The Road to Idyllwild

There are three ways to approach the mountain. The first and most direct is the "Tram" or cable car that assaults the shear granite face and lifts you upward like a mountain goat fleeing from a bobcat in search of sanctuary. Once you leave the ground you are transported through layers of life zones from arid desert to airy pine trees, from sunny and 70 to blustery winter blizzard perhaps. It is a dramatic and awesome spectacle always.

The second approach is the Pines to Palms highway. A winding and windswept way to motor to the top. For the first few miles you will find yourself transfixed at the steering wheel negotiating the hair pin curves and jagged granite cliffs as you make your way to the first valley. All of a sudden you are transported to another time. A peaceful and placid valley where it seems like time forgot. Sleepy little ranches and cabins scattered across the landscape like fragments of the mountain itself.

Leaving the lost valley we are now entering into what I call the "pine zone". You could now be in Colorado or Switzerland, or in fact any mountain locale on the planet. Funny how nature does not discriminate when climate dictates. I have always been enamored with alpine environments. There is something so serene among the evergreens in the cloud forests. The air is light and pure having been cleaned and scented by the peaceful pines. One almost feels like this could be heaven.

The third approach to mountain is the more tranquil trail up the windward side. While no less menacing to maneuver this side is more placid with it's miles of shaded and pine lined pavement. Here you will pass by sleepy cottages clinging to cliffs of green covered granite and a lazy, misted lake that looks to be primordial. I would expect to find ancient creatures wandering through the dense thickets. Then onward and upward to the pinnacle.

The top of the mountain is majestic in it's magnitude. For here you can see forever. It is both awesome and awe inspiring. It is a place that I could dwell for many seasons and the place that I find to be closest to heaven.

Everytime I make the journey to the mountain I find it to be unique and special. Whether I impatiently storm the mountain on the Tram or seduce it on the Pines to Palms Highway, or meander my way up the lush and lonely windward slope; what matters in the end is the destination. However we get to our nirvana is pretty much up to us because every day is a little different after all.