Secret Places

My hiking-running-wandering adventures have become especially focused on secret places lately. I need to get away and set things straight, and I can do that in a secret place. By “secret” I mean the places that most people don’t know about, a place where I am alone with an awesome view and most importantly, I am hidden. Sometimes these places are hidden in plain site, sometimes they are well known (but still with room to hide). Such place could be on a sandbar alongside a creek, in a cave, or on an out-cropping. It seems like I’ve always been in search of secret places (but lately, I’ve been on a mission). When I was a young girl, my sister and I had a secret place up in the front yard tree. We climbed it as high as possible, until the branches were too thin to hold us. Sitting high above our one story house, we could see everything, but were completely hidden. That was a perfect secret place – but I am no longer daring enough to climb a tree so high. (I’ll climb a tree, but not that high!) I’ve had so many secret places through the years, many I can’t even recall. In college, I had another perfect secret place right on campus, practically in plain sight. It was on the top floor of the history building, if my memory serves me correctly, the 5th floor. It was usually after dark that I rode the elevator to the top floor where I would make my way to the balcony. Students often hung out on the lower balconies, but absolutely no one ever came up there on the top floor balcony where I could see the entire campus, students running to and from classes. That's where I watched the world move below, wrote in my hardcover journals and smoked my cigarettes as the birds flew in and rattled the rafters above. Every time I hear the song line  “with the birds I share this lonely view,” I am fondly reminded of this spot (Thank you Red Hot Chili Peppers!) I  suppose I am forever in search of that spot where with the birds I share a lonely view. Those are the loveliest places.

Nowadays, I have many secret places in my town on the California coast. The caves on Cave Rock Trail in Wood Canyon are one of my current secret places, though they aren’t so secret – sometimes I have a secret place just outside the caves at Cave Rock where I have full view of the caves. I’ve got secret places up Black Star Canyon, a couple of them quite well known (the historic “Indian” village and Beek’s Place), and I’ve got secret places that I tend not to share, mainly because they are off-trail. I am not meaning bushwhacking. I don’t do that anymore, and in fact have only bushwhacked once or twice since I promised my husband that I wouldn’t bushwhack anymore many years ago. What I am referring to are  un-marked trails. On federal land, at least in the Cleveland National Forest, there is no rule against taking unmarked trails. And actually, a trail that may seem “unmarked” may be in fact marked. But there are rules against taking unmarked trails on state and county wilderness areas. But I have noticed that unmarked trails that get travelled enough, eventually become marked trails (like Mentally Sensitive in Aliso Canyon and Car Wreck Trail in Mathis Canyon)

Things I like to do in a secret place (of course, you can substitute whatever you like because a secret place is secret after all):

• Sit in awe
• Pray
• Break a fast
• Organize pack
• Watch
• Listen
• Take pictures (and then some more)
• Pray (Did I already mention that? Yes, for emphasis.)
• Plan trip back (how much am I going to need to run being that I’ve spent so much time here)
• Layer up (lately) or Layer down (later)
• Say thanks for this secret place and then smile a lot about how beautiful it is.

I feel I’ve already gone on too long and I haven’t even finished up February’s hikes. I found much refuge in secret places on my Valentine’s Day hike and my 56th birthday hike which is why I’m on the topic in the first place.

February 14, my maternal grandfather’s birthday and also Valentine’s Day, my husband drove me to a location near Wood Canyon for a point-to-point hike (Valentine’s gift). I landed pretty quickly at one of my original secret places in Wood Canyon (Aliso Viejo, Ca)  – that is Wood Creek Trail. It is a short trail rarely travelled, and from it, before I swoop down into the trees, I have sweeping views of the canyon as well as much of the travelers alongside Wood Canyon Trail (all the while I go unseen).

When you hear voices on Wood Creek Trail, they are from Wood Canyon Trail. People rarely take Wood Creek Trail. The entire trail is a perfect secret place, which is no wonder it was one of my first in this park, and the first I visited on Valentine’s Day 2021.

After Wood Creek Trail I decided to stop by my recent find, a bit off- trail. There I took a seat on a lichen covered ridge where I spent entirely too much time which meant that I had to run more than I had planned (and I had planned no running). On my return, I put in a little over two miles running while watching my Life360 App to arrive at the ranger station just as my husband pulled into the lot right at sunset (finishing up with a little over 5 miles traversed!)

I was quick to jump out on the trails very quickly after Valentines Day – two days later in fact, my feet hit the dirt again, in commemoration of my 56th revolution around the sun. I set off to a usual secret spot but beforehand did a little exploring. It’s beautiful out there right now in Southern California. Spring has begun. The green grass is sprouting beneath the forest cover, ferns are reaching out from boulders, and the first spring flowers are slowly emerging. What a glorious time to be on the trails! (And it’s going to get even better).

I found a new secret spot on the hike commemorating my 56th revolution around the sun. It is off-trail (but not bushwhacking) in a serene spot. It was a little spooky though. Still, I’m grateful for finding this new secret place, though like many others that I stumble upon, it may likely be merely a memory because it is unlikely that I will return (unless I bring someone else along). Sometimes the awe takes the breath right out of me and it kind of freaks me out to return to certain spots  (like up above Black Star Falls – I probably won’t return there for a while unless I bring someone else along).

Scenes from the new place:

It’s difficult to find the time to get out and hike to these places. Often I put it off. One reason that I put it off is because it feels selfish to leave the home for several hours at a time just to wander about the wilderness. It in fact takes so much time to wander about that it takes away from other things that I also want to get done (like my reading, writing, and organizing, to name a few). It feels so selfish that I absolutely will not hike if the house needs cleaning, or if my children need a ride, etc. Don’t get me wrong – I am always grateful when I do get out and wander for hours, it is a great gift. Even when I can’t get out though, I can still manage a secret place. I don’t really need trails for secret places. They can be anywhere, including in my own home (it’s easy to find them, all you have to do is wake-up before everyone else, and that’s easy in my house). But trails are the best because all trails are secret places (and that’s something I have known all along but didn’t have the wisdom of what they could really bring). I always knew that trails were a gift. My skull is so thick – they are the only way to get through to me.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

(Psalm 91:1)