The symphony of animal and nature messages has continued in full force and that’s felt soothing to an uptick in frequencies flowing through life right now.

Evening owl hoots float through the forest consistently behind our home these days. We didn’t used to hear them, or very randomly did. Now, owl energy seems to be the frequency of opening pathways before us, and that’s been mirrored in finding more great horned owl feathers too on a consistent basis. These two were discovered on one of our recent hikes, but about a mile apart and were added to the others I found just recently.

But there’s been something about primary wing feathers from large raptors that just began to show up and this has included first-ever finds. Has that been happening for others of you?

You may recall the large turkey vulture feather from our road trip that I found on the Colorado River, as the vulture took off from the bank we landed the boat on. Then, within just a few days of each other, at the same location here in Tahoe, I found a large osprey wing feather, followed by a giant eagle wing feather – the shaft is 4.5 inches long and the entire feather is 17.75 inches long.

I’ve been gifted osprey feathers before, but never a wing. This was a first for the eagle feather.

There’s a feeling I get about the wings being significant to rising above and transcending any limitations and soaring to creative heights to receive and experience expansive vision. There’s a sense of increased freedom and empowerment, newfound courage, lightness, divine guidance, support, and protection I get from them too. There’s also connection to the message of “elder” and “ancient” parts I spoke about in my last episode. And that they appeared at punctuated points, underscoring the information I was channeling and understanding at those moments directly from communication with The All was very chilling, beautiful, and humbling – a sense of truth alignment rippled through my body.

In fact, the osprey and eagle wing I found just yards and a few days apart along the same path I had been led to explore because of sensing that something was waiting. I particularly love osprey because they move between realms – soar through the air, can land on trees and Earth, but are the only raptors that actually dive deep into the water when catching their meals, while others just snatch fish from the surface (not afraid of the watery and shadow realms). To me, eagle feels particularly honorary, while hawk has always felt very signifying of interdimensional guidance, safe passage, and initiation in my life.

I feel like a mouse in a maze or labyrinth when I find feathers and like each one is a treat I receive for hitting an upleveling turn along my path. Each time the treat increases in levels to match the codes cracked.

Then there’s been the tadpoles in all stages, as well as lots of frogs and very large toads in abundant companions as well. I did actually find a small dead frog, though, on our deck. There must always be that balance.

That was reflective also with the large and beautiful dead trout I found that looked like it had just passed. She was in perfect condition and I found her right after the large eagle wing feather. I felt a special connection to it, being a Pisces and actually pulled it out of the water where I saw it against the bank. Something about feeling her beautiful scales and muscles was powerful for me to hold.

And bunches of lady bugs that seem to always find my hand and arms at the beach – loving my left side in particular and the sacred tattoos there. But I also found a small group of dead lady bugs in the sand next to my towel.

We were also greeted again by the same large family of mom, dad, and goslings upon return to the beach. It had been no more than a week since last we saw them, but they were already looking double the size, as they visited us in our special spot.

We also realized we miscounted them last time, thinking we could only count 12, but now there were in fact 13 – amazing!

And the day before that we saw a family with only three goslings. They just warm my faery heart so much!

I haven’t seen Frith or Hyzenthlay for a while now, but was very pleased this past Saturday that a sweet little baby cottontail made herself known – this one feels to be female.

I’d just finished a project, after our returning from a short adventure I’ll share after this first part, and looked up to find this tiny one, with a mark at her third eye, poised so perfectly in an Astrid-like stance. She showed up again two days later in my garden, nibbling away on bunny delights and running back and forth across the path. That all made me smile huge and the smile was extended on Sunday, in between the home sightings, when I saw another baby bunny running into a bush, upon driving up to my parent’s house for yummy Father’s Day celebrations. (Mom and dad always create a vegan feast, as you know. It was chickpea curry with all the yummy fixin’s of pickled onions, sweet cucumbers, spicy mango, and naan, followed by a fresh deep blueberry pie with the bestest crust!)

I haven’t yet heard a name for this little one, but I’m sure it will come. Especially if she is the new garden guardian of our Forest Portal.

