I am sure many rock balancers are familiar with this experience… especially those who have one or many ritual stacking spots..  One thing I like to do OFTEN is to switch up where I am working on the creek.  Each new place, even if shifted by a few meters, will yield a completely new library of rocks. I consider this to be very lucky in my case. Boulder is IDEAL for any dedicated stacker. Anyway…

A cool part of revisiting my favorite spots years later is sometimes stumbling across a distinct rock that I used before… Sometimes I have even found these rocks down-creek by up to 5 meters depending on size… The reason this happens is because of the creek’s annual spring rush, which happens usually every May-June when snow run-off builds up in the creek valleys..  The creek usually rages for up to a month depending on the winter’s snow fall..

With this picture I hope to demonstrate how some balances are closely related to past experiences… Here, there are 2 separate balance experiences in the past that feed into the more recent creation. The rock in the red circles is the same, but just on a different balance point.  Same for the rock circled in black.  Just a different pattern with similar building blocks..  yielding a completely different looking creation.. :D

Here I would like to share the lifespan of this arch bridge through a series of key frames taken at each sunrise and sunset over a 6 day period.  I aligned all the images as much as I could, using the peak of the arch as anchor point.  I suppose I should practice a bit more with shooting repeated frames over days while maintaining a constant perspective through all visits.  anyway, they make a neat slideshow..

My main enjoyment from this series is seeing the endurance of the arch through heavy weather.. another gentle reminder that nothing lasts. everything is constantly changing…just GO WITH IT.  I find a particular enchantment in that I built the arch with no mind paid to the coming full moon… then six days later, the arch filled nearly completely with ice and glowed like the full moon, as if counting down. Collapse was also within an hour of full moon peak that afternoon.. :)

I recommend cycling through the series with the left/right arrow keys.. :)

Sunset Day 1

Sunrise Day 2

Sunset Day 2

Sunrise Day 3

Sunset Day 3

Sunrise Day 4

Sunset Day 4

Sunrise Day 5

Sunset Day 5

Sunrise Day 6

Afternoon Day 6

Pre-Collapse Day 6 – Full Moon

Observing Weather

The first image here was taken upon arrival to the garden at the point of peak-ice.. at this point, the ice balance has been freezing and accumulating ice since its creation.  It is now Day 8 for the entire garden, but Day 3 for the ice balance.  Today is when temperatures finally rise above zero and begin weakening the ice.

The second ice balance is shown below at sunrise as well.. Notice how the balance is frozen, but then the water level receded by a couple inches.  This seems like a consistent early morning happening.  There is a lot of time and process all bundled up in this image.. obviously, the rocks were set in balance, then ice accumulated over time, then more time passed as the creek receded… however, the water level comes back up throughout the day.  Also notice the icicles on the left.. there are small glints of yellow light in the icicles.. the glints of light are from the sun peaking through the trees and slightly illuminating the ice for a few moments before full sunlight… :)

The three following images are taken from backside angles of the heart-rock ice balance.  This side is where most of the ice accumulation occurred as it was most exposed to the splashing water.  I LOVE the ice formations all around this balance.. The formation has new character each day depending on freezing and thawing temperatures… The forms are ones i’ve never seen before.. purely alien. purely beautiful. purely perfect AND imperfect.

Below are close-ups of the ice formations around my balance. LOVE. :D

Context

These images are a reminder of the context in which the ice balances exist.. they are not separate form the garden I’ve been developing for 8 days now.  I like to think of all these single rocks as guardians for my ice balances.  They attract most of the obvious attention with their placement, and for the vigilant, they point to the “gems” of my garden.. (the ice balances)

Notice below how the ice balance is towered over by a precariously balanced “guardian” rock.  Though I held my new ice balance in high esteem, It felt intuitive to have a potentially devastating balance just overhead.  If that one rock blew over, it would entirely destroy my evolving ice balance.  I find more excitement in unpredictability. Knowing everything could disappear within seconds added an enchanting mood to my overall efforts.. I grew even more appreciative that the elements decided not to disturb my childish fascination..

