Hiking the Wolf Trail on Monday was a glorious sensual experience. We set out at 9:30am on a warm sunny day hoping for some relatively solid footing on the trail before the intense sun softened the surface. We anticipated experiencing the warm sun of the day on our cheeks but were pleasantly surprised as we were bathed in hot and cold breezes (yes, hot air!). Cold air as we walked along flowing creeks, and then hot as we ascended and descended, with the occasional cold wall literally bumping into us. The sounds were delightful and ever so spring like – the songs of so many birds, the slush slush sound of corn snow from our boots (there’s no other sound quite like that), and that singular suction sound when boots are pulled out of mud. Sounds of spring bursting in the Park!
The sound that enlivened my soul that day was the sound of water, as if it had been a lifetime since hearing babbling running water in creeks. We were surrounded by water everywhere. While I was keen to see the level of spring flow in my favourite creeks, I was surprised at the full onslaught of the visual and auditory sensory experience of water being everywhere. The snow pack is still quite deep however rivulets had carved out lacy networks of gullies in the snow with water gaining momentum on its downward journey and we’d hear gurgling underneath our feet as we’d walk along the snow packed trail. The five week Lenten Spirit Journey on the indigenous perspective on water that had just concluded at my church sensitized me to this precious resource. I was experiencing such a reverence and gratitude for this source of life energy and nourishment, the necessary precursor to our spring growth. What is there I can do to honour and protect the source of these precious waters?
