I love doing nature hikes with Anabelle. And we do miss hiking and out hiking buddies in Northern California.
It is always a refreshing experiencing walking through the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Nothing is more exhilarating than breathing the fresh clean air along the seaside trails of Lobos Beach in Carmel. And what can be more breath-taking and awesome to behold than the panoramas and the vistas from the heights of Mt. Tam and Mt. Diablo.
I see the mountains in all their grandeur ~ solid, unmoving, majestic ~ and I am moved. A mute testimony to their awesome Creator. I enter a cathedral of giant redwoods and sequoias, heavenly scented, and instantly my spirit soars upward in prayer. I am on holy ground. I hear the birds, unseen but a mysterious presence nonetheless, singing their hymns of praise to the Almighty. Their melody is something my heart has always been singing all my life. Wild flowers and sometimes butterflies add a panoply of colors that proclaim the greatness of their Source. Such beauty, such bountiful silence, such boundless goodness.
I often feel like kneeling down on the forest floor and singing like I was attending a mass: Holy, holy, holy Lord! God of Power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory!