fear overcome

[piranha]

ye olde logge

i took such cool pictures today, i don't know which to post. first i went to hazelwood herb farm, and i have wasabi plants! the real thing! i am so excited about that. also, i saw an entire meadow of shooting stars, which was just amazing.

but what i give you instead is "fear overcome".

as i mentioned before i am a bit phobic of falling. i don't have the greatest balance to start with (i might fail that drunk driving test where one has to walk in a straight line). i could never ever do the balance beam in school gymnastics. and i don't cross creeks on slippery logs.

well, today i crossed a swamp on a moss-covered log. mind, i didn't walk on it, i went on my hands and knees. but i did it, 15 meters of near-terror.

it's all the fault of my GPS toy -- it gets me to go off the beaten path and makes me venture into places where, once there, i'll be darned if i simply backtrack, no, i go whacking through the bush in the direction of my start point (which always gives me renewed respect for the natives and pioneers who came through here originally without any paths). except this time i knew there was water between me and that start point, since i had crossed said water over a beaver dam (also a bit precarious, but hey, i am daring these days). i was hoping for another beaver dam, or some narrow, shallow crossing where maybe i could throw rocks in to cross.

no such luck. it got swampier and swampier. also later and later, so backtracking became less of an option because the light would be failing me. so i eyed -- with misgivings -- the trees that had fallen across the water/swamp, and picked one. which, even though it crossed at more of an angle and with an upslope, seemed the sturdiest of the lot. i considered walking across for about 3 seconds and gave up on that idea. so down on hands and knees i went and carefully made my way across. halfway my kneecaps claimed they wanted to fall off, but i talked them out of it. and (since i am here to tell of it) i made it, despite the far shore trying to prevent me from landing by being extremely steep.

the picture was taken before clambering off the log and onto the shore, while i glommed onto a sturdy branch of a shore tree with one hand, and sorta aimed the camera backwards, releasing the shutter without seeing the picture. the tilt makes it look about as dangerous as it felt to me, even though in actuality of course the world did not tilt over. :)

walklog:

05-01 yellow point park, ladysmith bog eco preserve, 5.03 km 3:01. shooting stars! gazillions of them! also the first camas of the season.