Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Lone Sentinel


I spent the morning with my dog Badger driving around on the snow covered backroads looking for interesting trees. Don't dogs make good traveling companions? They just sit there looking around quietly. Then they curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

My adventure started in the valley below where I live but I quickly realized I would have to get to a higher elevation as almost all the snow and frost had melted there. I immediately thought of one of my favorite drives out through the Sherwwod Valley and then back to the main highway on a narrow one lane gravel road. Perfect for my little beat up old throw away 4WD.

The Sherwood Valley used to be home to the Pomo Indians (Native Americans) and later it was home to a the small town of Sherwood complete with two lumber mills and a railroad and all. Not a single building remains of the original town. There is not a sign of it remaining. Outside of the townsite there is a very unusual house that was built about the same time though. It is a tall three story house built in an octagon shape. As such locals call it the "Octagon House".

As my fortune would have it the snow was melting before I found too many trees that I considered photo worthy. I was lucky to see a Golden Eagle on top of Sherwood Rock though when I entered the valley. The eagle stayed there the whole time I was in the valley. Log that one into the potential possible future photos memory bank.

Finally on one of the down grades heading down towards 101 I saw a tree perched all by its lonesome near the top of a ridge. I liked it because you could see broken limbs around it and see that it had weathered a lot to survive where it did. The sky still held a blue color behind it. I liked how the image turned out. It embodies that tough lone tree; the sentinel guarding the ridge.

God's light and love to all,

chris

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