Stonestrider

Seek and Find The Sacred


November 26, 2019

Pinecrest Lake

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Location: Stanislaus National Forest/California/USA 

Elevation: 5,500ft

Note:  The booming beauty of California is truly a thing all its own, as distinct as places like Ireland, Jamaica, or The Southern Alps of Italy, and France. The legendary Californian Valley can easily be seen from outside the atmosphere, perfectly ensconced, like an elongated womb, by the limitation of the Pacific Ocean to the West, and the Stanislaus National Forest rising into the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the East.  The vast variations in morphology, from the Sea-levels of San Francisco, to the Valley,  filled with golden hills and glades of Orange groves, rising to the rugged rocky pinnacle at Yosemite’s Half Dome some 5000 feet above, could make a heart glow through the eyes. Fixed like a Jurassic rain-drop, between the eyes of Stanislaus National Forest and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, is Pinecrest Lake; a deep sapphire jewel, against a golden and green-grey wilderness. 

If you are lucky enough to find Sonoma California (Image/Right)  you will have found the main mountain-port village, tucked quiantly into the gorgeous golden hills on the very edge of the overall wilderness of West Coast Forest and Mountains, for jumping off into Stanislaus National Forest. Sonoma is like a Seaport town would be, to the wide-open Ocean, except it is a landward port.  Highway 108 shoots-out like a lightning bolt from Sonoma, north-east, into an ocean of rising Pine and Sequoia trees. Just an hour driving along Highway 108 and you will arrive at the mountain-town of Strawberry, California, and Pinecrest Lake (which is a slight right turn-off from 108.) Pincrest is a small resort with the option of swimming, hiking, and just sitting on the mountain-view beach. It’s spectacular, with a view of the first ridges of the Sierras. 

 Hiking any lake is a lesson in circumambulance, the eternal cycle of starting where you finish, and finishing where you start. Renown German psychologist and dream specialist Carl Yung considered the discovery of The Self to be a process of circumambulation, rather than any basic linear process. The experiential side of hiking can often times leave you feeling a little different by the end of an excursion, as opposed to when you started; and yet you are the same person. The larger the challenge, the more likely the hike will bring an interaction, or feeling,  that is new to you. Appreciation, confidence, tranquility, perseverance, less inhibited feelings, all result from hiking circular routes. And a circular route with a view like this, with the option to swim, or just sit in the Sun, can inevitably combine all of those feelings into a humble, but supreme joy. Even a few short moments of this rare feeling is enough to sustain you for the year to come. Off you go.

The trail at Pinecrest begins at a playful beach where families are enjoying the scene. One of the comforting aspect of lake trails is that you can’t get lost, so you can step boldly. If you begin to the right side of the beach, you will see a fairly impressive  megalith set on the shallow water. The boulder appears to model the arch of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in this incredible background, with 3 distinct indents near its core. It is aligned parallel to the scene of the mountains behind, which may be an indicator that this place might have megalithic secrets to share. In sacred sites in Ireland, Scotland, Arizona, and New England, Stonestrider.com has documented hundreds of locations where fixed boulders model the landscape. In these zones, free standing boulders sit at the top of rocky pinnacles, or imitate the arch of the valley below. Below is a megalith that was carved to fit the exact curvature of the lower Valley at Mount Bearnagh, Ireland (Image/Below/Left), and a marker-stone high on Mount Katahdin, in Maine USA, pointing directly at the peak in the distance.(Below/Right) 

 

 

 

 

Another example of a fixed boulder is this stone (Image/Left), set among incredible foliage in the heights above the Blackstone Valley in Upton Massachusetts. The stone is pointing directly at the apex of the small mountain beyond. This stone, interestingly enough, also has three distinctly indented slashed gashes, just like the megalith at Pinecrest.

 The trail at Pinecrest dallies through small rock gardens, contrasted by tall stones and gnarly Oaks and Pines. The right-side path of the lake, running counter-clockwise through these rocks and brambles, includes the option to swim at any given moment. This a joyful retreat for families, not the typical reclusive cultural jag of many stonestrider.com sites. Elder folks, children, extended families, and couples, are cruising through, conversing on every type of topic, while attempting the entirety of the trail. At the 2.5 mile mark, hikers will come to the opposite side of the beachhead starting point. There are a set of miniature cliffs reaching right up to the lake; elevated ridges and points of vantage over the entire scene. Interestingly, at the center of gravity of one of these high-points, is a perfectly placed, free-standing boulder. (Image/Below) There hundreds of thousands of these gravitational-fixed, strategically placed, boulders in the high points of many such beautific scenes across the Continent, and Western Europe. I need to address this glacial argument for a moment. Please consider the rediculous logic post-modern scientists are force-feeding us: Take a look at some other free-standing boulders in different places beautiful locations in New England, Arizona, Colorado. Ireland. Are scientists saying that the same glacial-sheet, from Ireland to Arizona, placed these boulders in gravitational perfection? Really? I have to struggle just to make this theory make sense. 

