"On the banks, on both sides of the river, 

there will grow all kinds of trees for food....

Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing" 

Ez 47:12

When we were hiking Stairway to Heaven a few weeks ago, a good hiking buddy pointed out a plant at the side of that trail that I hadnt taken notice of before. (thats odd of me...for I love the flora and fauna of the desert.) Im so grateful that she stopped to have us take note of the Yerba Santa plant...for I have learned something new and interesting here!! Lynette knew that it had medicinal qualities...so I 'googled' it and found a plethora of information on this little wonder of a plant.

Here is what I learned:

Yerba Santa – named “holy weed” by early Spanish priest because of its medicinal properties.

Here is a most interesting description of this plant-

“Yerba Santa is an exceptional member of the Waterleaf Family (Hydrophyllaceae) Most of these varieties of plant grow in cool, moist habitats, indicating a strong relationship to the watery element. Yerba Santa also has a relationship with water, although in an opposite way. With its tough, resinous leaves, it holds and conserves its water from the inside to meet the intense fire of its environment. This quality helps us to understand the medicinal use of Yerba Santa as a regulator of the water element. Yerba Santa coats the mucous membranes and holds the aqueous component in contact with the cells, reestablishing mucopolysaccharides. As such, it is an excellent herbal remedy for chronic respiratory ailments, used as an expectorant used to treat coughs and congestion, as well as aiding in loosening and expelling phlegm. It dilates bronchial tubes, and thus is used to ease asthma and allergy attacks. A tea, tincture or syrup is typically made from the leaves, sometimes including the flowers, or as a smoke from the leaves.” via 

(Lynette said that a brother-in-law of hers even quit smoking with the help of this plant. )

Unlike many medicinal herbs, yerba santa actually has a pleasant taste. It has been used as food flavoring and in cough syrups to disguise the bad taste of other ingredients.

The Lord said He would provide. Isnt it amazing that such a non-descript little plant can be full of such wonders and cures?! Remarkable!!

I've been thinking about books on hiking.

And only one has come to mind right now.

I read this haunting story many years ago, but it is still vivid in my mind.

When I try  describing this book to friends and family, the first words that come out of my mouth are, "you will never look at or appreciate your feet more after having read this story based on the true life of Mary Ingles Wilder."

spoiler alert!!!

Mary Ingles, is living on the frontier during the French and Indian War.  Indians raid her settlement taking her sister-in-law, two sons, a gentleman, and herself captive.  They travel from West Virginia clear to a spot near present-day Cincinnati, Ohio.  On the way she gives birth to a little girl and earns the respect of one of the chiefs.  She also tries to memorize the trip in case she gets a chance to escape.

Once at the Indian settlement, she makes friends with a sturdy Dutch woman that has just run the gauntlet.  Mary is taken, with some others including the Dutch woman, to a salt lick to gather salt.  During the autumn days spent there she and the Dutch woman escape.  Regarded as lost, they are not followed.  Since she had paid attention on her trip into the wilds, Mary knew that she must follow the river.  With only a hatchet and two blankets, Gretel and Mary travel along the Ohio and New Rivers.  The book supplies a map of their trip.

Mary's one driving force is her love for Will, her husband.  She must get back to Will.  Gretel's goal is food, which leads to trouble for Mary.  Mary's persistence and single-mindedness and just plain guts get her through horrible conditions and depravation.  She and Gretel almost starve to death, but they do make it back--even through snow.

We think we know how to hike.

I Know I would not have survived this ordeal...no matter how much coral dust I've gathered between my toes!!

Follow the River is a 5 star read as far as Im concerned!!

Give it a try!!!

“How can you explain that you need to know that the trees

 are still there,and the hills and the sky? Anyone knows they

 are. How can you say it is time your pulse responded to 

another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead

 of the hour and the minute? No, you cannot explain. So you walk.”

-- Author unknown

This morning we did something new.  New is always fun and adventurous. When its new...5 miles feels like 3 or 4, (despite the sand).  New brings more possibilities.  Learning one new hike this morning now means we can change up two or three of our 'regular' hikes with new variations.  I love new trails.  Im grateful to Kendell for sharing this with us, and to Cheryl for the great pictures. My camera died this morning when going for my first shot! dang!

CALIFORNIA QUAIL (Callipepla californica)

• The California Quail is a highly sociable bird that often gathers in small flocks known as “coveys”.
• One of their daily communal activities is a dust bath. A group of quail will select an area where the ground has been newly turned or is soft, and using their underbellies, will burrow downward into the soil some one to two inches. They then wriggle about in the indentations they have created, flapping their wings and ruffling their feathers, causing dust to rise in the air.
• They seem to prefer sunny places in which to create these dust baths.
• An ornithologist is able to detect the presence of quail in an area by spotting the circular indentations left behind in the soft dirt, some 7–15 cm (3-6 inches) in diameter.

"In the American Southwest, I began a lifelong love affair with a pile of rock." 

-- Edward Abbey

My Sojourns magazine arrive this week in the mail!!!
I love this publication!!  Everything about this periodical is divine. The feel of the paper on which it is printed and the photography it contains is all beautiful and ??unique and beyond compare. Even the weight of it in my hands is perfection!!! The graphic design is eye-catching and the essays are always thought-provoking and enthralling!! Im just sorry it only comes a few times a year!!!

This printing is all about "portals."
Im sure you're asking as I did, what "portals" have to do with National Parks and preservation and natural history......
Well... it goes something like this-
the very first article is a strange and diabolical thing about the sun and life on Mars and, strangely enough, also about desert varnish. (a distinct black coating on our rocks in this area...it looks as though the  rocks have been burnt on the surface)

The sun: a portal of life
Mars: is there life?
desert varnish: what is life?

Did you know that the sun has PMS on a celestial scale?!!  Our glorious sun powers down, looses it zeal and its umph at times, so to speak. (and...nobody can tell it to snap out of it!!!) The sun is cyclic too!!!
Next the article asks us to  think about the ancient Anasazi and the Hopi and Navajo nations who were and are highly concerned with all things celestial and whom are cognizant of what goes on in the heavens.
And then comes the interesting and fascinating segway into having us think about the phenomenon of desert varnish.   It is on these silky brownish black surfaces that the Anasazi  'wrote' or pecked away on to communicate and leave messages.  Some folks believe as Michaelangelo did, that the Indian nations were there to 'let the story out' of the stone, for the world to see.
We are asked to think about the ever present question- "what is life?"


"If the tiny life forms associated with desert varnish have the "know-how"--
the genetic ability and chemical wisdom- to survive extreme environments,
who's to say they arent intelligent in their own mysterious way?  In an era
in which biological studies regularly reveal marvelous new layers of 
existence (plants can think and remember! Slime molds can solve a maze!),
clearly we have a lot to learn about both "life" and "intelligence."  For
looking at the worlds around us, curiosity has always been our wisest portal."
-Maria Melendez
Sojourn Magazine

So...maybe there is "life" on Mars as well??



Please become a friend of Zion National Park, and then you too can enjoy this semi-annual stellar publication!!

These amazing Anasazi writings are in my "own back yard!!!"