Last week, I attended the New York Conference (UCC) annual meeting held at the Silver Bay Conference Center on Lake George. There’s plenty from the meeting I could reflect on. Maybe I will after I’ve had more time to digest it all. But for now, I’d rather write about where I walked. There’s no way I’m going into the Adirondacks without hiking somewhere. This time was no exception.
On the way up, I made the short but steep ascent up Echo Cliff on Panther Mountain, overlooking Piseco Lake. It was late enough in the afternoon that the sun did not wash out the commanding view to the south. The blue water against the spring green foliage was breathtaking. Perhaps the best part of that short hike, however, was
when I found other trails leaving the outcrop back into the woods. I decided to follow one of these paths and
discovered it ended at a campsite. But along the way, I spotted my favorite wildflower – the pink ladyslipper, in bloom only briefly from late May to mid-June, and (based on my experience) only at elevations of 2,000-3,000 feet. Several ladyslippers stood erect, each proudly exhibiting its single unusual flower that looks to me like a pair of ballet slippers placed sole to sole. I think I spent more time contemplating those flowers than I did the view of the lake and the surrounding hills.
After leaving the conference meeting two days later, I drove an hour north and hiked up Hurricane Mountain from Route 9N near Keene. My whole family climbed this peak 11 years ago when we were on a camping trip, but it is now a different journey. Last fall, ADK volunteers cut a new trail that bypasses steep, eroded sections of the old trail and also traverses two outcrops with wide vistas before reaching the summit. The trail is now .8 miles longer than it used to be (3.4 miles one way ascending 2,000 feet), but not nearly so difficult.
Adirondack peaks are often named for people (Marcy, Colvin, Phelps, Wright, Hopkins, etc.) or how they appear (Giant, Sawteeth, Roostercomb, the Wolfjaws, and Saddleback, for instance). Hurricane is named for conditions on top. Verplank Colvin, one of the first surveyors of the Adirondack region, had the summit cleared of trees so he could use it as an observation post. So, hikers are nearly always greeted with stiff, hurricane-like winds.
The weather was beautiful on the day of my hike. The sky was nearly free of clouds and temps were in the high 60s. On the rocky open summit, a couple of sudden gusts were so strong I had to balance myself, but the winds were mostly and uncharacteristically calm. The views (considered by most to be among the best in the high peaks region, even though Hurricane is 306 feet short of being one of the 46 peaks over 4,000 in elevation) are enthralling. No matter which direction you look – toward Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains of Vermont to the east, the hulking Giant Mountain system to the south, the interior of the high peaks including Marcy to the south and west, Whiteface Mountain to the northwest, or the Jay Mountain Range to the north – you are treated to fascinating contours and spectacular vistas. It’s one of those peaks you just don’t want to leave.
So my Adirondack excursion included the close examination of ladyslippers and the 360-degree view from an open summit. Both were beautiful and fascinating. What is true of God’s creation is true of all life. To fully appreciate its blessings and beauty, we must be mindful of both the particulars right in front of us and the bigger picture all around us. God is both transcendent and immanent; high over all things yet in all things. God sees the universe as one whole, but also sees each of us in our own uniqueness. And as we grow in faith, our spiritual vision allows us to behold the sacred up close and far away.
©2015 by J. Mark Lawson
Nice descriptions, and learned a new word--immanent--which I had to look up.
Posted by: Tom Minion | 06/12/2015 at 12:07 AM