Tomales Point Trail

Tomales Point Trail
9.4 miles
4.5 hours
Start: Pierce Point Ranch
End: Pierce Point Ranch
Includes: Pierce Point Ranch, Tomales Point Trail, Tomales Bluff Trail, Tomales Bluff, Tule Elk Reserve

Hike 1
December 21, 2012
Ace-of-Swords
Happiness

The Fool's journey began today with a walk to the end of the world: Tomales Point Trail, on Point Reyes peninsula. The storm scared-off all five of my friends who had planned to join me.

Wearing a yellow rain slicker, matching rain pants and plastic bags on my feet (foot, sock, plastic bag, sock, shoe) I headed out on the 9.4 mile hike. My feet felt dry until about the third hour, but considering how much it was raining, it was a success.

As it turns out, this was a good journey to take alone. The theme for winter is happiness and the tarot swords represent my relationship with myself (traditionally interpreted as thoughts); the best way to know my thoughts is to spend time alone with them.

Unshakeable Happiness

My goal for winter is to cultivate what the Dalai Lama calls unshakeable happiness. This means maintaining a happy frame of mind despite external circumstances. Since we often cannot control external circumstances, it makes sense to work on what we can change, which is ourselves.

The tempest outside was a good reminder. I did not blame my friends for not going on this walk. I went because the Fool's journey is a metaphor for my life. The Fool's journey is bounded by the time-span of one-year and the physical boundaries of the Point Reyes peninsula.

Since the journey is a metaphor for life, like life, I could not chicken-out on it. This particular walk represented the Fool's birth, so I really couldn't miss it!

So the Fool was birthed along the soggy trail to the end of the world on the day prophesied to be the end of the world.

About forty-five minutes into the walk runs a line of white boulders the native Miwok refer to as the Spirit Jumping-off Place. The stones align with Mount St. Helena and show-up in the first detailed map of the point, made just four years after the first dairy settlements in the 1800's.

I was excited to find it! I followed it northeast until I looked out over Tomales Bay. It felt like my spirit jumping-off day.

Further down the trail is a pond where the tule elk hang out. I was looking forward to seeing them and was surprised by their absence. The weather had everyone seeking refuge, except the Fool.

On the last part of the hike, the trail gets sandy. How strange to find shells in the sand. It's like being on the beach except way above the water. I stuck a shell in my pocket; it reminded me of the nautilus in my Elemental Activist logo.

Elemental Activist

Underlying the Fool's journey is the idea that we are all activists. We change the world everyday with every action. By becoming conscious of what we need, and fulfilling our needs in-line with our values, we each make a difference.

I had planned to take a rest atop Tomales Bluff: snack, pee, change my socks, but the rain blew fiercely. I took a quick look and headed back.

The way back was much harder. The wind was blowing from the south, driving the rain in my face. Also, it's mostly uphill. I was so focused on keeping my footing, I missed the pond. It left me with this twilight zone feeling, the cypress and rocks emerging eerily from the rainy gloom.

As I got to windy gulch, I found the elk! A whole harem slowly crossed the trail, showing minimal interest in me. I watched them awhile and headed up for the last, finally familiar, leg of my journey.

Part of my task was to pick-up trash. I am happy to say I did not find any. This was good because I did not bring a trash bag. I had my hands full just trying to stay dry.

The only piece of litter I found was a small, gold, heart-shaped, lapel pin. I turned it over and laughed to see R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars on the other side. It seemed oracular to me, since I had started drawing these two in an Angry Birds Star Wars picture with my son a few days before.

"Why are they drawn together?" I asked my son. "Cause they're buddies!" He explained.

Friends

I looked up and here came two of my buddies who had bailed earlier on the walk. Now, they came to meet me, bringing soup. I sent them on to the Spirit Jumping-off Place, so I could go get out of my wet socks.

I found it interesting that the biggest obstacle came not in walking in the rain, but in driving. Technically the Fool's journey is a walking journey, so the obstacle was my obstacle as opposed to the Fool's. Near Kehoe beach the road was washed-out. I had to wait half-an-hour for the ranger to come and test the waters with his vehicle. I followed him and made it through.

I was happy to finally get home and find another pal with the kids doing my dishes. I was happy the whole day: in pouring rain, going uphill, going down hill, wet feet, dry, alone, with friends, even when waiting at the wash-out. Unshakeable happiness?

More thoughts on the trash pick-up.

I feel a little irritated with myself for knowingly setting-off on the trip without a garbage bag. That's the point of the thing, right? I didn't bring a bag because it was inconvenient for me, because of the rain. This kind of thinking is at the root of all trash creation. We are so busy trying to fulfill our immediate creature need, we think only of ourselves in the present moment.

What if I could not go on this journey if I did not pick-up trash? Really, that is how it is for us now on the planet. If we do not get a handle on our trash production, we will not be able to live here. No matter how inconvenient, we must do our part to fulfill our creature needs with the long view of how it is affecting other creatures and the following generations.

How fortuitous I realize this fundamental truth at the very beginning of my journey. My commitment is that no matter how inconvenient, I will bring a trash bag on my walks and pick-up trash.

Tarot swords

I also want to say that this realization is the essence of working with the swords. I realized this truth because I became aware of my irritation, determined its source and committed within myself to live and act according to my values. This is a great start on the Fool's journey!