Peter Behr Overlook Trail

Peter Behr Overlook Trail
.1 miles
1.5 hours
Start: Drakes Beach Parking Lot
End: Drakes Beach Parking Lot
Includes: Drakes Beach, Peter Behr Overlook Trail, Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center

Hike 56
December 13, 2013

I headed out mid-week with my friend Gary to Drakes Beach. We parked the car and walked to the sand. The sky was pastel blue. We had the place to ourselves.

Taking the Peter Behr Overlook Trail, we climbed the hill to the right of the parking lot. The Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center stood empty below. The cafe was closed.

Patches of scarlet and green ice plant clung to the cliff.

A layer of topsoil was clearly visible. This delicate structure is responsible for all of life on earth.

The warm winter sun, cloudless sky and whispering sea overwhelmed us. There was nothing to do but lie down. Eyes open, my mind expanded to mirror the endless sky. My heart synched with the washing waves. I fell so deeply and so openly into the experience, time stood still.  Almost an hour passed.

As we stood to go, I felt weightless. I had dissolved into the landscape. All that remained of me was an organic connection to the ways and means of sun, waves, wind and sky.

We headed quietly back to the beach.  As our car sped to converge with tasks awaiting in town, I pondered the difference between being and doing.

I am a great proponent of being; this mean doing nothing.  As a product of my culture, this admission is akin to a confession. I was brought up to produce, to do. If I don't, I'm afraid I am seen as a slacker. Despite this, my calling is to stop and learn to be whole.

At least the Dalai Lama gets what I'm up to.

"The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds."

In that vein, I am staring at the sky, opening my heart and remembering who I am.