This morning, I was up early to make myself breakfast and coffee as I had to head down to a coffee shop in Murphys to use the Wi-Fi. I’m participating in an Interim Executive Academy to learn more about the role of Interim EDs and the first session was today. I headed over to the bathroom and found signs taped up that the bathroom was closed because of water issues, so went to the next bathroom and found the same signs. I found out there were major problems with the waterlines so the only bathroom available was one across the meadow boardwalk on the other side of the campground. They didn’t know how long it would take to fix and apparently nobody had thought about getting porta potties for this side of the campground – despite the fact that the campground had 74 sites and was almost full. I decided it wasn’t worth spending the night knowing I’d be leaving relatively early the next day, and that I’d have to walk all the way across the campground to use the bathroom (not something I wanted to do in the dark in the middle of the night!). I was annoyed that Park staff or camp hosts hadn’t come around to alert anybody to the situation. Anyway, it didn’t take me long to pack everything up and I headed to Murphys. I noticed there were several brightly colored school bus stops that had been donated by the local rotary. Though the colors were pretty jarring in the serene green forest, I thought that was a wonderful community service to provide. I’m sure, especially during the cold winters and the very hot summers, they are very much appreciated.
I ended up at the Gold Country Coffee Roasters, which I realized I had been to before. The staff are really friendly and it’s an adorable place. In the side room I found a comfy chair with an outlet nearby and had the room to myself except for the last 15 or so minutes of my Zoom call. It worked out even better than I expected! I am excited about participating in this Interim Executive Academy, it seems like a great group of people in the cohort and some well thought out principles that we will be learning and discussing over the next eight weeks.
Since I still had my camping pass and there were a few hikes I wanted to do I headed back to the park. The staff still had no idea when the water was going to be fixed so I was glad I had made the decision to pack things up earlier. I did a couple of loops in the North Grove, luckily these were much flatter and easier hikes than yesterday. The weather was considerably warmer today with no breeze at all. The North Grove has a stunning array of trees, though none of them are as big as the Agassiz tree in the South Grove. I know that I have done this hike with my kids when they were younger, but I don’t remember much of it. Apparently I was too distracted looking after 3 young kids to commit it to memory. 😝
I wanted to have a chance to dip in the river once more so when I was done hiking I drove to the river picnic area and found a short trail down to a lovely little beach. There was a family enjoying the water when I got there, but they soon packed up, the kids grudgingly coming out of the water finally tempted by the promise of ice cream. After they left, I enjoyed the lovely river spot all to myself. This is the way to spend a Tuesday!
My thoughts drifted to the speaker I had heard at the eco-festival in Placerville last weekend who had talked about natural flowing water versus man-made canals. I want to be like a natural running creek or river. I want to meander here and there, go slower in some parts, faster in others, gathering in pools and swirling around for a while, in some areas be slowed down by a beavers dam or other obstructions, enabling lots of different kinds of life to benefit from the way I move, seeing what is around me. Not like a canal where I’m rushing on a fast, direct path, not providing others a place to flourish, where I am stripping the soil of nutrients, missing beauty around me, where I’m not adding anything, am barely even part of the scenery, just in a mad rush to get done. And to what end?
In a canal, someone else is regulating the water, how much is allowed through, maybe even turning it off at times. In a stream or a river I’m flowing in conjunction with nature.
Interesting thoughts to ponder by a rushing (natural) river.