Nature’s Inspiration

Nurturing a bond with nature is the path of a well-lived life. Riches come pouring in. As Claude Monet says, “The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.”

The number of hikes equals the number of memorable experiences; nature never disappoints. A hike I took to the Alamere Falls served as inspiration for my short story “The Trail.”

“She was disappointed in herself, but it was simple, they just turned back, and on the way back, they spotted, drawn in the soils, an arrow pointing to the trail they needed to walk to reach the waterfalls. About as soon as they took it, they heard the melody of the waters, and they heard the voices of people, who had come for the waterfalls, and who were so filled by the joy of them that they felt the need to shout praise over them.”

The National Park Services describes the place as follows:

“Alamere Falls is a beautiful waterfall deep within the Phillip Burton Wilderness. The falls are a dramatic sight as water cascades over a ~40-foot-tall (~12 m) cliff onto the south end of Wildcat Beach. While no easy trek—a 13-mile (20 km) minimum round-trip hike is required — this spectacular spot is a popular visitor draw.”