This life always unfolds itself within the individual, who is a continuation of the earth = he has his roots there, there is where he appears, and there is where he returns.” — Daisetz Suzuki As it turned out, I didn’t…