Limantour Spit Trail
Limantour Spit Trail
6.2 miles
3.5 hours
Start: Limantour Beach Parking Lot
End: Limantour Beach Parking Lot
Includes: Limantour Beach, Limantour Beach Trail, Limantour Beach Spit
Hike 28
June 25, 2013
King of Cups
Responsibility
There was an unseasonal storm the day I did this hike. I put on the yellow rain slicker and headed from the Limantour parking lot to the end of the Limantour Spit. It was exhilarating to be alone on the great expanse of beach. I was out of my mind excited to find a group of over a hundred harbor seals lolling around at the very edge of the spit!
So as not to disturb them, I kept my distance. Anyway, it was too wet for many pictures. The end of the spit was like a scene from Spike Lee's "Where the Wild Things Are." The land forms of Drake's Head loomed out of the mist, creating a dramatic background for dunes, grass and seal.
The ribs of an old ship wreck poked from the gloom, conjuring images of Sir Francis Drake and his band of explorers huddled around fires on the beach.
The beach was all mine! On the way back, I climbed up into the dunes to take the Limantour Spit Trail back to the parking lot. It was a sloggy business in half-a-foot of water. Good thing I had my Vibram toe shoes on. My feet were wet, but the shoes wouldn't be worse for wear.
Returning to the car, I was exhilarated. I had discovered a truly unique and beautiful place and had it all to myself.
Responsibility is your ability to respond to someone or something. The king of cups is wise and experienced enough to know to what and whom he chooses to respond. Reaction is response without awareness or choice. Many of us lurch through life reacting to what life presents.
The king would advise us to notice our impulses before we respond, decide the desired outcome and consciously choose a response in-line with our values. In this way, our response is a consciously creative act aimed at a desired result.
This ends the suit of cups and moves us into summer with the suit of wands. Wands have to do with our relationships with nature, specifically the source of our life energy and how we sustain and use it.
I took a break from writing during the summer, so some of the hikes are being documented a few months after they happened. I hope to catch-up with myself soon. The hiking continues.