“Canyon Narrows Light” — Soft, filtered light illuminates the walls of a Death Valley slot canyon.

Desert canyon light is remarkable. A canyon like this one is a huge contrast with the world outside — the intense, harsh desert light gives way to soft, gentle light and shade. The temperature drops. The color of the ight changes, too. Deep in the canyon it often shifts to ward blue, especially when the canyon walls are black or gray. There are also changes and contrasts where different softs of light come together — as in this photograph where the deeply shaded blue tones contrast with the warmer tones of the higher walls…continues: https://gdanmitchell.com/2025/04/02/canyon-narrows-light/

I never accepted the religion I was raised with. Eventually I realized that my religion waited outdoors, where I discovered a faith I could live by. The music and sacred architecture of the natural world touched me more profoundly than any church. The gods that haunted forests and ridgetops spoke truths I never heard in church. I found this faith most meaningfully in national parks.

#CalvaryChapel #Christianity #NationalParks #nature #religion #spirituality #wilderness
https://www.sacredwonderland.us/finding-religion/

“The wild-often dismissed as savage and chaotic by "civilized" thinkers, is actually impartially, relentlessly, and beautifully formal and free. Its expression-the richness of plant and animal life on the globe including us, the rainstorms, windstorms, and calm spring mornings-is the real world, to which we belong.”

―Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild