Photos of the Yurok Loop Trail - Wetland near the Klamath River in Northern California - and Photos of the Golden Bear on the Klamath River Bridge on Highway 101

Formerly a Lumber Mill storage pond.

After they closed the lumber mill in the 1940's,
the park service let this pond return to nature.

Klamath River Bridge and Highway 101 in Northern California... YUROK Nation on the North Side of this Bridge... Cheaper Gas Since They Don't Pay State of California Taxes... They are NOT a part of the State of California... They are their own Country.

It seems to me that driving can be a meditation awareness tool. Today I was really focused on the sound of the engine, alignment of the wheels and gear changing. Before I left I checked the oil and added a quart. So I was listening for the valve chirping I heard last week. I also put air in all 4 tires so I was paying attention to the steering and if the van tended to drive to the right... or the left...
AND I was staying on the road, avoiding head on collisions with the logging trucks and watching for unexpected slowdowns. Three times there were One Lane Roads with a flagman and a lead car... Not only do I have to stop in time but all those people behind me had to also.

So, I believe that driving can be used as an Idea Factory.

I'm not alone in this belief. Robert Pirsig wrote
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance about this.

and Bob Seger sang "your mind goes wandering when you're riding sixteen hours and there's nothing else to do" in the song "Turn the Page"...


Links to National Park Service Trail Guides for Northern California Coastal Trails...  http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hiking-trails-north.htm

http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/coastal-trail-sections.htm

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yurok+Loop+Trail/@41.594556,-124.0997769,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x54d059faa3875011:0x350778962b0a9c06?hl=en

"The Daily Miracle of Food." from That Great Book "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck... The Main Characters Often Give Thanks for...

"The Daily Miracle of Food." They had Random Employment and So Earning Enough Money to Eat Was NOT Guaranteed... Somehow... Every Day... They Got Enough to Live One More Day...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortilla_Flat

The Reason I Remembered this Story is that One of my Housemates Died Yesterday.  However, You and I Survived... Fantastic! She was a Very Old Lady and Her Last Week on Earth Was VERY Painful. It Seems Like a Blessing for Her to Finally Die and Stop Suffering. She Had Dementia and The Main Symptom Was That She Was Afraid All The Time. Imaginary Dangers Threatened Her. Our Care Givers Would TRY To Calm Her Down and Explain That She Was in NO Danger... She Was Surrounded by Gentle People That Loved Her But... She Still Was Anxious All the Time... 

I Live in an Assisted Living Facility With Six Residents and Three Care Givers. I Have Seen Many People Die... It Sure Has a Way of Focusing My Attention... I'm Grateful For Every Single Day... Especially Because... NOW... I'm In Good Health... When I First Moved Here i Had to Walk With a Walker... Then I Exercised Every Day and Eventually I Could Just Walk, Unassisted... NOT FAR but About One City Block or Maybe Two... I Still Go For a Walk... Not Every Day But Maybe Every Other Day... It Get's TOO HOT Outdoors in the Afternoon, so I Try To Walk Right After Breakfast... Three Cups of Coffee and I'm Ready to March... 

Bill W. Invented Alcoholics Anonymous on a Psychedelic Trip. "The Belladonna Cure" - Two drugs - Henbane and Belladonna

Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) had his spiritual awakening while undergoing this treatment. He never drank again.
Wilson's description of his experience: "All at once I found myself crying out, "If there is a God, let Him show himself! I am ready to do anything, anything! Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. I was caught up in an ecstasy which there are no words to describe. It seemed to me in my mind's eye, that I was on a mountain and that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man. Slowly the ecstasy subsided. I lay there on the bed, but now for a time I was in another world, a new world of consciousness... and I thought to myself, "So this is the God of the preachers!" A great peace stole over me."

http://www.amazon.com/Alcoholics-Anonymous-Comes-Age-History/dp/091685602X

The Belladonna Cure:
The formula for Towns-Lambert cure was the deliriant, Atropa belladonna, also called deadly nightshade. The effects of belladonna include delirium, hallucinations, light sensitivity, confusion, and dry mouth. The second ingredient in the mixture was another deliriant, Hyoscyamus niger, also known as henbane, hog's bean, or insane root. It contained two alkaloids, hyoscyamine and hyoscine. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._Towns

Bill Wilson, Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous was VERY Excited about the use of LSD in treating Alcoholism... Then he had Second Thoughts...

