Ravine Driving on Holy Souls Mountain and… and… a new kind of corpse plant

Holy Souls Mountain road is a single-lane, officially “no fault” forest path. Should you want to win friends and, later, influence people, or, for that matter, just be neighborly for the sake of being neighborly, it’s a good idea when seeing an oncoming vehicle to pull over as far as possible and stop, letting the other vehicle slowly scoot around you.

The approaching vehicle was coming fast down the most precipitous part of the road where there is an ever developing washout. Not only did I stop, but I put the truck into reverse as there was so little room just where I was. In the effort to get out of the way, I ended up being too polite, just one inch too many near the edge and… I slid down a bit. The front tire did well to hang on! My two-wheel drive CPM loaned truck couldn’t make it back out…

The fellow in the other vehicle was a world-class gentleman. Within minutes there were three four wheel drive vehicles ready to pull me out. One did the trick. Those who show mercy to others will have mercy shown to them.

Anyway, with the truck parked and now walking the rest of the way up the mountain to the hermitage, and still grieving for my priest friend who committed suicide the other day, I noticed, of all things — in a place where many corpse plants grow — what looks to be a new kind of corpse plant. At first I thought it was lichen or moss. But now I see that they are the same colorless waxey corpse plant type of… flower… lots of little waxey flowers that look just like the stalk variety. But, maybe I’m mistaken. I’m no botanist.

There’s a note on the appropriateness of “picking” corpse flowers for our Lady on the Florae page. Yikes!