September 19th through 24th, 2010
Elaine Frenett & Jean Warren, Tandem Teach
Lake Alpine, just east of Bear Valley in California

Monday, October 4, 2010

A Lucious Preview Day for Us Instructors

The next morning, Saturday, September18th, Jean and I wake to crisp mountain air and sun peeking into our cozy Tamarac cabin. We torch up the gas fireplace for warmth and mood and sip our coffee, excitedly chattering about how to spend the free day we have before "Women's Journaling Retreat" participants start arriving.

We do have some "required" assignments in prep for the Retreat thought. One was for me to run check out the place I'd envisioned for our morning yoga ~ I wanted to make sure it would be sunny and warm at 9am, our planned yoga time. And then, next, Jean and I wanted to take the Duck Lake hike to familiarize us with the trail ~ we planned this hike for Wednesday of the Retreat.

So while Jean was cuddled into the cabin I zipped down to the Mi-Wuk Rocks (yes, where these actual holes were worn by the Mi-Wuk Indians who summered in this very valley and ground their food in these granite pockets!) to see if the sun was upon them. And sure enough, the sun stretched out over the rocks (of course, I had to take a bunch of photos with the long morn' shadows).
But, then we dawned our packs and Jean slid into her new hiking boots ~ off we head for the total, round trip 4 mile hike. The stop at the top of the ridge we have to hoof over provides impressive views but, not to surpass one of my favorite valleys where Duck Lake is located. Adjacent to the lake are old, deteriorating cabins with rich warn wood and rusted materials aplenty. And my beloved giant Aspen trees are here too, where I was astonished how much they'd grown in girth from when I last saw them probably 8-10 years ago. More to the right of Duck Lake resides more lush spans of rock, topped with sculptural trees and punctuated granite boulders. But by the time we reach that area, Jean's new boots are raining havoc on one of her toes. This dip in the water proved a playful delight for more than just her feet. Direct quote from Jean: "joy from watching the catfish trying to nibble at my toes as I soaked my aching feet in the lake ... after our first day/2 mile walk in my new boots ... an exhilarating acclimation of the area before the class began on Sunday. We were so excited about our planned lessons and so eager to meet all the participants." Yep, we counted them ~ around 25 lil catfish swimmin' in the shadows. All refreshed from our pause, Jean sought out a log and I, a rock, taking an hour to sketch the lovely Duck Lake and the surroundings.

Back up over the ridge to our cabin for barefooted relaxing on our sunny porch. Jean iced her toe and I drank in the smells and breeze off the lake. We remained at the cabin for dinner as we needed to began thinking of packing everything up for our move over to the biggest cabin in the morning.

A day full of nature and just like Jean said of getting "acclimated" to the spirit and energy of the Sierras . . . could it have been any more perfect?

No comments:

Post a Comment