What makes this particularly interesting to me is that Malcolm Forbes later owned a huge chunk of land adjacent to Yellowstone Park which eventually was sold to a new age religious group that moved its headquarters from California to Montana and became instant neighbors to ten thousand good ol' Montana boys and girls, including me. Indirectly, Malcom Forbes affected the lives of every resident of Park County, Montana.
Well a different perspective is always a good measure, so today we hiked up on the rocks to see how things looked from up there.
We noticed large swampy meadows with huge, gorgeous yellow flowers in bloom. No, not water lilies, skunk cabbage! These beautiful blossoms have such a vulgar name for good reason.
Living my life on the Canadian prairies and the semi-arid Montana foothills, I had no experience with skunk cabbage until the year my sister and I took our Mom to Washington on a Mother's Day trip. It was a big event, since we had to coax Mom a lot to convince her that she would enjoy the trip (she liked the familiarity and known comfort of home sweet home). We drove along I-90 and made it to the top of Snoqualmie Pass where we checked into a motel for our first evening. Exploring the area before dinner, my sister and I saw, down a steep embankment, beautiful huge yellow flowers. Risking life and limb, we tumbled down the embankment and cut off a big bouquet of these wildflowers for Mom. Mom was thrilled, truly. We took them back to the motel and she put them in a vase on her dresser. Then we went out for dinner.
Skunk cabbage really does not live up to its name until you cut it. It is skunk cabbage because it smells somewhat like each of its namesakes. Skunk. Cabbage.
When we came back to the room, the smell was horrific! Our mother was a very sweet person who couldn't bring herself to tell her daughters, who had picked these gorgeous looking things for her, to get rid of them. But we had no trouble taking it upon ourselves to say goodbye to Mom's Birthday Bouquet.
If coral bells line the fairy's path, I wonder what kind of a path skunk cabbage lines?
I have tried to create a spot just like this one below in my back yard (remember semi-arid Montana? -- not an easy look to create). Here the ferns and hostas are growing wild.
Here's the view after the climb. Was it worth it?
The beauty and awesomeness of nature in views like these fill my soul and I know I am in the right spot at the right moment.
As we hiked on down the beach, we rounded a corner that brought this view. Here was a perspective that was definitely worth seeking!
Here's a closeup.
I do not know what lighthouse we are looking at. Perhaps it is the Umpqua Lighthouse, it's in the right direction, but seems closer than I would have expected the Umpqua Lighthouse to be from my map.
Tomorrow is a new day.
1 comment:
Verla, I remember skunk cabbage from a field trip as a kid. Whew is it awful LOL. I really love the scenery you capture with your camera--you have a great eye of the beauty of nature.
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