Ridge Trail

Ridge Trail
8 miles
4 hours
Start: Olema Valley Trailhead
End: Five Brooks Trailhead
Includes: Teixeira Trail, Ridge Trail, Bolema Trail, Olema Valley Trail, Five Brooks

Hike 41
October 1, 2013
Two of Pentacles Balance

Piro and I started this hike at Olema Valley Trailhead near Dogtown. We went up steep Teixeira Trail for 1.9 miles to Ridge Trail.

The morning started-out chilly. As the sun rose, we rose and ended-up warm and comfortable on Ridge Trail. The early part of the trail has a magical quality: giant ferns, towering firs, dappled light and it's flat, since it runs along the top of the ridge.

Enchanted, we stopped several times, agog at the sheer beauty of the forest. Fairies must live here!

Ridge trail is apparently less traveled than most on the Point Reyes Peninsula, although we did encounter a few horses with their humans.

After 2.5 miles, we took Bolema Trail down the ridge. Our destination was Five Brooks Trailhead 2.7 miles down the trail.

A fallen Douglas fir helped us appreciate how immense these trees are! It stretched hundreds-of-feet along the ground next to the trail.

We knew we were close when we got to the bridge near Five Brooks Stables.

It was a long hike and well worth the effort. Ridge Trail is my new favorite.

The two of pentacles shows a guy juggling two pentacles surrounded by an infinity symbol. In the background, a ship undulates over huge waves. This card speaks to maintaining balance in an ever-changing world. Specifically, we are talking about wealth.

With financial obligations, we must adjust our efforts to accommodate the vicissitudes of life. The nature of life is change. Embracing this reality facilitates an overall more organic approach to meeting our needs. When we think of money, we think in terms of the bottom line and ledger entries. This hard-lined approach is anxiety producing because it is inflexible.

If we think of wealth as our ability to fulfill our creature needs, we open our minds to solutions beyond money. The basics of fulfilling creature needs are food, water and shelter. These can be fulfilled through exchange or barter of services and goods as well as by money.

If we think of ourselves as living beings rather than consumers, we consciously redefine our priorities. The priority of any living being is to stay living. Accomplishing this means we are wealthy. At least this is nature's definition of wealth. Wealth is equal to health. Somewhere along the line wealth took on a different meaning. Unfortunately, with our current understanding of wealth and ceaseless pursuit of it, we are undermining our health and the the health of the planet.

Recognizing our existence as living beings in a living system opens us to creative, organic solutions which create balance for us and our natural systems upon which we rely.