Deepening in a Different Kind of Wild

I traveled a couple hours east of here last Autumn. I went to pick up some baby Poodles.

I soon left cities behind and was in wilderness. This is very empty-of-humans country, full of sagebrush and infrequent trees. My childhood was spent in a green part of another State and it took me a while to appreciate the High Desert landscape. It is very hilly and mountainous. On a pass it seemed I could see forever over the variegated rolling landscape that slapped against the snowy Eastern Sierra.

Signs warning of animal crossings weren't of deer but horses. They are magical to behold, living vestiges of our past. Yet I only saw some cattle on the way out. I'd pass rivers, (the watersheds always proclaimed on highway signs), with blazing yellow cottonwood trees. I grew more serene. I saw more beauty, acceptance of What-Is. Simply See-Ing. My eyes connected to the huge open space, the Earth. I dwelt deeper in my soul.

The way home was nearing sunset. All became a different magic. Mountain ridges seemed a black silhouette against more distantly lit mountains. The sun slanted.

I finally saw a small wild horse herd near the highway. They never look wild - just a bunch of horses grazing or walking around. But wild they are. As I neared civilization I reminded myself of this. At a busy signal three horses calmly munched the green landscape. Yes, they were wild. Numinosity rose to the surface.