And although we did see a second dead doe recently, there was so much new life and stages of growth and opening around us, that it was easy to understand the weaving of connection. We also haven’t seen a bear since our golden one jumped our fence to connect, but I’ve twice now found large, fresh bear scat on hikes – a message that their energy continues to be near, watch over, and guide me.

I even had a large jackpot find of raw quartz in a pocket I know that included mostly smoky quartz with some of the darkest smokies I’ve found including a few I would say are morion quartz. There were even pieces with lined and etched sides and the beginning of crystal point shaping that I don’t normally see. The energy of these feels very supportive in anchoring so many root changes I’ve been working on and what is helpful even within the collective scope of things unfolding – so gridding is in order for these.

So, yeah…a lot of potent and beautiful messengers and energies have surrounded these pre-Summer days with rich layers connected to each of them for me and to what the season ahead is gearing up to be.

I wonder what kind of reflections you may be seeing or experiencing in your world that point to shifts happening for you or support for directions and questions you’ve been pondering?

It’s been interesting to see how this year has started off so far for me, given I’m in a nine personal year. Days have increased in outer activity, although I can feel my energy is much more inner, even if I’m partaking in what’s showing up – sometimes unexpectedly.

For instance, it’s been on-the-go here for weeks, and recently with out-of-the-blue visitors including a friend of ours and Dave’s brother nearly back-to-back, Father’s Day, our own getaway in between, and now upcoming trips through July.

During all of it, we’ve also upped our outdoor activities with hours of hiking, biking, and long beach days, as is usual for this time of year.

With little blocks of time just at home, I’ve had heightened periods of activity in the small windows to get projects and work done. I’ll share some of the fun I’ve been dabbling in soon.

Like Summer-soon-to-be, I’ve found myself bubbling with creative impetus.

So outwardly it appears not to be very Hermit-like, but I do in fact feel the inward completion and transformation of cycles, a deepening into my truth for the next leg, self reflection and harnessing of greater understanding on how to implement things I’ve learned, and cultivating the quality of life and direction that matches my frequency. And that for sure comes with closure and even experiencing literal deaths all around. I noted a couple of big patterns run their full gamut of extremes, which is now ending a cycle to rest in a balanced way.

All of this feels evident in the animal messengers and how they’re showing up for me.

And in between it all, my garden continues to grow and flourish.

My work now is to just enjoy the beauty that blossoms and expands forth, one step at a time, as the seasons shift.

Another thing shifting, now that we’re empty nesters, is our ability to do things on the spot when the moment moves us and for us to weave another layer of interest into our lives that looks like it’s quickly becoming a passion.

When we returned from our road trip, we talked about starting to backpack. I had only done this one other time in the Grand Canyon with our avid backpacker friends, Happy and Bean. I loved it right away. Dave wasn’t as excited as me at the time, but a huge shift took place that catapulted things.

Like most things I do now, I started up later in life – truly it wasn’t until my 40’s when the physical activities I love and you see me doing, became a part of my daily world. I didn’t grow up, like others, doing a bunch of outdoor activities, although I was hugely connected with all animals from the moment I landed on Earth. So, it’s no surprise the next level would kick in now at 51.

The first day back from our road trip, Dave got the itch and ordered all our backpacking equipment that we didn’t have – we had a tent, sleeping bags, pad, and pillow, and stuff like headlamps from our time in the GC, but none of the rest. We were all in!

He didn’t go searching for the most expensive stuff either. We learned quickly, like with other things we do, that you can do stuff inexpensively and on a budget. He found everything for us at next-to-nothing costs compared to what you normally see, so the investment was like 1/10 the amount one might spend or think you’d need to.

That also made it easy to try it out and see if we did actually like it as much as we thought we would. If we found that we did, we were thinking we may potentially do the whole 165 mile TRT – Tahoe Rim Trail – in sections. Since we live here and have no time restraints, there’s no need to do it all in one long trip. Plus, our goal is to enjoy and be present with everything, without feeling any pressure.

We’ve already day-hiked nearly half of the TRT, but it’s different to backpack and through-hike it. So if we do decide to do the whole thing, we’ll redo it all. We’re also not wed to that idea and really want to make sure it’s all about just having fun, soaking it all in, and not making any part of the adventures reflective of what life can be in the day-to-day, nitty gritty stuff.