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone ever raise the point of fact that these boulders are placed at the precise center of gravity for balancing, all at grand scenic points across America, and Western Europe?

What shafts of ‘glacial-ice’ could lay these boulders in the perfect gravitational center, literally hundreds of thousands of times? This boulder in Red Rocks National Park in Arizona (Orange/Below) is literally lock-fitted, and tilted towards the course of the Sun. This is scientifically significant points of observation totally dismissed by the ‘scientific community’. The Neolithic zones around these boulders are also amazing. It so obvious that these boulders are skillful markers of once-occupied sociological spaces. Scientists are incredibly pompous to 
ignore the gravitational aspect of these sociological statements. What irks me most is that these control-freaks honestly think you are dumb enough to believe that glacial-ice is responsible for these gravitationally-perfect, lock-fit, solar oriented Neoliths, always found in zones filled with incredible statements?  I’m so completely exhausted from presenting the evidence, scientifically,  only to listen to stuffy, passe, agenda-freak-concerned ‘scientists’  that give me their robotic, totally inconsiderate of the mathematical physics, response to the mounting evidence. I’m sorry to burst everyones bubble, but History is not what you were told in High School or Undergraduate. It is far deeper, and even mystical in nature, with miraculous evidence to challenge our very cognitive abilities.  I used to believe what other people believed, but you have to acknowledge the evidence, or consider yourself voluntarily blind. Just take a look at the digital cut of this boulder along the Pinecrest lake side, not far from the free-standing boulder. It looks like a wood  piece, cut from a carpenters table. It reminded me of a cut stone I found a few seasons prior to this, that was almost identical, in the forests of western Massachusetts. (Image/Below). 

Scientists say that this phenomenon is natural? If this happened naturally, a split from an earthquake or something, how does that explain the perfection of the cut? New England does not experience Earth quakes.  Where is the other half of the stone, if it simply, split? How does a boulder just split, perfectly? These don’t exactly move, EVER. to go one step further, consider an example of a cut-boulder that does have an adjacent face, at Mount Watatic in Massachusetts. It literally looks as if someone intentionally sliced this boulder, like a hot knife through butter, and then sanded a perfectly level and centered stone, directly between them. Look at the flatness and levelness of that middle stone. The centricity alone sets off all sorts mathematical principles, and design.  As you can see, the rocky pathway behind, goes up the mountain, and stems directly through this cut ‘gateway’. How can scientists claim this is random? It is absurd to me that they claim this is mere chance. Totally absurd.   And just as the trails wind through amazing works of Neolithic Stone at Watatic Mountain in New England, the trail here at Pinecrest seem to portray the exact same portfolio. These are ‘worked’ areas. Who did it, and how, is something people are allowed to consider without the bizarre ‘science-ing’ that ruins the entire process of thought for which these works are meant to inspire. Why can’t we understand that if they are ‘worked’ cultural statements, then they were left behind intentionally, for the very purpose of consideration. “Scientific” theories are pushing the ridiculous idea of ice-sheets placing boulders in perfectly fit gravitational porches…. in Arizona? And that same force did the same thing in Massachusetts? It’s ridiculous. There are so many geographic and physical absurdities to the glacial-ice displacement theory, that it is hard for me to believe that people actually sit through classes at Universities, listening to it.
The scenic hike at Pinecrest continues to a rocky, river-cut, plateau, overlooking the lake.  Here, there is a flow to the hike, a trust in the ruts, roots, and rocks, as you make your way. It is such an encapsulated beauty, the feeling of hiking along a practically hidden lake, at a high elevation. This whole area is surrounded by Stanislaus National Forest. This is the sister Lake of ‘Lake Tahoe’, which is just to the north of here. Pinecrest is one of the most majestic mountain/lake scenes in the world.  It has that far-away feeling, that deep distance from all things ‘controlling’, safely away from the grind of every day life, and observational angst and overload.

 

As you continue passed this halfway point of the rocky porch, you can stop and swim, enjoy the Sunny scene. The rocky ridges mingle with the trail, in a nearly perfect  picturesque way.

