A Walk in the Forest

Saturday the weather was dismal. Indoors all day. Kids were stir crazy. I hit the gym for a couple hours. Half soaked between the van and the door. That was my outdoors time. Dismal.

That night I told my wife that we would be going outdoors Sunday come hell or high water (seemed the high water was much more likely). It wasn't raining Sunday, just threatening. After dragging them kicking and screaming from video game and television, we bundled the kids appropriately and headed for the forest.

Golden Ears Provincial Park is a short drive and within a half hour of our departure we were feet on trail. My five year old son set the pace, his stride a quarter of mine. He meandered all over, determined to climb everything in sight.

Soon, the canopy engulfed us. The smell was wonderful. Always is in the forest after a rain. We started seeing pictures. The camera came out. Light and composition forming images in an alien landscape far removed from the everyday. We worked quickly, faced with impatient little people.

The quality of light in the forest is dreamy. The light. The shadow. The texture. The form. The lines.

It was therapeutic. It was thirty minutes from home. It was cloudy. Threatening. So easy to stay home and dry and warm and safe. So thankful that we chose not to. Instead we headed into the rainforest and it was a reminder that from that rain we tend to curse comes a beauty that most will never know. We know, and we're determined to pass that appreciation down to our children.

We live in British Columbia, and it is a beautiful place. Rain or shine.