Thanksgiving and Prayer

 

As my family has done for nearly all my life, we spent Thanksgiving and the day after in the woods being a family but without the consumerism that has taken over this time of year. Down from the cabin from where we stay is a trail that heads off into the woods.

Sometimes it is a nice path and sometimes it is steep and rocky.

Eventually we come to a trail that heads off along the face of a 500 feet tall bluff that is referred to locally as the Goat Trail, I assume because only a goat would be crazy enough to walk it.

Eventually we arrive at an alcove of sorts eroded hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of years ago by an ancient river that still flows 300 feet below this point. We often stop to refuel with some snacking and rehydrate here and as it was deserted when we arrived, we did just that. One can't beat the view. 

One can continue on across the face where it becomes much more exposed and the path across narrowing down to just a few feet with a three hundred feet drop on one side and a 200 feet sheer wall on the other. On this particular day I didn't go that far. I sat in the sun and just allowed my mind to go completely blank for maybe 20 minutes or so. I find I can't do it while at home but can easily do it here out in the wilderness. In this spot where some of my mom's ashes are scattered, I also said a prayer for her.

Eventually we head back up the trail and up the mountain to the small cabin in the woods where we finish assembling the dinner we started earlier in the week and 400 miles north of here. 

It included a pumpkin pie made from our own Hubbard squash and a pineapple upside down cake. Instead of watching football, we spent the rest of the evening reading and enjoying the blissful silence.