Rocky Mountains

Visiting the Japanese garden was a great warmup to my 8 day training session as a Forest Therapy Guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. It was an incredible week with incredible people. Forest Therapy is also called Shinrin Yoku, translated as "forest bathing" which could also be translated as forest 'connection'. The Japanese began in the 80's to study the positive effects of being in nature (lower cortisol levels, lowered blood pressure, increased immunity etc.) The nature and forest therapy that I am studying goes beyond the medical benefits and stress reduction to include the emotional and psychological aspects of being in nature. Most of you know that I want to get kids outside. But all of us need to. I was grateful to my mom many times that week, because she taught her three kids to love lakes and trees and rocks and flowers and wildlife.

When I get home, I'll take anybody that wants to for a walk! Go ahead to the website if you are interested in knowing more about my training. For the next six months I will be working with a mentor to complete the practicum of the course and gain certification.

https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/

Beautiful views. I've learned that even the best photographs cannot capture the unbelievable beauty of this place on the west side of the huge Rocky Mountain National Park. The lodge we stayed at and learned in is called Shadowcliff Mountain Lodge, with an interesting history of its own.
https://shadowcliff.org/learn/

It was lovely. High up on the mountain, we saw beautiful sunsets and moon rises. We were there on Friday the 13th looking at the Harvest Moon. We ate good food (lots!) and I had two excellent roommates. Wendy from Belgium and Megan Mack from Maine. Thursday night we giggled for an hour, and Friday was girls night where we acted like teenagers.
I had a little trouble with a slight headache at first because we were at 8400 ft above sea level. I hadn't realized that altitude would have such an impact because I have never been so high other than in an airplane!
It was sunny and dry, as is most of Colorado. We only saw a tiny bit of rain all week.

I enjoyed this mountainous area so much, and was now used to the altitude, so I decided to stay another week. I went up 300 more feet to Winding River Resort to camp. I went on a trail ride, on a horse named "Flash" , who was described as a "mare with attitude". I fell in love with her. I went hiking along the Colorado River, waiting until late so I could see a herd of elk.

The resort was very interesting with a zillion RV's, two Conestoga Wagons you could stay in, cabins of different sizes, or campsites like I used. I looked out the front door of my tent at beautiful mountains. At night, in pure darkness, my tent door faced the Big Dipper. The brown horse pictured below is named "Colorado". He roams around the property free. He shows up each morning for breakfast and takes people on a trail ride. Our trail ride leader, Anna, says that she thinks he's part duck. He, and a donkey named Sadie, plus a miniature horse and a sheep (ewe) are seen wandering around. It's hilarious. Colorado walked by my campsite every evening like clockwork. I guess he was checking up on me. The nights were cold (frost in the morning) but I had the advantage of having been in the Northwest Territories and knowing how to use my emergency blanket and tarp to keep me warm.

I gave two of my favourite books read this summer to a new friend named Shelly that I met at Winding River. She is a retired hygienist. Later the same day, I accepted a ride from Sarah, also a hygienist. I think the gods are trying to remind me to always floss!
I have read a lot of novels and mysteries this summer, two Jonathan Kellermans and two romance novels under the guise of 'mysteries"---Yuck!--but I couldn't stop reading! I re-read Little Women, and two books on forest therapy/bathing. But the two I gave Shelly are the ones I recommend:
My Yellowknife friend Kate gave me a book by Kate Harris.
My Vancouver friend Erica gave me a book by Erica Bauermeister.
Funny eh?


I think I loved reading 'Lands of Lost Borders,Out of Bounds on the Silk Road' by Kate Harris (Canadian) because she writes about her adventure following the journey of Marco Polo. Actually, she is an explorer. Her writing is witty and thought provoking. I loved it. My niece Melissa will love this one. The hero is "Mel".
She writes, "Travel is one part geography, nine parts imagination."
She does talk about the artificiality of borders and the very real experience we have of them. I know that I'm always a little nervous in the States because of guns, and when crossing back into Canada I breathe easier, just going over that border. It happened every day when I went to Buffalo for teacher's college.
"The wildness of a place or experience isn't in the place or experience, necessarily, but in you--your capacity to see it, feel it."
Can you see why I might have enjoyed this book right about now?




'The School of Essential ingredients' by Erica Bauermeister kind of extended my forest therapy week, where time, memory and engaging all the senses bring us in closer to ourselves. It's a tale about a cooking class, where each character's journey is described in a delightful and delicious way. Julie, you will love this.

I write to you here in Granby, Colorado, from where I will take the Amtrak train to Denver.

"But exploration, more than anything, is like falling in love: the experience feels singular, unprecedented, and revolutionary, despite the fact that others have been there before." Harris, p. 281