 

 

 

 

 

The milkiness of these hedges hugging-into the rocky ridges, is endearing. Nature is constantly embracing itself, exfoliating and observing at the same time. It really is something to think about, that absorption and exertion in one; The relief of the blue softness of water, against eternally sun-kissed stone. Stanislaus National Forest is a treasure, in scale, and vibrance; A massive force, pushing us to the edges of our understanding. 

The trail bends as the Sun ambulates above. There are small Redwood groves mingled with Ponderosa, Oak, and Birch, arching over the water. The trees have a luminosity hard to describe. The refractory light of this particularly clear and mineralized water,  reflects upwardly along the bark, making it seem like the trees are reflecting inner light from below, while receiving the Sun above. It all glows.This water is a priceless commodity in the density of the Forest. In indigenous times, before modernization, when this vast wilderness was uninterrupted, this place would have been a briliant magnet for every form of life, for as long as the lake has existed. There are booming crevices with stacking boulders so large that fallen trees look like broken branches in their embrace. There is a grandeur here.You will cross a small water-bound bridge towards the last stretch of pathway and have a look back at the edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in the distance. Beyond the Sierra Mountains is an intimidating and elevated wilderness that stretches East into deserts, then more massive mountains, then the Great Plains. This is a fine place to be, compared to all that vastness to the East. The last portion of the trail winds back into the Forest, and then to the beach where you began. It is truly endearing to consider the delicateness of the flowers that flourish here, at the final portion of this 7 mile circular jaunt, against the backdrop of the absolute severity beyond. (Image/Below/Left) It reminded me of a trail of lavender foxgloves I once wandered into in the ancient heights of Wales, north of Mount Snowdon. (Image/Below/Right).

It is this type of ‘connectivity-of-thought’ that is the real marrow of mountaineering; when you have visions of another similar location, while passing through a real-time moment. You are literally alive in your past, present, and future, when this happens. It is so hard to produce this spiritual transcendence in the clamor of modern “interactions”, if you can call them that, these days; With texting and emailing, and constant bullshitting to no end, it is hard to find this frame. The realness and  delicateness of these flowers struck me, after all that craggy rock on trail. It was humbling to see. I will quote the illustrious Dr. Seuss, while mentioning these flowers, flourishing in a stadium of extremity; That after all that effort, of working through the large-scale challenges of this rugged place, these flowers should remind us, finally and after all, that “A person is a person, no matter how small.”  Thanks for reading. And for God’s sake, go for it. 

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August 02, 2018

Kings Canyon National Park

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Location: California, USA/Central-Sierra Mountains 

Elevation: 1,300 ft.

