The Smells Of The Canal Trail
Posted on March 21, 2008 - Filed Under Self Improvement
See where the road meets the slope up the canal? My first step into that timber woodland, a narrow trail that snakes south into the heat, places me broadside into a world of smells and odors that perplexes the intellect, invades the senses, and propels me onward to the rest of the trip.
Sometimes I have a walking companion for the 2.5 mile early morning journey and we are still wrapped in the smell of sleep, but our step from road to canal scuffles up a cloud of dust which carries the odor of rain, and we awaken to the trail.
You see, there are odors and there are smells. An odor is the essence of how something smells. One has to seek out the smell to identify it - but an odor reaches you on the air. Can you picture sniffing to identify the odor? And in sniffing does a sensation come to you of water rushing along in a goldrush canal? An odor of mountain dirt is mixed with Mountain Misery. And immediately, as we walk, to the left and hanging over the canal is the huge old fallen oak whose leaves are withering in the sun, fallen during the night with no incentive except age - the musty smell of disturbed earth and dying oak leaves.
Putting one foot in front of the other, we march down the dirt - see that cabin with the snow roof, newly built? The whole site smells of fresh cut wood and men with hammers.
We’ve arrived at the water fall: water, smooth as a glass sheet lies at the top and crashes down the crags, pulling the large and microscopic particles of dirt, descending together to the lowest part of the canal at the bridge. Sniff deeply at the falls as it throws drops at you and identify the smell of water and dirt and plants struggling upwards to light. What odor can you name it?
Down the Black’s road bordered by manzanita shrubs, it’s like passing through a wedding garland of sweet jasmine. Allow that jasmine-permeated air to lead you to the gate at the bottom of the hill and stand over steaming bear scat - the smell of decaying/fermenting acorns and berries. Truly an experience! We looked for the bear, and found tracks, cold now, a palm print with toes.
It’s a difficult walk back now that we are tired, but invigorated with all that we have seen and smelled. One last expectancy as we approach the water shed near the bridge (the bridge across the canal consists of several 2″ planks that are shorter than the width of the canal and are lengthened by shorter pieces nailed to the top and bottom of the long pieces. I have not used this bridge). I will always look for and imagine I see this Spring’s output of wild tiger lilies: two tall stalks with five lily buds growing fatter each day until their final outburst of orange petals curling backwards, and black dots on June 15, 2007. A light fragrance spreads from their centers during the first few days of their existence. Sadly, they lose their odor with age, but the flowers last for two weeks.
But no, the entrance to the blacktop street with fresh traffic to scratch up the oily milieu, brings us back to our separate earths, and presents us with the odor of gas, oil, and dirt. And we don’t have to sniff hard to “get it”.
I leave the trail this morning with the thought that of all the sensations our human nature gives us, the sense of smell is profound, requires the human ripening of age to realize its value in our lives and sets us on a course of becoming more aware of our God-given blessings. And don’t assume that you can pinpoint every odor you encounter: odors are illusive to identify, but capable of drawing multiple sensations from us.
Margaret Heaps is a native born Californian who sees life as not long enough to fit everything in. She has grass roots in Petaluma, California and Nicasio, California, where her great grandfather bought land from gold that he mined in the Gold Rush of 1848 and created a high yield dairy farm. With this background legacy, she married and raised six boys, went back to school and became a registered nurse; this was her profession for many years. Now that she has retired, her energy level still high, she has undertaken to start a business on eBay. Her store is at http://maggie6090watchesjewelry.com
Tags: canal, identify odor, name the odor, odors, sensations, smells, sniff, tiger lilies, value of odors
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