Soul Breathing

Have you ever inhaled deeply -- at the soul level? Ever felt the fresh air of life fill your psyche, rather than just your lungs?

I have. Many times. I've breathed in rejuvenating energy, inhaling fully so it reaches all the way to the core of my being. And there's one ingredient I've found that's essential to me being able to do this: nature. Specifically the mountains, and to a slightly lesser extent the coast.

None of that surprises regular readers of this blog, I know. But I'm always amazed at how dramatically a day in the mountains affects me. They say that the physical act of deep breathing expels impurities and has a cleansing effect on the body. A day in the outdoors has a similar effect on my soul, purging stress, relaxing the heart, and restoring perspective.

I recently took another such exploratory jaunt into the Tillamook State Forest in Oregon's Coast Range, which is my usual destination since it's so close to home (about 40 minute's drive from my front door). The Coast Range isn't as high and dramatic as the Cascades on the other side of town, but the TSF is a great day-trip destination because of a vast network of 4WD trails and logging roads that can get you miles and miles up into the rough country... and away from city life hubbub.

Each time I go up there I scout out a different location. This time my day trip was a combo 4WD Scout exploration followed by a riverside hike. My 1974 IH Scout is an absolute blast on these backcountry trails. No matter how muddy, slippery, or steep the incline is I can get it pretty much anywhere I want to go. At the end of my exploring I churned up a long, steep gravel incline and ended up at a dead end on the point of a small ridge. I was basically on a "peninsula" about 1,600 feet up, with stunning views surrounding me wherever I turned. The slide show below is a sequence of photos I took as I turned a full 360 degrees clockwise:

I pulled out my camp chair and sat facing King's Mountain, one of the TSF's higher peaks at almost 3,500 feet. There's a fairly challenging hiking trail that goes to the top of King's Mountain which I plan to hike sometime this summer. For now, I was content with a chair, a thermal mug of fresh Peet's coffee, lunch, and a Tom Clancy novel.






To top the day off, I came back down out of the highlands to hike a 3-mile round trip along the Wilson River. My destination/turnaround point was Wilson Falls, a small but pretty waterfall that splashes across the trail itself:


Notice the downed trees. There was actually a ton of storm damage below the 1,000 foot level, from last winter's snow & ice:


Still, it's a beautiful hike even with the reminders of nature's power scattered all around you. And my soul is rejuvenated... until next time!

On a Lighter Note (Two Notes, Actually...)

Things are looking up!

First, Elizabeth and I headed for the mountains last Friday for some good daddy-daughter time. There are distinct advantages to owning a real 4x4 and living in Western Oregon at the same time, and the Tillamook State Forest is one of them! We drove the 40 or so miles to the Western end of the TSF and hit the offroad portion of our adventure: six miles of steep logging roads winding waaaaaay back up into the mountains to a remote trailhead. By the time you're 2 miles off the highway you've already climbed over 1,500 feet, and the views from these remote areas are stunning. Though my Scout is basically a stock vehicle with no hard-core off-roading modifications, it blasts up the steep, loose terrain like it's flat ground. International Harvester: 4x4 the way God intended! By the way, notice Elizabeth's hat which says "My Daddy Drives A Scout." But all this Scout love is distracting me from the story...

After the 6-mile offroad adventure we parked the Scout at the foot of the Cedar Butte trail (pic right is looking down on our ride from the beginning of the trail). Due to its remote location and inaccessibility to grocery-getter wheels, this trail isn't heavily used. It was a pretty narrow track in most places, was mildly overgrown (we never had trouble seeing the trail, but brush and wild flowers were thick) and it had several downed trees across it in numerous spots that we had to clamber over, under, or around. The trail itself is only 3/4 mile long but the Ranger District listed it as "difficult." Well, I'm here to tell you, it is in fact "difficult." Most of the relatively short distance is a very steep climb up the backside of the butte. We scrambled and slipped our way, getting much worse traction with our feet than the Scout got on its wheels. But when we finally made it, the view was breathtaking!

The Pacific Ocean is underneath all those clouds behind Elizabeth - unfortunately they were pretty thick down on the coastline so we never saw the water, which you can when it's clear. But where we were it was a perfect sunny and about 80 degrees with a light breeze.

