I tread lightly along the land of the Makah Indian, searching for a clearing in the woods that would be the Shi Shi trailhead. The morning is ominous and gray. I feel like a person that is as lost as one can be.
I step into the forest and feel it enclose around me. I have no choice but to carry onward.
My reality shifts from this cruel earth to one of mysticism and enchantment. The warped branches of the ancient trees begin to move and take on new forms. I see the outline of great Makah Indian Kings and Warriors in the forest, yet their purpose for me is unclear.
I come to a rope that I use to descend the cliff that will take me to the ocean. I can hear the waves crashing in the distance, and the salty air is choking my nostrils. This last stretch of forest is the darkest yet, the foreboding tree warriors are everywhere, yet I am guided to a clearing that opens to the sandy beach.
Perhaps the forest has found me worthy, or more to the point, they see my demons within that need to be purged.
The next few miles are mine alone. I walk along the ocean in the morning fog, the occasional solitary crane turning its wary head my direction before going back to fishing for a meal. This path is mine to bear alone. I trudge along in the thick sand, letting the rhythm of the Pacific clear my thoughts as well as my lungs.
Just when I think I can go no further, the beginning of the world looms above the fog. The great rocks of creation here on Shi Shi beach. I can hear the mighty songs of God ringing down from the sky in a deafening roar. This is where all life begins, including my own.
“Have I died?”
The tide pools show hidden secrets that I explore, each one more existential than the last. For a spell I find that I’ve been given the key to the universe, and the discoveries of such knowledge enlighten and lift my spirit, like the rising tide.
Is life beyond a solo journey?
Inception takes one through the recesses of your own mind for you to discover truths about yourself that you may or may not want to see.
What has this place opened inside of me?