For now, it would be a one-trip-at-a-time focus when the moment moves us. I love it that way. I love life that way, actually.

We learned well from our GC backpacking mentors about equipment we’d need and how to be minimalists, especially since the less you have to carry on your back, the easier the hiking.

Our friends were so proud of us and thought it was impressive when we told them my pack came in at 22.4 pounds and Dave’s at 23.6 pounds! They said that anywhere between 23 and 30 pounds was considered excellent. Weeeee!

We also did a little research into local area requirements – for instance, here a bear cannister is either required or highly recommended versus a hanging bear bag – and permits needed.

We then figured out a few options of first adventures we wanted to do and would be able to do given some areas have more snow still than others, while awaiting our equipment to arrive and for some things we were working on to complete so that we’d have the ability to be without need of others contacting us or having to tend to details with time deadlines.

It literally wasn’t until the morning of departure that we made our final departure decision and then finalized details and packed for a two night, three day journey into the wild.

We intended to leave a bit earlier than we did, but things have a way of working themselves out as is in alignment. We headed out to get our permits and have lunch while discovering we’d forgotten our hiking poles at home – important when you have weight on your back and will be traversing technical trails, which this one would be. We had two cars because we would need to park one car at each end of our hike since this wouldn’t be an out-and-back, but a through trail trek from one destination to another.

So Dave took care of the permits, while I went home to get the poles, and then we met up for lunch and headed off to drop the first car off. By the time we parked at our starting point, it was around 3:30pm.

Luckily the boat they have available to take hikers passed the first two miles was running. It was in the mid-eighties and knowing that the whole trail up is all shale meant that being able to bypass the first two miles would ensure us getting to our destination for the night before sunset.

Normally they only run it for a minimum of four people, but we got our own boat and away we went. We didn’t actually start hiking until 4pm.

This hike we chose is considered a challenging one, which we’ve done before and is in what’s called Desolation Wilderness – the most rugged region around Lake Tahoe with granite everywhere, including granite shale lined trails that climb and climb, sometimes with large steps up.

So it’s slow-going and even more so with a large pack on your back to ensure safe stepping.

It was a hard first day because of the heat and climb, plus hitting unexpected packed snow at the top in the forests and snow run-off creating streams through parts of the trails, but we arrived in time around 6:30pm to set up camp on the beautiful moonscape of Aloha Lake.

I say moonscape because this lake is surrounded in granite around the edges of the water and has a more stark shoreline with pools and little islands. It’s a shallow backcountry lake great for exploring, camping, wading, and swimming.

Normally we enter it from the south and explore the west where there’s a lot of pools and familiar terrain. This time we ended up on the east side, so it was a different vantage point for us. And between camping here and then taking the trail out on the east, we’ve now pretty much done most of the perimeter.

This provided us ability to still take in the sights and feels, fill our water bottles with our water filter, and enjoy our vegan meals before hitting the sack.

This time we opted to try Backpacker’s Pantry for their dehydrated vegan options. Last time with our friends we did Outdoor Herbivore. Both are fantastic!

It was an exciting time for us, just out there doing it. We decided we would and we made it happen and there we were soaking it all in.

Every single sensation.

It was surreal in a way since it was our first time doing this alone. And the best part is that we’d be off-grid for three days.

No cell phone reception or outside access in or out. Just the wide open great outdoors and us.

We congratulated ourselves for a successful first day, as we headed into our tent for the night to read a book, and fall asleep under the moon and stars, surrounded by wilderness as far as the eye could see.

As I mentioned, our plan is not to jam pack in as many miles as possible and rush through the trails just to accomplish an idea. This was inspiration at its finest from spark to igniting. Savoring it all was the goal and tuning into ourselves and our surroundings was the main objective.

So, in all, this trip was only about 15 plus miles in totality, but they were hard and rich ones – this broke up to about 5 miles a day. A lot of through-hikers may accomplish that kind of mileage or more in just one day. That’s not our hearts’ trajectory though.

The night was an interesting mix of subtle sounds, dropping temperatures, and complete stillness and vastness. It was invigorating.

The first night got to between 30 and 35 degrees, but we had great sleeping bags and thermals on so it was comfortably brisk.

Sunrise was beautiful and waking up in nature’s quiet was just like I remembered – a breath of sacred. Well, all of it was really.

