A natural place

We all have places to go when we need to breath. The quiet natural escapes from cars and signs and TV and buildings and blogs and roads. I'm always seeking out more of these places, and I miss the ones that I can't regularly visit. The first place I found was a place on the far west side of Boundary county, not 30 miles from the Canadian border. It was a waterfall on Crystal Creek in the midst of the Selkirk Mountains. After reaching the remote parking lot, already miles from civilization, there was a mile or so hike into the darkened woods. Large, old growth trees towered overhead, the kind of trees that are separated by space but so full above that they cause a shadowed and secret place even on the sunniest of days. A cool and restful place, especially on hot summer days. Then the dirty trail wound up a steep hill to an exposed, dry, red rock overhang. Suddenly proportions are larger than expected. The outcropping dangled you a hundred feet over the magnificent waterfall below. White water, the rocks shining in the sun and the cool shadows all around. A good place to read a book or just sit alone or with someone and just be okay. When I lived in Maine, I had a few places that I'd go to find that kind of magic. I'd walk the breakwater in Rockland and get in touch with that cold and violent ocean or let the sun set on a perfect day. The breakwater is a wonderfully long (4,300 ft) man-made rock path that leads out into Rockland's harbor to an old lighthouse. Sometimes the wind is up and the sea is rough and the water surges up and over the rocks and can make for a certain level of excitement and danger that draws you in. On other days I'd climb Mt. Battie in Camden on a beautiful day and sit and look over the quaint harbor town. A barely marked trail started at the end of a seemingly dead end street. It ran up a somewhat challenging trail around roots, rocks and the native trees. It finally reached a moss-covered rock dome, the kind of trail that makes you feel good about wearing the appropriate footwear and yet it doesn't completely wear out your energy. It just wakes you up enough to really enjoy the view at the top. In Colorado, I've had the chance to scratch the surface of a few lovely places around Manitou Springs and Red Rocks. In California, so many places just take your breath away. In New Mexico, the desert rolls out forever and lets you know there is space for everyone. In Arizona and Utah the red earth and the green plants make the most beautiful contrast, something you can stare at and never be bored. In Oregon, the mountains mixed with a rain forest make for a place that exists nowhere else on earth. In the gulf, where the water meets the sand, the warmth and clarity of the ocean begs you to stay forever...and maybe part of you does. And here in Virginia, I take the time to regularly visit the Noland Trail in Newport News for walks and runs, and although it's surrounded by the city, it's a beautiful place to enjoy. I ride the mountain bike trails of the Yorktown and Williamsburg area and my soul takes a deep breath, in and amongst the forest. I get out to the western part of the state in the warm weather and camp with my friends in the mountains. We play music, we drink too much, smoke our minds, we build fires and forget that we're supposed to feel like we're roughing it. These are the places that I seek more often then not. The places where I can feel like I am a part of this fine place. Where that moonlight is reflecting off the water. Where the breeze is light and the sun is rising. Where the smell of the ocean overpowers the rest of the world. Where the trail leads around the corner to a new place.