Prominence: 14,490 ft

Note: So here we go again!  There’s that crazy moment of “holy sh#t” here that makes the whole thing worth it, right from the start. At first glance, the raw ugly ruggedness with which this supreme scene has existed should hit you pretty hard.  There is a cosmically harrowing vibe here, with a depth so broad that it seems to almost want to pull you in. Gravitas. On approach you will emerge from the beautiful Sequoia Forest heights, to be suddenly struck by an inestimable depth of imploding rock.  Just driving here is no piece of cake either. First, the small mountains of Tulare County California, shimmering in dry gold (Image/Below) recline eternally as the dramatic ‘gates’ to the overall kingdom of the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. You must crest the small mountain roads of Tulare, and reach about 7000 feet above the Valley, just to approach the secret singular road into Kings Canyon, and descend again into the 7000 feet you just climbed! This is the rocky naval of ancient California, with ‘heavy-weight’ mountain statistics that hold as many truly sacred secrets as it does mesmerizing statements of ‘size’ and ‘scale’. Welcome to Kings Canyon, God’s rocky deep pocket.
  This is literally a secret rock-kingdom that suddenly appears out of the Sequoia National Forest, like a stone-age Lhasa, tucked-into the massive enclosure of the Himalayas. In ancient times, the Natives that first explored this place would’ve absolutely been the ‘rangers’ of their tribes, super tough, with a spiritual connection to the landscape that made them the most capable for the needs and challenges of this descent. Really try to let yourself imagine the gritty resourcefulness of the ancient peoples that took this place on. A wrong step here means your life. The supreme forces of Mortality and Nature are dramatically at play in this rusty eternity. Here, it’s about balance; it’s about centering yourself; it’s about the significance of each step. Accepting the lessons of this place puts you in touch with a more rugged, more balanced, more real version of yourself. When returning to the mundane world, sitting on some couch with friends or family, a voice in your mind may possibly echo, behind all the chatter: “Deeper, simpler, tougher, stronger…you”; and somehow, it’s the remnant  of the voice of Kings Canyon National Park inside you.
Returning to the realities of the present day, Nature enthusiasts of today make their way down in a vehicle, of-course.  Tune up, gear up, and then go. Don’t get stuck on the side of a highway that barely clings to 14,000 feet of gravity gone wild because you forgot to check the oil. Have the car and supplies ready. Eventually, after about an hour of ‘marble-running’ your way along the highway, you will come to the dramatic base of the Canyon highway. (Image/Below)   Take this dramatic stretch of singular highway all the way to its very end. You will come to the circle of campgrounds, trailheads, a ranger station, and even a restaurant, which all serve as a fine oasis against the intensity and concentration that comes from finally surfing a vehicle all the way down here. The hardest trails, Like John Muir Trail’, or Rae Lakes Trail’ are steep treks out of the Canyon to elevated lakes that feel miraculous in such a place. Medium level trails like Paradise Valley Trail’ or Mist Falls Trail’ are river-hikes that take you to gorgeous Falls, and multi-colored pools. Roaring River Falls Trail, a relaxing mostly level forest trail, winds through the various channels to a gorgeous Waterfall, and is highly recommended for first time hikers. Roaring River Falls Trail: After the effort of reaching this sunken stone bastion, a trek along the Canyon floor on Raoring River Falls Trail’ is a good choice for a relaxing photogenic foot-path experience. The views of river-ways rushing and rolling also produce a breeze that sings through the trees, which seems surprising  when surrounded by this stadium of stone.  The miraculous channels of the Kings River, Scenic River, and Kings Wild River, all branch off, and then merge-up again, in various places throughout the base of the Canyon’. It must have been the shimmering blue of the canyon waterways that truly enticed the first Natives to take the chance of inhabiting this rugged scene. In some places the hue of the river is a deep green, while in others an icy blue, pushing the palette of your vision, and testing any assumptions about what could be around the next bend. Unassuming wilderness.    The trailhead parking-lot is less than a quarter mile from the very end of the single Park’ road. It’s located just on the right of the road, passed the campgrounds and restaurant.  Park, grab your gear, and cross the bridge to follow the path along the river to your left, and the massive Canyon wall. This is a hike along a gorgeous river oasis, complete with rare Redwoods, Birch, Ponderosa Pine, and Maple, all gathered in grand familial groves along the flowing water.  Settling into the rhythm of the Trail here, where immaculate and utterly impervious stone meets a shimmering freshwater rush, you may consider the amount of profound ideas that have emerged out of extreme and contrasting natural spaces such as this; the Anointing of Jesus in the River Jordan, against the vast arid backdrop of the Shamaliyah Desert; The River Nile connecting, like a chord, to the Great Pyramids, rolling out of the Sahara; or perhaps the birth-myth of The Hopi Native American Tribe, said to have emerged from beneath the Grand Canyon in the beginning of Time, to dwell along what would be known as the Colorado River. There is extremity here, on many levels. It seems that beautiful moments and realizations have emerged in the harshest of places, which may very well be Nature’s way of saying that regions, even on the verge of burning, are capable of revealing something abundantly profound and beautiful. Roaring River Falls’ provides precisely this kind of heartfelt contrast. The Trail dips through tall glades of the toughest trees you’ve ever seen, and you can feel the enclosure of rock, like a massive hug waiting to happen.  No more than about 2.5 miles along this path will lead you to your reward, The Roaring River Fall! This blast of a bright-blue-pool, which emerges against the rusty Canyon façade, is nothing less than a slice of liquid Heaven heaved against stone as hot as flint in friction. Just the steel-blue color of the circular pool here alone, is medicine on your eyes, where the trees literally have charcoal in their veins, and the stones glow golden grey.   