Have you tried forest bathing? No, I don’t mean taking off your clothes and scaring the other hikers. 😆
For many years, humans have innately known what science proves in different ways over and over again. Nature is good for you on a deep level. Good for your eyes to stretch out to a distance greater than how far away from your face that you hold your phone. Good for your cardiovascular system to get pumping while hiking. And good for you in some as yet unmeasurable and intangible way. Or as I like to say, it is good for your soul. I really don’t think that there is a wrong way to forest bathe. For me, I take lots of big deep breaths. (good for your autonomic nervous system… alright, alright, I’ll stop!) When I find a striking spot, I will stop to appreciate it. And while I am terrible at sitting in a quiet room and observing my thoughts, I can sit and stare at nature and. just. be.
When I heard about a somewhat secretive (or at least not well known) double waterfall, I knew that I had to go. GPS coordinates in phone, I was off. And good thing I had those coordinates. There is zero chance I would have found it without them. I watched a YouTube video on how to find this trail to Pine Island Double Falls. The trail head was marked with a pile of stones lol fndkslngads guys, watch the first bit of my YouTube video to see just how overgrown the foilage around those stones was. I’m still dying any time I think of it. 😂
But I did manage to find it! And it had flooded a few days before so I was hopeful that there might be a decent stream. Alas (does anyone say that anymore? I really think it fits here) the trail was slick and muddy, but the falls were not quite the impressive downpour that I hoped. Still incredible though and absolutely worth the drive.
I was very lucky that I arrived late enough in the day that all other hikers were heading out and no one came in after. (People in Kentucky would say it was too hot, but my AZ 🌵 natives would think it was fine 😜) This gave me the chance to stop at several points in the trail to forest bathe, meditate, breathe, be. Whatever you want to call it.
What do you call it when the water level rises during flooding, and then lowers afterwards, getting fish stuck in little ponds? Well, I’m fairly certain that happened at the base of this waterfall. And if you tossed in a little bit of wood, all of the little fishes swarmed in looking for a snack. Pretty neat to watch! Hopefully they get their fill of bugs or the water level rises enough to get them where they need to go.
Fair warning, if you crawl around on mossy stones at the base of a waterfall or two, they are VERY slick. I probably looked pretty goofy crawling around on all fours, but after one near slip, I wasn’t going to risk it. 😯 But it is interesting that time seems to move differently at places like this. Getting caught up in the moment and realizing that an hour has passed is one of the reasons that I love places like this.
On the way out, something caught my eye. A little cave-ish thing 😂 I’m great with technical terms. You know me and rocks. I explored and felt so much creativity being there. Maybe it was because I had already given my brain a break from the daily worries and was just existing in the wonder of the moment and the beautiful surroundings.
A little bit covered in mud and hair full of leaves, I headed out, happy and content.
MoveMint Yoga 