Snow Creek
My week in the forest by the river, was a still, quiet time. Trailers, SUV’s and campers came and went from the spaces around me. Occasionally one of the many stone fire rings would have a flame within it’s circle. But for the most part, I was alone. Seated in my van with my hopes and things all tucked back away for the realm of uncertainty.
The first day, I sat in stillness, trying to tell myself I had a reason to exist.
The second day, I sat in the ferns and thought, what if I don’t? Reason to exist or no, I appear to be here. And, so I shall seemingly do so until I don’t. But just because I don’t have a reason for existing, doesn’t’ mean I’m not allowed to sit here in the forest, and exist in these spaces.
The remaining days I spent reading, applying for jobs, and learning how to float in the cosmic unknown. Stony roads, mossy trees, a small rapid in the frigid teal waters I camped beside. It was calm, quiet, a space to hear myself think. It was a safe, quiet spot nestled alongside the highway 4 near the Taylor Arm swimming hole and rest stop. The time was tranquil, healing, and much needed stillness.
But I was still glad when I landed a job. Not in Tofino, as I had hoped, but on Pender Island.
I drove Valentina across the island in a single day, even catching the 7pm ferry from Shwartz Bay to Otter Bay. Odysseus curled up in the overhead storage, wide eyed at the bumps and turns. over-caffination and stimulation left me feeling quite jittery as I navigated the narrow, winding roads to Brooks Point. A remote, rugged series of cliffs overseen by a lighthouse at the base of South Pender Island.
The view was just as I had remembered. Overwhelming. I almost didn’t want to look, because I knew once I glanced at those wandering trails and rolling hills, I’d want to walk along them for an hour or more, feeling the long dry grasses between my fingertips or the smooth cool stones under my feet. With the sight of a sea otter giving me a feeling of good luck, I closed my curtains on the large red and white “NO camping or overnight parking” sign to ignore it better, and went off to sleep.