Everything was silently loud in the most beautiful and moving of ways.

The water was absolute glass, creating mirror images that reflected “as above, so below.”

We enjoyed the quiet mornings, slowly savoring every sensation while enjoying a warm meal and coffee Dave would prepare us.

And each of the next two days went much the same.

After enjoying our slow, but early-start morning, we packed up and set off for our next destination.

Desolation Wilderness is very rugged and it’s been rare we’ve seen wild animals while hiking the trails, except for one time catching a rare fox sighting. And this trip was much the same – without wild animal encounters, except for feeling like the wild hearts ourselves.

Mostly we saw a variety of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, lots of butterflies, caterpillars, and small fish. There were also quite a few interesting mushrooms due to the moisture and melt off.

The below swallowtail was a giant one and particularly stood out to us, as she lingered in full display. We also had a pair of them circle above us and several times I had butterflies come right at me, as if they were trying to ignite my aura with their renewal spark.

The trail around and out from the lake offered gorgeous vistas every step of the way, with other small lakes to feast our eyes upon.

I was full of energy that second day and was strongly leading the way this time.

We learned that I have a natural navigating instinct, inner compass, and even though some trails I’ve only done once…I remember them clearly and know where right and wrong turns should be.

The snow packs and streams of running water made trails near-impossible to figure out at times. Yet, even if we got off track, senses would lead us back.

There were times I saved us from miles of wrong turns because I remembered and just knew things were off. And when Dave would then check maps, he’d confirm my instincts.

We also learned of my crazy tracking abilities with a funny story.

Maybe this is gross to some people, but it was super hilarious to us, nonetheless, and part of life. You know that one must do number two out there in the wilderness and when at camp there’s protocols for this with needing to be at least 200 feet from a water source and digging deep holes.

Well, on each occasion, Dave would go do his thing first while I finished breakfast or what ever. Then it was my turn. And I kid you not, each time I would go directly to his exact spot, which I had no idea where he was because I couldn’t see him in the trees and didn’t watch where he headed. I could tell by the ground and the way objects like rocks were placed and come back and detail my observations and ask if this is where he went and how he left things. Each time, he was incredulously shocked and we laughed so hard until I cried. I was the poop tracker, amongst other things. My brother has always called me an animal while growing up and that my feet and hands were paws. He and I also have always sniffed everything we eat before we will eat it. LOL!

And between the consistent tracking record overall and navigating right directions, while leading the way, I started to earn my trail name.

It morphed, as after the first day of this Dave was calling me “The Last of the Mohicans.” I really liked that name, but it was too long. So because of my signature long braids I wear on backpacking and camping trips, as well as really challenging hikes like Angels Landing in Zion, this turned into “Pocahontas,” which he called me in Zion at the time.

And so my trail name was born.

Dave got one too, but the story is more involved so we’ll save it for another adventure.

Anyway, we were deep into the wilderness now and things were already feeling second nature, and this second day of hiking led us through beautiful and equally technical shale areas, with a lot of snow pack challenges too.

But we did it and got to our second lake destination, Susie Lake, which is a lake we had also fantasized about being a cool place to camp from the one and only time we hiked passed it.

We got there by 12:30pm and had a full afternoon ahead of us to really surrender to it all.

And without a soul around within sight of us, we really immersed fully.

We had time to set up, get lunch and snacks going, make more water, take naps, read, sun bathe, wash up, skinny dip, hang out on our giant, gorgeous and favorite rock by the water, commune with the incredible elder juniper tree that watched over our camp sight, talk, sit in silence, me go rock hounding, Dave explore with his binoculars, make dinner, and more of the same rock sitting while watching the sunset.

Minutes and hours went by beautifully slow and were savored in a way you just don’t when involved in daily life stuff without making an effort to be present.

Part of that presence for me is about exploring and photography, as the artist me feels that to be an extension of my creative expression that is much needed. Rather than painting on canvas, I am framing paintings that I’m cocreating with Nature all around me.

I not only love to do this as my own a pictorial journal I can look through for endless inspiration, but I’ve learned that it’s also a way I can bring the beauty of this Earth experience as humans to others in times when the world is focused in other perhaps less life-enhancing ways, while etching the landscape into my memory.

