Humboldt Adventures

Humboldt Adventures

                   
                      I have had some wonderful time for reflection here in Humboldt and I have been blessed with the time and space to adventure on my feet as well as on my bike. I rode my bike to the trailhead where I wandered around the logging road trails up off Jacoby Creek all afternoon. I spent a lot of time exploring these logging roads and trails when I used to live here. Brought back lot of good memories. I rode around Arcata and then rode home. Great day! 

Here are some more small adventures in "training" for the thru-hike! 

 

THIS TREE!

Sunset over the bay!

Crazy Old Victorian house. Arcata, CA

Another Beautiful house I would not mind living in at all.

I found one of my dream homes on my ride. It has a wrap around sun room! Beautiful redwood house.

                     So after my knee trouble on the Lost Coast I came home yesterday and put some Deep Blue Rub on my knee (similar to icy hot), it felt great. After the effects of the cream wore off I went about my day and forgot it ever happened. I went to sleep last night and woke up at 4 am because my knee felt as if it was being burned by an over heated battery or something. At first I thought I had left my computer charger under the covers and it was overheating and burning my knee. I ripped off the covers and felt my knee and nothing was there. It was still burning, but there was nothing I could do...or at least nothing I was willing to do at that hour. So I faded back into the dream world where I had an incredible dream. I dreamed that the spirit of the owl blessed me with a burn on my knee. In the dream the burn was in the shape of a talon.....an Owl talon. I was very confused in the dream, but at the same time I knew that this was important and I felt blessed to have had such a beautiful burn on my skin. 

                     I work at a wilderness therapy program where last week we had our clients pick random cards from a deck of medicine cards. When the deck came to me I picked an inverted OWL! Here are some excerpts from the book that describes the medicine cards. "Owl medicine is symbolically associated with clairvoyance, astral projection, and magic, both black and white. Owl is called Night Eagle on several medicine wheels used by Amerindian teachers. Traditionally, Owl sits in the East, the place of illumination. Since time immemorial, humanity has been afraid of the night, the dark, and the unseen - waiting fearfully for the first crack of morning light. Conversely, night is Owl's friend." And if the owl is upside-down: "If you have Owl upside-down in your cards, you have been greatly deceived by either yourself or another. Perhaps witch-craft or black magic is being used against you,
or maybe you are using witchcraft or sorcery to aid you when you should be praying and
asking the Great Spirit for guidance. The message is to befriend the darkness inside
yourself. Look deeply, and soon the bright light of dawn will illuminate you. Then ask
yourself what you are in the dark about. How and by whom are you being deceived? Are
you being greatly deceived, or just slightly deceived? Owl tells you to keep an eye on
your property and your loved ones. Remember that Owl is always asking, "Who?""  

                    Owl's medicine is the medicine of wisdom, silence, and the seer of truth. The owl is the wise elder of the forest who observes all that tries to be hidden. Owl sees the lies we tell ourselves and others and gently reminds us of a brighter path of honesty and integrity. In the dream I was going to get a tattoo of an owl talon and I got into a very heated debate over science and spirit with my family, something I have been joyously and lightheartedly discussing with many people in my life recently. It was a beautiful dance between the intellect and the heart. Owl says to honor intuition and in my life right now I cannot sense that anyone is trying to deceive me. I may need to look a little more honestly at my own self-deceptions to understand the lesson Owl is trying to teach me. It looks as though Owl has some lessons for me on the trail and I can't wait to learn.......I also need to start designing my owl tattoo hahaha......