We managed to get back to the Scout without breaking any bones (going down was even more...adventurous, than going up) and then enjoyed the 6-mile trail ride back down to the highway. We finished off the afternoon with a stop at Peet's on the way home where two hot travellers imbibed a couple fruit tea coolers. It was a great day!

Which leads me to the other cool thought for this post: just when you thought there couldn't possibly be any way Peet's Coffee could get better... they just installed free wireless internet at my local store! Are you kidding me!?!? I used to say half-jokingly that Peet's is my other office. Now I'm saying more seriously that my actual office is my other office - I'm moving in to Peet's permanently! I'm already on a first-name basis with half the baristas, and now I can get e-mail there too!

Yesterday one of the high school girls at the church heard me saying "I'm working at Peet's now," and she said "really, you work at Peet's? That's cool!" So I had to clarify for her: "Well, I work for Harvest, but I work at Peet's!"


*sighs contentedly* This has been a good week.

I love the smell of gear oil in the morning...

OK, this post is a window into my brain (WARNING: it can be scary in here... peek at your own risk!). Last week I had a new blog post about half-cooked and well on it's way to being served up, but then Friday came barreling down the road before I could finish it and whisked me away for three days of fun. So, just like a good Zachary's pizza, I put the half-baked post in the fridge and will finish it off in a few days.

In the meantime, it wasn't pizza that drew me away from real life for three days. It was my inexplicable love for my 1974 IH Scout. Now, I've always been something of a nonconformist. And I can't tell you how much fun it is to drive around Uppityville (a.k.a. Beaverton) and pull up at a red light next to some $65,000 Lexus SUV-ish sort of thing in my 34-year-old smog-exempt iron beast!

This weekend was the 4th annual International Harvester vehicle show, put on by the Oregon Scout club I'm in! Yes, there's actually enough IH enthusiasts to do an annual show. In fact ours is the best & biggest IH show in the western US, with almost 100 total vehicles on display. I was there all weekend helping run the show with my trusty 10-year-old helper (who was a BIG help), while Amy and Tommy came down for the day Saturday.

Some Scout Show highlights:

Elizabeth was my big helper all weekend, even painting some faces at the Kid Zone!

Lots of very cool Scouts, Travelalls, IH pickups and speciality vehicles:

Two little hicks in the making!

Driving our Scout in the mini-parade. The kids loved waving - and riding in the front seat!

Gooooooood food!!! Slow smoked BBQ pulled pork & chicken with all the trimmings. Thank God for Acts chapter 10!!

Staying in the Stratford Taj Mahal. Thanks to John & Rhonda loaning us their trailer we were able to duck out of the 95 degree heat and into our 73 degree air conditioned accommodations more than once! Very comfy:

Riding the train with the kids - a major highlight for Tommy!

Thanking God for my Scout

We started a monthly offering this morning in church. We haven't passed offering plates before, but we want to give our congregation a few minutes in the service each month to reflect on various aspects of Christian living, like prayer, communion, and giving. The focus for this morning's offering came from Deuteronomy 8, which was written to a people whom God was about to bless materially. He offered a warning:

"Take care lest you forget the Lord your God... lest, when you have eaten and are full, and built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and when all you have is multiplied... Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth..." (ESV)

So we reflected for a few quiet minutes on material things we own, and how they all came from God. My thoughts turned to my Scout. :) Yes, I love the rig as a hobby - 4x4 the way God intended! But more specifically I just spent all of last Friday up in the Tillamook State Forest, soaking in the rugged winter landscape. I mushed through several spots of snow and mud, eventually pulling over and making a "camp lunch" on a service road, did a bit of target shooting, and just generally basked in the quiet. I took all the pictures in this post on my Friday excursion.

The dual battery setup I have allows me to run accessories (like the laptop) indefinitely, and so I sat in the front seat suring a torrential downpour late afternoon, up in the middle of nowhere, composing several thoughts on the computer (which may work their way into blog posts at some point). Basically, it was a day of refreshment and re-energizing for which I am thankful. But I realize I couldn't have done so much of what I did without my Scout. Amy loves her Honda Accord, but it will never see Brown's Camp or Larch Mountain!

So today, I find myself thanking my God for the material blessing of a 34-year-old iron workhorse, which opens up so many possibilities and so many pleasures to me. The might of my hand did not get me this gift - it has come from the chief among givers.