The Winding Northward Road

by Rambling Writer

Day 58

This.

Place.

Is.

BEAUTIFUL.

I swear, this valley perhaps the most gorgeous land I’ve passed through on my trip. It’s not even all that big, but I didn’t get all the way through it today because I kept stopping and spending all my time going, “Wow! Look at that! Wow! Look at THAT!” over and over and over again.

Because, wow, it’s just… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s beyond picturesque is what it is. You’ve got these big peaks rising up on either side of it, with all these unusual shapes. Like, one of them doesn’t even really have slopes like other mountains, at least not on the valley side; it’s just got this great big sheer WALL sticking up out of the ground and rising to a top that’s practically flat. It looks impossible to climb, but I’m pretty sure some ponies have gone ahead and climbed it anyway.

And then there are all these waterfalls. And they’re not like normal waterfalls, no, these spill out over cliffs and into the air, sometimes getting whipped away by the wind before they can hit the ground. They come out of these sort of elevated valleys in mountainsides, and it looks like they’re going pretty fast when they go over the cliffs. I can see three or four of them from where I am right now, and I saw lots more when I was walking today.

And I haven’t even gotten to the valley floor yet. There are trees, lots and lots of trees, but there are also plenty of streams winding their way through the forests, slowly joining up to a big river. They’re all over the place; I followed one of them partway up stream and was soon clambering up a steep slope, over rocks and debris as the stream itself rushed through a little rut it had carved. They must all come down from high up in the mountains; kind of wonder why SO MANY of them are here.

There’s lots of vegetation beneath the trees, too, most of it edible, and the edible stuff is yummy. Berries, ferns, bushes, it’s like a buffet out here. I tried a little bit of everything, and now I’ve got a massive stomach ache from all the stuff I ate. Not sick, just completely stuffed. Worth it, though. Totally worth it.

Honestly, if I was told that I couldn’t leave this valley and I was stuck here for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t mind all that much. I’d prefer to get things sorted out Lareindo first, but I could see myself living here. Haven’t met anypony else, which is a bit of a surprise, so I’d prefer maybe a bit more company, but other than that, this place is like heaven.

Sadly, I have to leave it behind tomorrow and get back into the desert, where everything’s hot and dry and brown and boring. I kind of want to stay here a little more, but I should get going. Maybe later. I wonder what this place looks like in the winter.

If I had to give grades to this place,

There’d be utterly nothing but A’s.

This place so calm,

That although it’s not long,

You feel every inch of its space.

I want to just stop and stay here;

That thought in my mind is quite clear.

But I have to move on,

So I cannot stay long;

Maybe some other year.

Last line is a bit iffy on the syllables, but it’s the best I got. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow, so maybe that has something to do with it.

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[j-grizz]

Equestrian Yosemite, watch out for bears.