Into the Woods

On this gorgeous morning I decided to go a little further from my neighborhood for my morning hike. I went

Wolsfeld Woods SNA is one of my favorite spots to hike. A remnant of the Big Woods that once covered much of this part of Minnesota, it is a sacred place for me. With all of the maple trees towering high above I call it God’s Cathedral.

Because it’s not well-known and a bit off the beaten path I felt okay about traveling there this morning. Though there were others out enjoying these beautiful woods I only passed one family on the trails during my hour plus excursion there.

There were a lot of jack-in-the-pulpits in bloom as well as purple and yellow wild violets and rue anemone flowers along the trails. I spent a lot of the first part of my hike crouching down on my hands and knees to get up close to photograph these beauties. It felt like my own personal version of

Worshiping the Wildflowers

Getting up from hands and knees is not as easy as it was when I was younger so after about a dozen times of getting down on my knees and then back up I decided to worship the wildflowers from afar.

“I dream of a quiet man
who explains nothing and defends
nothing, but only knows
where the rarest wildflowers
are blooming, and who goes,
and finds that he is smiling
not by his own will.

Sabbaths 1999 II”
― Wendell Berry, Given

I explored a new trail today and found a lovely patch of ferns along the trail as well as areas filled with new maple trees that covered the ground.

It was so lush and green that it took my breath away. After awhile I sat down on fallen tree trunk and contemplated the beauty surrounding me. Everywhere I looked there was green.

I took off my shoes as I sat on the log and let my feet feel the earth beneath them. Ahhh…this is good.

“We walked always in beauty, it seemed to me. We walked and looked about, or stood and looked. Sometimes, less often, we would sit down. We did not often speak. The place spoke for us and was a kind of speech. We spoke to each other in the things we saw.”
― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

The woods are the place I feel most at home and closest to the source. As I walk I whisper prayers of thanks to the trees, and the flowers, the ground and the sky. I am truly blessed to be able to go into the woods and wander.

May you walk in beauty.