Pine Ridge Road

Pine Ridge Road
4.1 miles
2 hour
Start: Pine Ridge Road Parking Lot
End: Pine Ridge Road Parking Lot Includes: Pine Ridge Road, Mount Vision Road, Sir Francis Drake Boulevard

Hike 58
December 18, 2013

Pine Ridge Road is a little known road to a few houses on a hill. It came under ownership of the National Park Service in 2012. I know about it because my friend Melinda used to live there. I started from the parking lot at the bottom of the hill, just off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

What a morning! White clouds swept dramatically across blue sky.

Thrilled by the billowy shapes of dark bishop pines against brilliant white clouds, I said "Yes! You never do know what you're gonna get!" This was all for me. It was a cold winter morning with rain hanging in the air and not another human soul in sight.

This brilliant spectacle was all the more poignant for its transiency. Heavy gray clouds began to darken the space.

My steps quickened as I neared the top. Since the houses were now unoccupied, it was my chance to get a little looksie-loo. A tiny shack was partially collapsed by a fallen tree. I opened the door. Inside was an assemblage of glass, rough boards and rocks. Despite considerable disrepair, it resembled a cozy retreat; a place to rediscover oneself under the grounding influence of bare essentials.

The main house stood locked, glass gaping toward the obscured view of Tomales Bay.

A cloudy mist had enchanted the forest.

Next,  I went to the house where my friend used to live. While there, she built a tiny cob house of such hobbit delights I have to return occasionally to make sure it really exists; it's just my sort of place.

For human dwellings, cob is the way to go. It's made from mud, sand and straw. Hands and feet are the tools of construction. The result is an undulation of organic shapes, soothing to our creature senses.  Also, it lasts. In England, five-hundred-year-old cob houses are alive and well.

I continued up Pine Ridge Road and turned right on Mount Vision Road. The view looked west toward the ocean.  Through bishop pines Drakes Estero shined in the distance.

Old Man's Beard overtook the pines, hanging in thick tassels.

I turned right onto Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Bedrock stood naked by the side of the road exposing a thin scalp of living topsoil. I crossed the street and ran my hands along its surface to say "Thank you for quietly supporting us all for so long!"

I was back at the car. This was the close of my hiking year which began on winter solstice of 2012. I hiked nearly 300 miles and spent 168 hours on the trails and roads of Point Reyes peninsula. My original question was:

What in humans allows us to create trash?

I arrived at a simple answer:

We create trash when we forget we are nature.

We can remember through contact with nature. As we remember who we are in context of earth, air, water and the fire of the sun, we grow to love ourselves through our connections. What we love, we protect. When we protect the body of Earth, through connection, we protect our own body. When we safeguard the health of our own body, through connection, we safeguard the health of Earth.

This is what it means to be an Elemental Activist.

The hiking continues. This year I ponder the question:

How do we connect with nature?

The backbone of the inquiry is an elementary-school environmental-education curriculum approved by the state. My son is in elementary school. Let's see how it goes.