Beacon Rock inspires me!

Beacon Rock inspires me! It is one of three tallest monoliths on the planet. What a great vertical walk to the top, where you can see for miles up and down the Columbia. Such a great place to dream about where you want to fly...just like the birds you see pass in the air! I especially love to see the eagles and ospreys.
 As you watch the other climbers, all ages shapes politely greet each other on the trail coming and going there is a realization that nature usually provides all the peace and meditation anyone could desire and that is why I think of the Gorge as my tabernacle and Beacon Rock as the altar.
Whenever visitors come from out of town, Beacon Rock is always on my show and tell list. As a Lewis & Clark historian, I was excited to find it mentioned in their journals. For over 200 years people have been inspired by Beacon Rock. The Native American people enjoyed it years before we came along, I am sure. The view from the top is incredible and reminds me of that movie title: "On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever." If you've never been, go. Drive approximately 34 miles east on highway 14. Beacon Rock State Park rangers will ticket you, if you don't have a  pass, however, you can buy a day pass from the machine. I love it so much, I buy the Discover Pass, which is good for a year at all Washington State parks.

Of course, I've penned a poem about Beacon Rock. And here it is:


Beacon Rock

Third tallest monolith on the planet Earth

Lewis & Clark wrote about it in their journals

Biddle made it a tourist destination by 

building a zig zag trail to the top

Beacon Rock is the altar in the Columbia River Gorge Tabernacle

You can climb up there and look out on

the glory that is carved out of the Cascade Mountains

Across the river, the waterfalls meet the Columbia in

crashing booms, the noise jarring or calming somebody’s

last nerve

A couple of kayakers glide by

jabbering about the gloriousness of the bright shiny day

so grateful to be there

A pair of lovers kiss and

wrap their arms around each other laughing gleefully about

how incredible it is to be alive and there, together, on

that bright sunny day

A dad and son cast off from a bank and within minutes

the dad helps his young son  reel in a huge sturgeon

worthy of the greatest fisherman’s tale

Beacon Rock stands sentry and if it could talk,

 it would  probably brag that Lewis & Clark wrote

about it in their Journals

 and before that many red men stood on

top taking in the  majestic view and

it would probably complain that

over the centuries it had had to tolerate an

awful lot of eagle poo…

But, hey! Isn’t that what

monoliths are expected to do?

 G'Day,

Raintree