This is a picture of the mountain we climbed on Sunday from the perspective of the balcony I sit on every morning. It is very difficult to get a picture without the clouds covering the top where the volcano is, but still it gives you an idea of how tall it is. Patrick says that where we are staying is at the same height as Castle Mountain in Banff, and that is the point where we started our climb that day. Looking at it from this perspective I know for sure that I do not need to do the rest of the climb.
Where the yellow line is on this photo is where the boys stopped on Sunday so you can see that they still had a pretty long way to climb. Where the red line is gives you an indication of how steep it would be going on from the place they stopped. At this point (the red line) it becomes a narrow path with a significant drop on either side. From there (in the clouds) is the volcano which you can walk around and I believe come down on a different side. Where the green x is, marks approximately where I would have been on the other side of the mountain which of course we can’t see from this angle. I think its funny that I never realized that this was the mountain we’d be climbing that day. I look at it every morning and marvel at it’s beauty, but if you had told me I’d be climbing it, I would have said no way, you’re crazy!!!
Since making the climb, I have realized that it is true what Willak said to me that day, about the mountain allowing you to leave something you are having trouble letting go of. It has occurred to me that it does not just mean your sorrow. I asked Patrick what he left there, but I will have keep what he told me to myself as it’s not my place to reveal it. But I saw what he left behind before I asked him for his answer, and it is really good. I would have to say that it was not so much what I left behind, but what I was able to accept. I hope that I left a little of my fear behind, but since making the climb I have begun to feel my story and have been emotional as a result. Over the last few days I have been trying to work through the different stories of my book and am having a bit of trouble because of the emotions that are surfacing, stories I thought I had come to terms with, believing I had dealt with the emotional side already. So this is the gift of the mountain, to find something of your inner being that you thought you had already dealt with and finding the strength to see what you could not face before. I think there was a part of me that still did not wish to accept the truth of these memories, unable to believe all that happened. So this acceptance kind of came in like a whisper, gentle and kind.
When we climbed back down Willak began to gather a plant that only grows on that side of the mountain. Of course my curiosity got the best of me, especially since I favor using plant medicine myself, what it was he was gathering. He told me the name, but I cannot remember what it is and realized that it is better not to say because it is his medicine, not mine. He did tell me the plant would be made into a tea and used to kill cancer cells. I asked him if cancer was a big problem here, to which he replied “No, not now, but it is becoming more common”. So this was another gift of the mountain, the gift of healing medicine for the people.
Close to the bottom of the hill near where we were to be picked up, I found a nice surprise in the bushes. A flower that at home we would have only in the spring time, except hat this was not the flower of home, just an amazing likeness.
Perhaps it is a sister plant, the southern version of our beautiful tulip. The flower is so much the same, but the leaves are nothing like ours. But here was another gift from the mountain, a little piece of home shown to me as I departed (I totally missed it going up the mountain). Always when we are ready to see, the gift arrives……
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