He started AA because of a Psychedelic Experience where he met GOD personally by taking Belladonna and Henbane on a five day guided Trip... He saw a Mystical White Light and was given the Fundamental Idea of AA...in 1935... Then 20 Years Later... He tried LSD and thought it would be really great if everyone met GOD personally...

In 1955, came to believe that LSD was a way to allow that meeting to happen... Many AA members were having trouble with the step where you needed to believe that a "Higher Power" could restore your Sanity. Especially members that did not believe in God... Bill felt that LSD could introduce people to a Higher Power DIRECTLY...

Sort of like having God's Phone Number, Dialing the Phone and Handing it to the AA member...

Then on second thought... Bill realized that the AA program was working just fine as it was and there was NO NEED TO FIX SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT BROKEN.

Then use of LSD became just another "Outside Issue" that AA had no opinion on... [Tradition 10]
And this turned out to be a wise choice...

https://aaagnostica.org/2015/05/10/bill-wilsons-experience-with-lsd/

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/23/lsd-help-alcoholics-theory

One Great Idea at AA is You CHOOSE YOUR OWN GOD... OR... Lack of God... 

So Many Different Gods... and So Many Believers Loudly Proclaim that THEIR God is the One True God. That's Absurd! I, like 100% of the people on Earth HAVE NO CLUE if God is real or not.

Some people state that they know... but they are just deluding themselves... I don't mind them deluding themselves, but if they Kill people that are of different Religions... They are Crazy and Dangerous.  

Here is An Examination of My Beliefs... 

GOD = Group of Drunks

I do pray... I may not believe in God but what if God believes in me? I often send prayers for good health to the people who are sick. If God is Real, he reads my email... and the people who get the email feel better...

I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior in 1976. If Christianity turns out to be the correct Religion, I'm Saved! I was living with my first ex-wife and she was interested in me becoming a Baptist and I was interested in sex with her so... I went forward at a meeting, accepted Christ, joined the choir and then got bored with it all... we rarely attended. I did like Communion... It's a make believe Vampire, Cannibal Cult! Pretend to drink a persons BLOOD and Eat a persons BODY... OOOH! That's Creepy! But FUN!

However, I much later I did become addicted to crack cocaine and when I wanted to stop I went to a Baptist Church and gave my addiction to Jesus, and never smoked crack again. That evening I went to the Pink Floyd "concert" called "Welcome to the Machine" and that helped also because it gave me something to distract my attention while I was suffering thru the withdrawal symptoms. Another time I went to the Presbyterian Church founded by Annie Bidwell in Chico and prayed that God would find my friends a JOB... and later that week both Manuel and Victoria were employed. A miracle...  Not only that but if I ever stub my toe or hit my thumb with a hammer I shout out JESUS!

When I joined Alcoholics Anonymous I was introduced to the concept of a "Higher Power" helping me with my addiction. The "Higher Power" that worked for me was The "Group of Drunks" an acronym GOD... We were supposed to seek guidance thru prayer and meditation. However I always got Nothing from Prayer or Meditation. ZERO. The Group did help and I stopped drinking alcohol. Remember, Bill Wilson invented Alcoholics Anonymous while tripping on Belladonna and Henbane. Both POWERFUL Hallucinogens. He saw the "White Light" and had a vision of God. Me TOO! Me TOO! LSD, DMT, Peyote and Magic Mushrooms all give you a vision of God. I do like AA so Bill's Trip was a great help to mankind.

If the Hindus or Buddhists are right I'm set to reincarnate as a human or better because I've lead a good life. I have NOT killed any people but have eaten a few hamburgers... I love Bacon too... Oh Well... Maybe I'll come back as a Cow... and then a Hamburger myself...

If the Mormons are right, I'm not in luck. I liked meeting the Mormon people in Utah, they were very friendly and helpful but I just can't believe that God is an Extraterrestrial... Moroni from a star in the constellation Orion... Not very likely to be true.

However, maybe the "Ancient Alien" theorists are right. There sure is a lot of really strange evidence of Alien Visitation... For Example: Why did Mexicans, Cambodians and Egyptians all build Pyramids? What is their purpose? Did they have Alien Help?

If Islam is correct I'm screwed... But then, their Religion JUST SUCKS.

I like THOR... Valhalla I am coming. Led Zeppelin "Immigrant Song"
 https://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/vikingkittens

I have a few members of my family that are Jewish and I think that on Judgement day they will let me in. I've been nice to them and that's important in a world where some people put them in gas chambers and kill them.

