On Top of Old Baldy
Story of the Day
June 12th, 2016
Beaver Valley – Old Baldy
We all woke up from a beautiful slumber on Sunday morning; the wind had been gusting all night long, which made for a beautiful night in our tents. We spent the beginning of our day talking about and creating plant journals. Together we took some time to sit with plants as well as some good books to start getting the of hang of writing journals. We also spent some time straining some Willow bark tinctures that we had made during our last weekend together.
When everyone was ready we all hopped into our cars and caravanned into the Beaver Valley. We drove up to the top of Old Baldy and we made our way onto the trail, into the forest. There were so many beautiful plants to be seen, we keyed out Birdsfoot Trefoil, and we found some Round Lobed Hepatica, Red Clover, Trilliums and Virginia Waterleaf. There were also many Jack in the Pulpits in flower just off the trail.
When we made it to the cliffs edge we sat together and ate some lunch. We shared some Nettle hummus that had been made and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Beaver Valley and felt the magic of the space. Some got extra close to the edge!
After lunch we hiked down towards the base of the cliffs, we followed a deer trail across the ancient sea bed, our mission was to get to a beautiful spring that Alexis had been to many times. We walked on the uneven terrain on top of moss covered rocks and decomposing cedar trees, feeling clumsy in comparison to how a deer would do it, we took a minute to stop in an open area and found a number of invasive plants all in one spot growing out of the rocks, Bittersweet nightshade, garlic mustard, Celandine and more, we learned that invasives like disturbed areas making this place that is constantly affected by erosion a perfect spot for them!
We finally made it to the spring, we could hear it as we walked, and when we laid our eyes on it I think everyone was feeling energized and excited. We filled our water bottles with the cold, fresh water and sat together for a while. This being only our second week together made this the perfect time to get to know one another much better. When it felt like the right time, we all got up and started making our way back up to the top of the cliff. Spotting all kinds of ferns, moccasin flowers, a coffee plant and even some Elecampane we made our way to our cars.
We ended our day with the most amazing closing circle. Hearing the comments and emotions from this circle would lead anyone to believe that this was our last weekend together. Everyone was so open with their thoughts and feelings and shared some very meaningful stuff! When it was all over, it was definitely hard to say goodbye, but we all got into our cars and started home, already excited for our next weekend together
-Kelly
