This is a picture of the swimming hole on the Smith




Stout Grove




Spokane Falls from earlier in the trip




Outlet of Georgetown Lake where I caught 10 trout




Middle fork of the Smith


There were several highlights to yesterday. The drive from Roseburg to Grant’s Pass has its mountainous moments, but after turning off at route 199, the road flattens and is rather mundane until the beginning of the middle fork of the Smith River. It is a spectacular drive, and I took several pictures of the deep pools in the canyon areas. I stopped at the Patrick Creek Campground to take a long bike ride, mainly to get myself ready for a dip in the icy cold waters just below where Patrick Creek joined the Smith. Refreshed, I drove to Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. It always inspires me to return to the Redwoods and a year without seeing these 300 foot giants always seems missing something special.
Even though I haven’t spent much time on the rebirth in the hollow theme lately, the redwoods always make me think about my spiritual life, or the lack thereof. Throughout my life I have hoped for a visionary moment and it has yet to come even though I have studied with the Michael Harner Foundation for Shamanic Studies and done many, many sessions of shamanic drumming and two vision quests. A friend of mine who is deeply immersed in the visionary traditions told me many years ago that when I really needed it, the vision would come. As I approached the redwoods, I prayed that perhaps something visionary would occur, but nothing. I was certainly calmed and awed by the massive trees, but my mind was as mundane as ever.