Of COURSE, Gaia makes a lot of sense. I can really relate to the fact that all plants and animals are brothers and sisters... I really GROK this idea when I'm in a Redwood Forest. I lived on the edge of a second growth forest for 15 years and I "owned" a specific tree in Eureka. I sat on it daily and smoked cigarettes... I sat on it more often that anyone else so it's MY TREE and I'm It's Human. I will share that tree with our cat Meadow as she liked it too.

Then there are the Goddess Religions... Thankfully, I've met a couple of Goddesses and I sure am glad. One was nicknamed "Nature Nurse". She became my Second Ex-Wife.
Another was Ja-Kay R. from Chico. We played the drums in a band in Paradise, California  and performed "Miserlou" at the Farmers market in downtown Chico. A beautiful Blond Nordic Goddess.
Another was a GURU/Teacher named Sonya Sophia who lead a group healing seminar at the Utah Rainbow Gathering. I also bought admission to her weekly internet sessions where we studied "Tapping" a self-help Acupressure technique... I did that for about a year and learned as much as she could teach. "I Love and Accept Myself"

Rastafarians? Sure, I've smoked a lot of reefer... I can play reggae music... it's got ONE CHORD! Easy but I find it boring even when I'm stoned. Cannabis Psychosis is REAL. If you smoke every day you remain stoned even if you don't smoke... You stay stoned for about a month... and I saw things that were not there but I believed that they were... Difficult to take care of business when I'm THAT Stoned...

Pastafarians? - The Flying Spaghetti monster is a good joke.

The Church of the Subgenius? OK, another good joke.

I'm a registered Minister in the Universal Life Church. Why Not?

Scientology? No thanks, that "E-Meter" is BOGUS science and I know enough about electrical engineering to see that the great OZ is just a man behind a curtain... It's a GREAT religion for L. Ron Hubbard but not for any of the followers.

Timothy Leary and LSD? Ultimately it was disappointing and just an amusing ride... No more meaning than a good roller coaster...

Ram Dass? He took a lot of LSD and then went all the way to India to find a GURU... Then he learned to "BE HERE NOW" from a 6 foot 7 inch surfer from Laguna Beach. He could have saved a lot of time wasted on air travel if he had just gone surfing in California FIRST and Ignored the Indians... but he writes great books...

Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead... Fun to dance to rock music on LSD. However it all has the creepy feeling that it was just an experiment in the CIA Project MKULTRA. What IF we dosed millions of people Nationwide? Would that be useful as a Weapon of War? Make the enemy too stoned to fight?

Surfing as a religion? Yes, that makes sense. Or to put it more simply, doing what you love to do as a way of life... Playing the ukulele or throwing pottery or oil painting or computer programming or dancing or bicycle riding or snow skiing or camping or taking photographs or ... etc etc etc... Yes there is a bliss when a person is doing something they love and are totally focused... TIME itself seems to pass more rapidly... I have experience this myself while programming graphic arts... Suddenly hours have passed while I was "in the zone".

A Christian fellow was giving a lecture at Humboldt State University one time and he said that there was only ONE WAY to go to Heaven, Jesus. He said that you couldn't find God by Mountain Climbing OR Drugs... What he forgot to mention was finding God by Mountain Climbing AND Drugs. BOTH! at the same time! It's not an either/or question... I have hiked to the top of El Capitan in Yosemite on LSD and I"m really glad I did...  He also said that Premarital Sex was a SIN. Like, BAD and you shouldn't do it. What an Idiot. I bet that attitude prevented him from getting laid.

Once I read a book called "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz and there was a lot of Toltec Wisdom there.

Another Book Series: "The Teachings of Don Juan" by Carlos Castaneda... Yaqui Indian Brujo Wisdom

I've played the Father Drum with Native Americans and THAT was "Big Medicine"...

"The Temple of the Screaming Electron" and Digital Immortality. Ray Kurzweil plans to  upload your entire Brain to the Internet and Living forever in the cloud.  I'm working on that too with my Blog by typing almost every event in my entire life and every opinion I've ever held...

So, if you don't like your God simply FIRE him and Write your own Religion!

Read more of my Autobiography at: http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

For Global Climate Strike Day, I Took a Hike Down By The Creek in My Neighborhood - NO DRIVING NEEDED - Oh The Place I'll GO! With a Brain in My Head and Shoes on my FEET!

