Land of Medicine Buddha

Goodness. I went on one of the most beautiful hikes yesterday. It was the 6 mile loop hike up at Land of Medicine Buddha which is a Dharma center for practice and education in Buddhism. It is one of the most serene places I have ever been to. They have the largest prayer wheel on the west coast and a gorgeous Gompa with beautiful golden bodhisattva statues. There are little altars everywhere, even in little stumps along the hike. Apparently you can live at the Dharma center and get your meals if you give them 25 hours of work a week. Plus you get the education and practice space. I was thinking about doing that program because it sounds extremely blissful. Please check out the website at http://www.medicinebuddha.org/.

The hike was so pretty. You first hike along a creek with gorgeous redwoods surrounding you. When you stop, you cannot hear any signs of humans; no car noise, people noise. Then you start climbing up and the redwoods give way to oaks and it gets warmer. The sun starts shining through the trees. Once you reach the top, its flat with little meadows. When you start to descend again, the trail gets narrower and you feel like you are encased in wonderful redwoods, bays, oaks and madrones. The air smells so crisp and clean. There was not a section of this hike that was not breathtaking. I would love to do it again by myself and just go slowly and enjoy it. I went with my friend Chone yesterday and that kid walks damn fast. My legs were burning when we got to the top, but man did I sleep really well. We saw some really amazing things and were both really glad we did the whole loop. We had been wanting to do it for awhile.

Every time I go places like that it makes me want to live in the forest. I think this dream would be made easier if I had a car so I could come down from the mountains when I needed to and not die from exhaustion on the way back up. I'm going to try to save up to buy a used car. There is an unincorporated area up in the mountains called Bonny Doon. Its super pretty.

Here is something that is a bummer- My camera is broken. I developed two blank rolls of film which is a HUGE disappointment. Now I have to try to find another film camera, because repairing it will probably be more than the camera is worth. Now I have nothing to take pictures with. It blows.

P.S- that photo is not from our hike. Its from the redwoods near Arcata, but I thought it would be a nice accent to the piece.