A Child’s Secret Paradise

I dedicate this piece to a very close and dear Scotland friend.
I had scoured every nook and cranny of Shadow Mountain in Sunland, but what I discovered that day in the summer of 1970 made me realize I had only scratched a small part of the mountain.
The winding trail was chocked with thorny chaparral. Part of the trail was smooth ground; then it would turn rocky. The sun was fire licking at my skin as I climbed up through the thorny bushes. Nearing the top of the trail there were mammoth boulders surrounded by a raft of yucca plants with their upright clusters of snowy white bell shaped flowers bathing in the sun. I didn’t think I would be able to go much further, but when I got closer there was a small animal trail winding around the side of the boulders. When I came around the top of the boulders there was a meadow with reeds hip high. The reed was a brilliant emerald green that swayed lazily in the breeze. The meadow was splashed with radiant colors of wildflowers. Gnarly Ponderosa Pines reached up to a pearly blue canopy their branches hung heavy with pine cones. I continued walking along the trail through the meadow. Little field mice scurried for cover under decayed logs, long eared jack rabbits hopped into the meadow grass.
At the end of the meadow was something like a forest enormous red oaks stood as living guardians at the gateway through the forest. I entered with a reverence, I could feel goose bumps on my arms and legs, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up on end. Never had I seen such beauty, luscious green grass mixed with white flowered clover covered the pungent wet soil. Every kind of pine tree that I could name was flourishing in this wonderland, the smell of the sap made me think of Christmas. Pines weren’t the only trees thriving in that haven. There were eucalyptus trees with their strong musky oil smells from the leaves, and many oak trees that grew in this haven too. The trees were so close together in some spots that the sun just sparkled through like moon beams. The trees were alive with delicate song birds with voices of wind chimes floating around me. Flowers grew in wild abundance in every color imaginable a paint brush must have been flung in every direction to make such beauty. They grew in bunches along the stream and were everywhere I looked.
The ground covering alternated from soft wet grass to pine needle beds. My moccasins were soaked with mud oozing between my toes-it felt deliciously cold and soothing. A gentle trickling brook sprinkled with sycamore and scrub oak trees came from a treasured source above. I started climbing over logs and rocks, because the soft trickle of water had become a gushing sound. As I climbed my shirt and jean shorts were getting soaked, but it was worth it when I finally made it to the top. There in the middle of paradise was innocent elegance.
My skin felt the coolness of sprays of water as I stood on the top of the rock foundation. I wondered how a pond with a water fall got there, but then as I watched- it really didn’t make a difference. The pond was luminous; I could see the bottom where beautiful stones covered it. Water lilies floated with large flat leaves. They had beautiful pink and white flowers and their fragrance was as exotic as the paradise they grew in. A weeping willow tree grew next to the pond like a huge umbrella. The branches were bent so low, it was almost as if they were paying homage. Mountain laurel with its perfusion of dark purple berries grew on both sides of the waterfall; the water intensified their shinny leafs. The cascading water hit with a pounding swirl and behind the fall was a large flat rock. It’s funny, but it reminded me of a throne. I had wild fantasies of a king coming out to take place among the floral wilderness. He would just sit on his watery throne and keep his kingdom safe.
A deer was drinking from one of the streams that ran from the pond. I could see her pink tongue lapping at the water; her soft brown eyes showed no sign of fear. We looked at each other with friendship, and then she turned around and walked away. The trees were alive with the chattering of squirrels as they scampered along the branches, stopping every now and then. They used their front paws to eat and then wash their faces.
I watched the animals for a while, but the water looked so good that I took off my mud-soaked moccasins and dove in the pond. I sliced through the water, making my body tingle from the coldness as I swam over to the waterfall and climbed up onto the flat rock behind the fall. The stone was hard and slick against my backside and legs. I sat there with my eye closed, smelling the spicy pines and the exotic floral fragrance that engulfed me. I listened to the swirling gurgles of water gushing as it ran off into the stream. The song birds’ sweet sounds filled the wilderness with peacefulness.
From that day forth I returned many times to this one place that made me feel at peace and helped discovered the best part of me. Each time was beautiful, but none ever compared to what God had created for my first experience in my secret paradise.