And then Chat Forbes Said on Facebook:
Greta Thunberg!! Way to go, from one person to the biggest world wide environmental protest in the history of Planet Earth!!!!
You old fuddy duddies flat-earthers who don’t believe in climate change, get your asses out of the way, my kids and grand kids need to live and take care of this mess we’re leaving them.
If climate change is a hoax (don’t think so), at least we’ll have cleaner air, earth & water: that’s nothing but a good thing!!!
I don’t know if people of my era remember, but coming back from Santa Cruz into the Santa Clara Valley was like dropping into a brown purple haze caused from all the pollution in the 1960’s. I personally don’t want to return to that period of toxic air if the powers that be are unregulated. Those that don’t agree can go “f” yourselves!!!!

and I replied: 
 I remember seeing that smog! I was working pushing shopping carts at P&W Super on Blossom Hill Road at Almaden Expressway AND SOME DAYS I COULD NOT SEE THE BUILDING ON TOP OF MOUNT UMUNHUM... and if you know where that all is... that's about a five mile visibility...

This morning during my dawn hike, I noticed a Chirping sound way up high. I could not see any Bats but there was an Undeniable Three Dimensional Sound in the Sky.

 I have experienced this before during the Seventeen (17) year Cicadas in Rock Creek Park located in Washington DC... In what has to be the most bizarre life cycle ever, animals like grasshoppers are born, mate and then the eggs go back into the earth. Seventeen Years Later, animals like grasshoppers are born, mate and then the eggs go back into the earth. If you ever wondered about the Meaning of Life... this has got to make you wonder... WHY? 

This is a Sign! GO!

I'm watching a show on The HOPE Channel about the Life cycle of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly. They live in Canada and the American Midwest Eating Milkweed... Milkweed has a Poison that makes Caterpillars and Butterflies TASTE BAD... Helping them survive... In the Fall, they all fly to Mexico...  It's Too damn Cold in Canada... 300 Million go to the Same Place... To a place with a Magnetic Anomaly where there are a Lot of Heavy Metals. A specific forest about 70 miles west of Mexico City... 10,000 feet above sea level. and they go to the same place every year even though NONE OF THEM HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE. This is a different flock of butterflies than the ones that Live North of Santa Cruz... At Natural Bridges State Park... I have a appreciation for butterflies because that entire "Thing" of changing from a Caterpillar into a Butterfly is a Classic LSD Experience... Later, the Butterflies Leave Mexico and Go Back to Canada... and Around and Around and Around we go... I have a special fondness for all living things. I can see that we are all brothers and sisters... I don't feel much kinship for rocks... Mostly I experience a Realization that Trees, Cats, Dogs, Bears, Dolphins and Green Slime are all members of My Family. GAIA is the Most Logical Religion for Me... Yes, I love Bacon and Hamburgers but... It's unlikely that lunch will lead to their extinction... Maybe it's a survival strategy that blesses the Sacred Cow... More Chickens live in the USA than People... We go out of our way to feed Cows and Make sure they have a nice warm barn for chilly weather... The final conclusion of The HOPE Channel is that the Life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly is so bizarre that it cannot be explained using Darwin's Theory of Evolution... Only God could do this... Could BE True, but Not Likely NOR SIGNIFICANT... What IF we Never figure out the Origin of Life, we STILL should stop Killing Things for Corporate Profit. Then that show was over and they started saying that Jesus is the ONLY WAY... and by Definition... all those OTHER Religions are Like, Totally BOGUS... and it's a Small Step to Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and all that Killing that Christians and Muslims do... GEE HAAAAAAD! and the Atheist, Buddhists, Hindus, Devotees of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Zoroastrians all wonder what's wrong with these people?

Big Daddy in the Sky watching Over Us...

In other news, There is a Grasshopper Infestation in Las Vegas. That is really like a Biblical Plague out of the Old Testament... It doesn't take much imagination to conclude that we are in the "End Times" predicted in the Book of Revelations. Notice the GREEN SLIME in the Gulf of Mexico... In the Bible, the Nile turned into a river of Blood... Well, this time it's a Different Color... I remember the Story of Noah... God flooded the world and Gave Noah the SIGN of the Rainbow promising that there would Never Be another Flood... Well, IT'S FIRE THIS TIME... Especially in the Arctic... Alaska, Northern Canada and Siberia are experiencing vast wildfires releasing MEGATONS of Carbon... and HEAT itself... So, the air pollution will increase Global Warming, and MELT the Permafrost... releasing Methane... and Around and Around and Around we go... 

on a different subject... I was wondering...

