From a trailhead, we hiked a little over a mile along winding paths. There we spied a lot of limestone fossils from ancient Cretaceous sea-beds, those shallow inland waters that covered much of this area so many millions of years past.
Clearly, we saw preserved patterns of ripples, what looked like worm tracks and even small mounds resembling stromatolites, those colonial humps created during prehistory by vast "civilizations" of cyanobacteria resembling blue green algae.
(I've created a new album on my Facebook page with more photos than I'll post here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1747250921 cut/paste this URL if you wish!)
At last we carefully descended a steep slope of broken rock to Gorman Falls. Yes, use the cable holds as needed!
Spring-fed cascades pour and shatter pure veils of whitewater down a cliff some sixty-five feet high, creating an unexpectedly lush cathedral of greenery and sheltered growth along the Colorado River. A delicious quiescent roaring soothes the brain and softens the edges of the soul…
At the bottom, fortunately there's a little viewing platform and cautions to visitors to protect the gorgeous mosses and ferns, plus fascinating formations of travertine visible amidst the falls. Soon, while Tomas and Shoshana took photos and tramped about a bit, I settled in to begin a two-page sketch, a wide vista of the enchanted place.
Above you see just the first few lines shortly after I began the sketch. I know we all felt the Magick of Nature strongly there--and toward the end before we started back…
…Tom caught me in a different spot, scribbling in my journal.
The spirit of the falls and the place spoke to me this way:
Allow the sound to dissolve all boundaries; allow your heart to know within you all your eyes SEE. Look with all three eyes beyond proportion and size. Return to the Center of Centers… within.
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