A week in Desolation Sound does wonders...

From one Saturday to another we journeyed through the islands of Desolation Sound, British Columbia. We started from Cortes Island, and returned to Cortes island. Though we have explored the area for many, many years now, we continue to find new places, and new revelations. Our joke is that it is only rocks, water and trees. Yet those three simple elements combine in the most transfixing ways.

It is always less a journey through landscape than a journey through consciousness. The stories in our minds go from being about work and society and international affairs, to the flight of eagles across a blue sky, the feel of water between our toes as we swim, and the warmth of lengthy intimate contact with people you love. We go away, as we always have, to go in.

The geography is superlative in every way, and worthy of all adulation. Yet it is merely a trigger, or catalyst. Nothing is seen as it is. Things appear as we are, not as they are!

After time in wild, spectacular places, it is we who change. And it is less the spectacular that compels us over time, but the simple. The small beauties. The magnificent contained in the miniscule.

So I can relate the stories of where we anchored, and where we swam. I could go on for pages about the islands, trails, weather and nature. And that is all important, and fascinating. But it is not what I want to write at the moment. I would rather just say that doing all this results in me being a healthier, wiser and more peaceful person. Centered. In myself, and for my my family.

Is there anything more important?

Here are a few photos that show some places, and our bodies among the beautiful landscapes. Until we perhaps develop a technology that renders happiness, peace, transcendence, calm or wisdom on some media that photos do not, then we will fail to understand what really happens when we explore deep into nature for extended periods. The smiles may look the same as when in the city, but the reality behind the faces could not be more different!

A picture of bliss and contentment!

The boys at Walsh Cove being feral and fulfilled 

Mom and son jumped into the 75 degree saltwater, and were cleansed of their concerns!

Everywhere looks like this. Rocks, water, trees. Boring...

Just because. For people like me, the sky and sea...