Reading harold_maude's journal

This afternoon I got to see the sunset. There was this cloud formation that made it look like
there was a pink waterfall in the middle of the sky.

It reminded me of the rainforest and the mountians. I miss them.
They are amazing to see and feel. The sound of water hitting the stream bed below is constant
even in winter.
It never stops.
There is one place I would love to be right now. It's called Multnoma Falls.
It's in northern Orgeon and it's located next to the Columbia river.
The other side of the river is Washington state.

Anyway, this place looks like a huge sanctuary. To get to it you have to go through a tunnel
that has train tracks on top.
And if a train is passing over head you get to feel it and hear it at the same time.
It goes through you as it passes over head.

As you come out of the tunnel there is a quiet gentle pool that greets you.
If you look directly east and up you see the falls.
The first time I saw them I was completely blown away by how much they resembled
a giant book with water running down through the center.
A living book.

As you make your way up the path to the bridge that faces the falls you notice that the
air is charged with life.
The birds dance above your head, and every detail of life explodes in your senses.
Their wings are transparent. They sing and it's almost surreal in what it does to you.
I kept having to close my mouth. My friend who brought me to this place just watched
me quietly giggling at what it was doing to me.
She knew what it would do and didn't say alot before we got there.

I was drawn to go up, higher and higher on the path. I couldn't help it.
The pool at the bottom of the falls is deep. A place that if you could dive into
you could easily get lost in.
The falls themselves are about 600 feet high.
Not unusual for that area of the world.
And later I found out that it's a very small stream that feeds these falls.

The walls of stone on either side of the falls support trees that stick straight out and
go up the rock face.
There are birds that make their nest in places that seem impossible.
But they do.

And then there are the people. Comming and going. Talking among themselves,
caught up in the same place you are.
And absoulty happy in that place.

I wish I was there tonight.
Seeing it by star light. Watching the trees as they feel the changing seasons.
I'd love to be there when the first snow falls.
But I'm here. Thinking how lovely it would be to just be in that place again.
Lost in thought, deeply affected by the life that exists there.

It gives to all who come. And when they leave they are more than when they came.
A sanctuary of life.
deep sigh....

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.