A tall tale

---

It's early, as I bicycle away from Orr Hot Springs. It's also cold. Arriving into the valleys that contain ancient redwoods the frosty air that is 20 degrees below that 10 miles east of here is notable; especially when riding. I have the entirity of Montgomery Woods State Park to myself even though it is the weekend, and I make a pleasant morning of it. I climb the first steep hill, leaving my bicycle behind, and after a short walk I reach the grove, a thin expanse marking one of the last virgin redwood forests in the region. Trees dwarfing me, making me feel lonely yet simaltaneously whole. Nature abounds.

I take a hike later on above the grove to find a fence and a sign clearly stating, "No Trespassing", followed by a more vulgarly worded sign with a similar meaning. I leave my bag of picked mushrooms behind and sneak through the fence. The real hike begins. Repeling down a hill using a tube used to carry water down the mountain, avoiding prickly huckleberry bushes, I arrive to a strange establishment. Greg's house. A fellow I met at Orr Hot Springs. He has no TV, no phone service, and sure as heck no internet. But I tell you what he had: huckleberry jam. Or as I like to call it.....Super-blueberry-tasty-stuff on toast.

I walk down the driveway parting from Greg's to go find my bicycle intact where I left it, helmet and all. It's silent still, but the temperature is bearable, so my gloves and scarf are off. I move on down the road and make it barely a mile when Bev, the woman working at the horse sanctuary nearby(http://themystichorsechronicle.wordpress.com/), passes by me in her hybrid, and stops. We ride back to each other, and agree to both head back to town Ukiah. Buckling my bicycle into the trunk and moving on we shoot back to town.

---

Photos

Inside the temple
Yes, that would be 10,000 Buddhas along the wall.