This is a great spot. Take a moment. Dunk your head. Scenes like this for the Native peoples would have been like the ultimate pool party.  After finally stepping away from Roaring River Fall, there is an opportunity to cross over to the other side of the narrow Canyon, along the road, and search for signs of Neolithic Cultural statements. These signs in Ireland, and New England, along with the dozens of other sacred zones explored at Stonestrider.com, have come to be known as: stone-linings, standing stones, cairns, and many, many, other wonderful statements from the ancient world. The Jack Kerouac side of strolling this road is hard to deny; stepping with a sense of surreal cinematic freedom along a secluded stretch of road embedded in a massive Sierra Nevada Mountain chain!… as the Irish say: “Good on you.”    About a mile-and-a-half down the road, headed north, and back towards the Roaring River Falls Trailhead, the forest begins to reveal stonework, mixing and matching among the trees. Stone-linings, similar to those found within the forests of Massachusetts/New England/USA,  and the heights of Glenveagh Mountain in Ireland, as well as the valleys beyond Mount Snowden, in Wales, are found here in this miraculous place.  These are the signs of a Neolithic Culture that once dwelt all across ancient America, and the World.  Following a stone-lining is spiritual process, an act of hope and faith that it might connect you to something spectacular, and lo-and-behold it will in Kings Canyon. Just along a trail to the left of the road, a stone-lining zigged-and-zagged its way to a beautiful seven foot standing stone, unlike any other stone anywhere in sight. This Standing Stone also had a 45 degree streak cut across the center, which is a common meme among standing-stones in other parts of the world, as described here at Stonestrider.com.  If you take notice of the particular rounded “E” shape on the lower right side of the Standing Stone, it may serve to help you understand that this stone was absolutely “stood-up”. It just so happens that not even 10 feet away is a massive boulder with a rounded “E” shape in it’s side, and face. Clearly this Standing Stone was sliced precisely from this boulder. If you were to take this Standing-Stone and lay it across the boulder, matching the rounded “E” shapes to each other, it would fit absolutely flush; in shape, in interior roundness, right up to the jagged tip. Take a look at the common view of stones just beyond this area, leading up to the Canyon Walls; it is totally and absolutely disheveled, indistinct, and completely contrasted to the Standing-Stone. There is literally nothing else like it in sight; It literally just stands out among a universe of low-lying rotund stones. (Image/Below)Another tangible sign of a sacred Neolithic zone is the appearance of mass amounts of quartz growing beneath the hardened face of the rocks. There is quartz all over the boulders in the vicinity of the Standing Stone here; beautiful sections of glowing quartz, shining and expanding in the face of this arid dimension. This is also prominent in sacred groves and spaces at Neolithic sites all across the globe. From Ireland to California, the Ancients chose places to be based on factors like vantage, resources, and the presence of quartz. The properties of quartz are well known to science in this present day. We use quartz in our computers and cell-phones to basically redistribute electrical charge. This stone literally harnesses and balances energy, creating stability just by it’s mere presence, even in the harshest environments. (Image/Below) Quartz would also pick up on the subtle friction and electricity coming from the river, which is abundant in this miraculous place. Someone knew exactly what they were doing when they claimed this area, engineering a gorgeous  Standing Stone to claim the spot, and warn others that it was claimed; God knows how long ago.On the way out of this magical and mysterious place, stop and sit down at the campground if you can. There are people here from over the World; Japan, India, China, Switzerland, and of-course America. Speak with these folks. The look on their faces is like they have found the ancient water-wells of someplace like the Sinai desert perhaps, and are now saved by presence of water. And just look at the beauty of Grizzly Falls, located near the entrance of the Park!  It’s nearly impossible to imagine gorgeous waterfalls like this from the arid vista far above, and yet there are many to be found here. Beyond Grizzly Falls, the western side of the Canyon is marvelous, with quartz-stone chasms and ‘ultimate stone-stances’, all against a fantastic few of successfully quenching Ponderosa Pine trees, protesting in contrasting jade against the stone and the sky. What a scene! Kings Canyon National Park is a full spectrum gem, secretly shining from the depth of California’s primordial core. Just to get here requires a mandate of grit. Elegant and extreme contrasts exist here to push our understanding into realizations about what is truly important; i.e: Just the simple presence of Water, is Life itself. A humble set of well placed steps can successfully carry you through even the steepest of consequences…etc, etc…  In a place where the trees are vulnerable to burning to ashes at any given moment, maybe take one of those moments to appreciate the small stabilities that exist in your life, keeping you from that burn. Beauty can prevail anywhere in Nature, even in the deepest parts of the world, harsh and hidden within massive mountain ranges. Kings Canyon is like a fortress built by the Universe, made specifically for remembering the essentials. Perhaps this is why so much spiritual thought has come out of the arid wastelands and chasms of the world; they just put what’s important front-and-center. Come to Kings Canyon National Park and experience the road-less-travelled, the wisdom of canyons, and the possible apparition of fire amongst trees, at any given time. What? A forests of apparitional fire in a quartz canyon.. where the ancients once lived in magical unison with the landscape! What more can I say? Go strong. Stonestrider.com
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