WHAT IF the people that make and sell weapons simply got a different job? It is possible to earn a living without Causing Disaster. Look within and realize that real eyes see thru real lies... "They" tell you that you need a gun for safety... to protect your Family... In fact, having a gun in the house makes you less safe. Increase in Suicide, Increase in Gun Accidents, Increase in One Family Member Shooting Another During an Argument... all those fatalities are greater that the lives saved by defending your family from the So Called "Bad Guys." Does anyone really believe that we need guns so that we can fight the Government in the case of Excessive Oppression? That plan always fails... Ruby Ridge, WACO... The Government has More and Better Weapons and a Citizens Militia has NO Freaking Chance... I think it's all Marketing by Weapons Manufacturers to Sell More Guns... Especially the Big Ones like Lockheed and Raytheon... Now that ESPER is the Secretary of Defense, all of a Sudden His "former" Corporation, Raytheon is Bidding on a New and Improved Death Machine... Well, Isn't that Special... and tRUMP just Vetoed a Bill preventing the USA from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the people that Caused 9/11... There is no possible way that the War in Yemen is a Threat to the Safety of the USA... It's Just a way for Lockheed to Sell more Stuff... and if Those People Over There Die, THAT'S Not our problem... WHAT IF the people that make and sell weapons simply got a different job?

I have found that it's better to NOT be a part of the Military Industrial Complex. I did Evil for a Living for about SIX Years working for the Pentagon as a Defense Contractor... Then, one time when I got Laid off, I took a NON-DEFENSE job... and Never worked in the Weapons Business Again. It was an accidental career change but.... It Worked...

Did you Notice that Police Suicide has increased in New York... and France... What is going on? Is the Brainwashing wearing off and reality sneaking into their consciousness? and they don't like what they see???

A better Plan is to WAKE UP! It's Fun, It's Free and Everybody's Doing It! I have noticed that there is a groundswell of Internet Based Peace Activists... The Shift Network... The Aware Show on Television... Black Lives Matter... The "Never Again" Students from Parkland High School where Children were Murdered by an Insane Gunman... Bioneers... Democracy NOW! TV News... OCCUPY... ACT OUT! People protesting in the Streets of Moscow, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Hong Kong... Extinction Rebellion... Bernie Sanders... Bill McGibbon and the 350.org... Greta Thunberg and Children refusing to ignore Climate Change... It's a TREND... Remember, every time you fill up your gas tank you are (in effect) strangling Greta... A simpler way is to stop all that driving around... and ESPECIALLY stop Flying in Jet Airplanes. Those things are Ecological Disasters... Is it a "Strange Coincidence" that Boeing is having trouble selling their 737 Max Airplanes? For Safety's Sake... Don't Fly... Could it be that The Universe is Trying to GET OUR ATTENTION? Could THAT be what's Going ON?

2020 Is clearly the end of the Republicrime Party. Old White Men are going to have a very difficult time winning any elections due to the fact that MOST VOTERS are NOT Old White Men. It's the Dawn of A New Age, People!

~~~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~~~

FREE COLORING BOOK ART! 

 Find more at Google Image Search

using the Keywords: gvan42 free coloring book 

or click on this link!

https://tinyurl.com/gvan42

How to Snuggle Canada Legal Weed into the USA... Go for a walk... or... Cross country ski...

Take a hike... Have a driver approach the border from the North and Let you off... Hike to the USA... Have the same driver pick you up and take you to the customer...

Do not try this at home... Forbidden by Prohibition Laws.

Headwaters Forestwalk. Virtual Tour of the Elk River Trail in Eureka CA

Redwood Trees, Banana Slugs, Water... It's 5 miles to the Old Growth Forest... Bring a Bicycle.

You may be asking, 

"Where are the Photographs of the Old Growth Redwoods?"

Well, I would have to walk on this trail Five (5) Miles 

before I get to that part of the Forest. 

The photos shown here are the first 1/4 of a Mile...

These are Second Growth Redwoods.

They were Logged a Hundred Years Ago. 

A person on a Bicycle may explore this Forest Furthur.

On the weekends, Families with Wheels visit the Park.

Baby Buggies, Skateboards, Wheelchairs, Segwey People Movers...

That's the way to explore... FUN!

Back to the Parking Lot.

Leaving The Headwaters Forest.

For Reference: Phase of the moon on
the day of my journey to the Headwaters Forest - FULL