Light At the End of the Tunnel

Light At the End of the Tunnel
            One of my favorite spots in the whole world is a few minutes’ walk from my house. (This from an old international traveler.) The tunnel cave at the Sutro Bath ruins in San Francisco is dark, wet, and has uneven footing over slick rock, puddles, and sand. The rocks at the far end are even more slippery as you step to the edge for the rough, rocky view to the crashing waves past the remnants of an old railway structure. Signs warn us not to venture out on the treacherous rocks. Rescues are not easy here.
            Two side viewing holes open toward the sea midway through the tunnel. You can’t see the horizon, just the ebbing and flowing of waves. Crashing and flowing into the mini-cavern we view from the tunnel path, the waves move at the mercy of the tides.
            No crash or flow is the same. Each wave has a different visual effect. Sound ranges from quiet swooshes to eardrum-reverberating booms. The constant change that nature brings, and that I can’t control, stills my fluttering mind.
            And there is the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.” Like the waves that crash in through those side cave openings in the Sutro Bath tunnel, the challenges we face constantly change. Solutions that arise change as well. There is no fixed, single light at the end of the tunnel. Thankful for the positive openings that appear before us, we understand that we will be challenged again, and that another tunnel light will again lead us onto something better.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Sutro Baths, introduces the ruins of San Francisco’s famed Sutro Baths, opened to the public in 1896 by San Francisco Mayor Adolf Sutro. An iconic place that once drew thousands for indoor swimming in a structure that housed seven swimming pools, museum exhibits featuring Egyptian mummies, and tropical plants, it was destroyed by fire in the 1960s and now stands as a stunning gateway view to the Pacific.
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New this week:
Hike Notes 70: Sutro Baths