Free Association (The Rock)

Got out for another evening hike on the first of July, 2020. It’s summer now, so if I can’t wake at the crack of dawn to hit the dirt early, it’s best to go ahead and get some work done and head out in the afternoon to take in those cooler evening hours.

July 1st, it was a repeat of The Big Loop @ Aliso/Woods Canyons (of course it was!). I took it counter-clockwise, as I do lately. That meant taking a gradual climb through the canyon. It was hot, but mainly due to the mugginess. And it was beautiful with lots of shade and flower color dotting the trail. The word that describes it best is “tranquil”.

There weren’t many people out at all. It was one of our warmer days, and not to mention just a few days out from a holiday weekend (the 4th of July!).

I kind of just mindlessly meandered through Wood Canyon, often carrying a mental load, then in the next second tossing it aside. I sometimes liken hiking through the wilderness to Sigmund Freud’s (the “father of psychoanalysis”) process of “Free Association”.  With this process there is no linear thought pattern, you just go and see it were it leads you.

So, there I was, just Free Associating away in Wood Canyon and that lead me to the rock. I just caught a glimpse of it – it’s over past Lynx Trail, off to the left, kind of rising up from the trail. How many times have I passed by that rock? I cannot tell you (I’ve been roaming Wood Canyon for more than a decade, about 13 years, so the answer is in the three digits). One time I walked past it with my three boys when they were all pretty young. We took a hike on Wood Creek Trail that day and we stopped at that rock on the way where my husband snapped a picture of us. This is the picture that flashed before my eyes walking through Wood Canyon on July 1st, 2020:

This memory took my breath away. I had to stop and climb to the top of this rock. And there I sat behind my dark sunglasses and sobbed for a while. I sobbed because it hit me with that memory that their childhood is finished. It is over and it went way too fast. The rest of the hike was quite mournful because of that. I would Free Associate out of my mournful state only to find myself there once again.

After the canyon, I had some good climbing to do and that is always a good thing when I am troubled. I caught the tail end of a rattler on West Ridge and awesome views of the Pacific Ocean before descending down Meadows Trail back into Aliso Canyon. I finished up when the sun was beginning to set on the horizon and the weather was oh so cool. The lighting was beautiful, dark in the shade, and vibrant out in the sun..

Another wonderful summer evening hike in the coastal hills Free Associating ~