The latter is what I’ve discovered to be part of why I’m so good at remembering trails because I pay attention to all the details every step of the way when I’m focusing in on things to creatively capture and are taking my breath away. I seem to imprint the nooks and crannies and sensorial experience of the area so that I can call that up when needed, like on this trip – helping me to know exactly where we are.

And by 7pm we were ready to turn in, read, and sleep another expansive night away. It was slightly warmer at this slightly lower area, with night temps around 40.

Mornings we woke with sunrises, Dave making us coffee and fully loaded oatmeal, and slowly savoring it all some more.

With our last night behind us, it was bitter sweet to make our last trek to our car awaiting us at the end point. Another big day of challenging trails, but everything felt extra bright and alive. The challenge of the first day’s trek up in the heat was far behind me and every day after felt easy and graceful – like second nature, in fact, and me and my pack became one.

We discovered that our calculations were on point and we had exactly everything we needed. We only came back with two extra protein bars and we decided that with how light we pack we could easily add a two pound hammock next time to lay next to the lake between the trees. We’ll likely upgrade our sleep pads to even softer, thicker pads, but other than that we’re good and weren’t missing anything.

We also discovered that even returning to our small mountain cities here was quite a contrast to the alone time out in nature. It felt like we were still wrapped in a bubble of peace and kind of invisible to the rest of the world moving around us, which spoke to how we can create our own experience and journey through life in the cradle of our own frequency.

The whole three-day adventure was truly an experience for presence of being to anchor more deeply and definitely felt in alignment with my personal nine year energy. I thrive in my own world and although am deeply connected to All and focus on that interweaving of energies daily in anything I am engaged in, I am at my clearest when that All is an embodiment within my sole experience.

I love the very tangible feeling of spirit luxuriating in flesh and senses that experiences like this punctuate. I especially feel connected and drawn to the through-hiking in combo with camping. Although camping or day-hiking, alone, are wonderful in their own way, there’s something extra special for me about this combo that both speaks to the minimalist, simplicity, and just connecting with the nomadic and ancient parts of me that is exciting.

Moving with the seasons and where the heart guides, and living in harmony with nature, while leaning into one’s inner senses feels easy and natural. 

It makes my first house Mars in Capricorn and all of my “Cappy” energy, as I call it, feel in her joy and essence.

And, to me, all of this is like a golden thread woven between my very cellular and vibrational nature.

It’s an awakening of greatest aliveness and reverence for this Earth experience, which in turn enriches every single experience we walk through life having.

We so look forward to more backpacking throughout the Summer and Autumn seasons, and what ever else new will extend us an initiatory hand. I’m also excited to see how this all evolves and trickles out into inspirational droplets of nourishment.

Our new life pathways are beginning to reveal themselves bit-by-bit, just as Astrid and the kitties knew would be the next steps integral for us and our expansion. And they’ve been smiling hugely for us, showing up in our day-to-day and in the little messages along the way.

We carry them with us always and now have them guiding the journey onward.

Life certainly takes some interesting turns that may feel or look one way in the moment, yet are pieces to a greater puzzle they beautifully make possible.

I hope that this share about one of the ways our life is taking a new turn speaks to any of you in some way who are in transition of any kind in life where it feels right now like there’s nothing that could possibly make it better.

There are always rich things at work, new doorways opening with the closure of others, and the cycles will reveal their next layers when we keep showing up and embracing the flow of energy just wanting to move through.

Endings are beginnings.

I’ll end there for now, lol, so that means more is upcoming. I have a very short window before we head out for a while on a couple more trips away, but I’ll try to get one more post out in just a bit. It’s going to be a busy rest of the month and much to share – one piece at a time.

In the meantime, people have been messaging with questions so I’ll answer them quickly here for anyone else who’s been wondering.

Yes, I still am offering Intuitive Guidance Sessions at the very special discount and online Reiki Certification Training, as well as the Empowerment Series courses.

And there are just 4 special crystal skulls and 1 crystal remaining in the current personal release. Price exchanges currently reflected are already discounted off original value.

Sending love and gratitude to everyone. I hope the upcoming Full Moon and Solstice energies are feeling like a doorway to something fresh for you too.