Fire and Rain

By Lori Tsutsui

 

In North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains is the Nantahala National Forest.  The area we traveled in was a mineral gem area.  We were there to look for rubies, sapphires and garnets. Most of our group went to Mason mine.  Mike Hoover and I chose to explore Chunky Gal Mountain.  Directions weren’t clear and some roads were unmarked but one should never worry about getting lost.  Getting lost can be the beginning of discovery

The first route took us up a winding mountain.  Ears plugged as we ascended, we ended at a parking area where  boy scouts were preparing for a ten-mile hike.  Maps spread out before them; they were fully geared for their adventure. 

One of the three trails leading from the parking area was marked, “Appalachian Trail.”

“Mike, ask them where we are.”

 

Mike learned that we had turned left when we should have turned right and we were now a distance from where we intended to be.

Backtracking, we found Bucky Creek Rd. and took the road into the forest and up the mountain.  Evidence of fire was visible.  Bark at the base of trees was visibly blackened as well as soil beneath new vegetation. It was difficult to say how long the forest had regrown but there were mature rhododendrons as tall as trees.  I was disappointed that we had missed the week they were in bloom. We stopped the car at a meandering stream running down the mountain.  Mike parked the car and we set out with a few tools and backpacks. Mike used strips of cloth from an old towel to mark the path as we hiked.

What was I looking for? Rocks that were heavier than usual?  I picked up two.  The dappled lighting in the undercover made it difficult to see details in the rock. 

Mike pointed out a millipede that was about one quarter inch in width, banded black and white stripes with orange legs.  We saw a few of them that day.  There were also salamanders.  The thought struck me that God might not be pleased with me poking around and upsetting his forest creatures.  When I turned over a rock and saw my second salamander, I began to have regrets about disturbing the peace of such a beautiful place.  The young taupe colored salamander with black markings lay still.  I whispered an apology and covered it back with leaves.  I became cautious of my footing. 

I tried to etch the forest into my memory just in case I never made it back; but there are only bits and pieces.  It was a hardwood forest with very little evergreen trees.  The undergrowth was quite leafy.  It rained at one point but very little rain reached us as the canopy of trees was our umbrella. A little moss was evident – nothing like the Hoh Temperate Rainforest on the West coast.  It was May – early enough to avoid mosquitoes.  But it definitely had more living things than the Hoh or a pine forest.

On our way back down toward the car, we collected the rock Mike had set aside earlier.  One rock looked like an alligator head with vertebrae running from its skull.  We couldn’t quite figure out what would have caused the rock to lithify in that way.

I didn’t find a great deal of “gems” on that trip but I am certain I was where I was supposed to be.  The following Sunday, Mike and I attended a “charismatic” church - one man got up and gave a prophecy,  “fire and rain, fire and rain, fire and rain”;   fire cleanses and rain gives new birth and new beginnings.  Fire is never pleasant but sometimes necessary for rebirth and new beginnings.  The pastor elaborated, “ people need to be patient and endure. The rain will come.”

  I had seen the evidence of fire, I had felt the rain, I had seen the rebirth.  And I felt the presence of God.  Someday, I will find the gems.