May 20th 2018

Day One and My first Tree Meeting…

In the last edition, I was driving north, stopping at Umpqua Hot Springs and then headed to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods to begin my first leg of the Tree Pligrimage.

Mt Shasta

Umpqua Hot Springs, Source pool

All soaked up and deeply present, I gathered my things from the sweet campsite I had found, Thielson Forest Camp.

It is about a 15 minute drive from Umpqua Hot Springs, with giant conifers circling the camp.

Huge picnic tables with beautifully crafted rough stone fireplaces, complete with a wood stove built into the side of the fire ring were special touches that made this free campsite so great.

After driving 3.5 hrs south, crossing back into California, with my heart light and my mind clear, I made my way to the Redwood Meadows RV campground in Hiouchi.

It’s your typical RV place with a few tent spots thrown in on the side. Although super friendly, it’s right off the road, and definitely was not where I would want to stay long term. But, it made the arrival easy and I was able to head over to the Redwoods right away.

Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park has a few different sections to explore. There are trails right off the Redwood Highway and several trails starting from Howland Hill Rd., a majestically adorned dirt road (filled with deep potholes depending on the time of year).

Before I left, I had researched the different trails off Howland Hill Road and my intuition said to go to the Mill Creek Trail first.

The van squeaked, swayed and slowly bounced her way down the long dirt road, dodging the biggest potholes, until we came to the trailhead.

I later found out, each June the road gets a facelift, so May was probably the worst condition it would be in, all year.

No matter what condition the road is in, it is truly a magical experience navigating through the giants.

Shafts of sunlight, highlight beams of space and tree, birds call from high above…

You can’t help but breathe deeper and feel your heart fill with wonder.

It’s like being transported out of time.

Having had to drive slowly most of the way to the trailhead, my nervous system was already partly in the zone, stepping onto Mill Creek Trail.

It was palpable, leaving the hard packed road, and then feeling the soft cushioned forest floor under my feet. A force field of energy holds the space in this part of the forest, with a clear energetic boundary line, from the break the road made and the rest of the trees and plants around the road.

It’s like walking through a wall of a forest sized bubble. Once inside the bubble, the soundscape and air changes wrapping you like a hushed, soft and subtle hug.

I paused at the first bend in the trail, took a long, slow breath in and then exhaled all the past and future away, coming fully present to that moment.

I consciously walked slowly and began to open my energy fields to take it all in. The volume of the soundscape turned up and the awe at the beauty of this place went straight to my core.

Shortly after, a big, noisy group, chatting loudly, raced by me, up the trail, as if the trees were going to vanish if they didn’t get “there” in time, where ever “there” was...

They completely missed the amazing soundscape of birdsong, wind through the tree tops and water shhhhhhhhhhh-ing along down below.

And then, I had the trail all to myself again, marveling at the richness of the forest.

With the tree that showed himself to me in dreamtime, in my heart, I followed the trail winding through the forest, letting my intuition guide me to him.

The wet earth smells, the gurgling of small creeks along the way, a snail inching slowly across the path invited me deeper and deeper into the rhythms of the forest.

Fern Bridge. The Trees keep giving gifts long after they fall…

After about 30 minutes of hiking, I came around a bend and down towards the larger creek and gasped.

I later named the tree that stopped me in my tracks, The Mother Tree.

The trail around her base was a wonderland of fallen trees covered in ferns, moss, and roots stretching around and along other fallen trees. But her presence and gifts that struck me so deeply….I will get into later.

After I passed through this portal on the trail, it was like I found myself in Jurassic Park, with giant plants and ferns lining the trail.

It was here, at another bend in the trail, my intuition said, “Stop. Go straight”, instead of following the bend in the trail.

There was an opening in the plant ground-covering so I wasn’t the first to go off trail here. I did my best to tread lightly though and to only step where there were no plants to crush.

I popped through an opening and found myself looking at some pretty spectacular Redwoods. My inner voice said this where I was supposed to spend some time. So, I navigated through the backside of two redwood trees and ferns and found a spot I could sit and drop in.

I was paying more attention to the ground, making sure that I didn’t crush the plant life underfoot so I didn’t fully take in the front side of the trees as I sat down and closed my eyes.

After about 30 minutes of meditation, softening, opening and clearing out my energy fields, I let my eyes gently open.

Annnnnnnnnnd…..

My jaw dropped. I truly couldn’t believe it!

My first in-person view of the Tree of Depth…

To my left, as I looked up, was the distinctive tree (with the arm limb coming up and out of the left side) that flashed me as I came out of dream-time, about ten days ago!

I whispered to myself, “Oh my god, NO. WAY. !”

It was in that moment, after I caught my breath, eyes wide, feeling my heart pounding in my chest, that I truly began to trust my intuition and this calling on a whole new level.

I began to understand that what I was experiencing really wasn’t just some fancy of my imagination. I wasn’t making the calling and connection up in my head.

This tree sent an image of himself and called me to come find him!

Looking into the canopy, tears welled up in gratitude.

I stood up and grabbed my blanket and asked him where I should sit. I felt a magnetic pull to a spot and sat down crossed legged, still in awe.

I found him on my first day exploring. That picture I saw, in my mind’s eye, of a tree, was actually a living, breathing being, I was now sitting with at that moment.

After I got over the sheer surprise, I closed my eyes and sent energetic roots down into the earth to connect with him.

As my roots spread through the soil, I felt his roots come up to meet mine. There was this golden, light- energy pulsing from his roots to mine. It felt like he was communicating and sending me information through light.

There weren’t any words I could translate the exchange into though. But one word that resonated and captured what I felt, from the essence of this tree, was DEPTH.

I opened more and sent my awareness from the roots into the trunk of his being and the light pulsing in his tree-veins was a luminous blue.

Then an energy went up through my core from him and I saw (in my minds’ eye) and etherically felt a huge Redwood tree grow straight through my midline. It was quite a sensation!

“Whoa!” came out of my mouth as my body rocked backwards and then into center again, as if from a burst of wind.

I was so grateful (and am to this day) for the 14 years I’ve practiced Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. It has been a pivotal training in learning and speaking the language of energy and of bodies. I don’t believe I would have been able to begin this journey with the Trees, on my own, without having learned this other way of communicating though energy exchange.

Gradually, the energy flowing from him dissipated. I felt a fullness in my field and a wonder in my heart. Our exchange was complete for that day.

I took some time to capture some images before retracing my steps back to the van and make the slow, bouncy drive back to the campground.

It was still a mystery what actually exchanged between the two of us, but the experience was so palpable.

As the campfire died down, the frog chorus serenaded me to dreamtime….

Redwoods RV Campground, Hiouchi, California

Tune in to the next post, and meet the many other Redwood Trees I was introduced to, as well as find out how I spent the month briefly staying at the Jedidiah Smith Campground and then up the South Fork of the Smith River as well as exploring Brookings and the Northernmost Redwood forest in Oregon!