Observing Light

Also one of the more interesting elements of today was the transition of light through the sky.  Each angle delivered a unique glow to this balance.  Equal quality shined when a cloud passed in front of the sun as well, as shown in the left-most picture below.  The middle picture is direct sunlight from late afternoon.  Meanwhile, the right-most balance is just as the sun was disappearing behind the mountain, projecting a slightly muted glow through the more translucent section of ice.. BEAUTIFUL

This balance was created as somewhat of a final extension to my recent “Garden Chronicles”. It grew out of the same process. This initial photo is before a wave of freezing temperatures… Then the rest of the photos in this post are a visual record of its 4-day lifespan through the freeze :)

Day 2

Today was mostly frozen as temperatures remained below zero Celsius throughout the day.. The excitement and anticipation of visiting the creek this morning kept me from a full night of sleep.. I was awake at about 5:30 am waiting impatiently for light to rise.  My initial hope was that parts of the base of my balance would accumulate ice because it seemed to be the only part receiving constant water.. But much to my surprise and enjoyment, the entire balance was encrusted in a thin coat of hard ice upon my arrival. I shot photos briefly during sunrise but the cold was more than I could handle for extended periods of time.. not to mention that a metal tripod grows ice very quickly around creek water..   So, knowing it would be freezing all day, I left the balance alone to evolve with the weather…

I found even more awe as i returned for sunset light (on the right).. Not only was the light softer, but the ice had GROWN AND become translucent when before it was semi opaque.. I imagine the translucence happened because of the steady freeze..? not sure… but it was damn beautiful!! I felt incredibly privileged to witness such magic and proud of myself for having a part in its existence.. :D

Day 3

Day 3 was a crucial turning point in the strength of the ice as temperatures rose back above zero by late morning.  I knew that as soon as the air warmed, the ice would break down relatively quickly.  The more interesting new element today with open sky and sunlight was observing the how the direct sunlight interacted with the ice.  The balance became extremely brilliant later in the day as the sun began shining on it from behind. The rocks literally sat within a glowing ice cocoon.. :)

Day 4

Day 4 required very close observation as I KNEW temperatures would either melt the ice significantly and either leave the rocks in balance, or cause collapse through small shifts to the rocks.. So I sat. and waited. and watched.. and relaxed… snapping constant photos. :)

There was a crucial point where I realized that the rocks had in fact been nudged out of balance somehow by the ice.  The reason they did not fall is because the ice hugged the rocks completely and therefore did not need much strength to hold the top rock in a near-balance position. I noticed it was off balance by zooming in to take photos and realizing the balance point looked mysteriously smaller, as if touching on a single point (instead of 3) while resting into the receding ice.

At this point i was able to very carefully adjust the top rock so it was once again in balance.. However, I was unsure if the ice had twisted anything else out of balance lower down… The balance remained for now…

In the last photo, you can see how the rock is not resting in the ice anymore. At this point I had rebalanced it, the adjusted balance stood for at least an hour before the ice buckled enough, and nudged the increasingly unstable rocks out of equilibrium.  The collapse aligned almost perfectly with the disappearing sun.. :)

I find it interesting that this balance came into and out of being at the sunset moment of different days.. This was the first sunset. The balance would finally come to collapse at the precise minute of it’s fourth sunset.. :)

Weathering Time

Perhaps the interesting part of building a large garden is observing its passage through time and weather.. :)  So far, each balance in the overall garden has proven to be relatively sturdy, with the core holding strong for nearly a week.

*Again, I do not normally recommend leaving rock balances standing unless the situation makes it safe to do so… Let’s see.. I’ve been the only human in sight to be crawling around in a freezing creek for the last 5 days..ha.. the water is painfully cold… I imagine it is safe. :)  I actually love watching people stop and take pictures with curiosity about how the rocks got there… especially in the freezing creek.. to an inexperienced passerby, the sight must somewhat confounding :D

Sunrise

This sunrise was particularly beautiful watching the sunlight comb in my direction.. through the distant garden this time.. :) I tried wetting all the rocks again hoping for the same instant freeze I experienced in the previous “Frozen Sunrise” of Day 3. But… this morning was less frigid. The water froze but much slower.. Again I really enjoy the drastic difference in light character in the mornings :)

Another important part of any garden’s flow is human traffic levels and changes.  In the next picture, I can describe the layout of this huge area a bit more. The garden in the background of all single rocks, was very obvious to passing joggers, cyclists, and walkers…  The immediate garden where the camera is shooting from is much more secluded and hard to notice simply due to terrain and relative path location.  Very few people even noticed this immediate garden.. But most of the same people stopped to look at the distant garden.. So.. In a way, the distant garden is where most of the chaos element exists. chaos as in unpredictability due to increased human attention.  It would only be a matter of time before awareness caught on and spread from the distant to the more immediate core cluster.

Sunset

Normally my favorite light is around sunrise and sunset, so I’ve been returning to record the weathering of my garden at those times…Here is the status of the garden at sunset… as usual i like wetting all the rocks with creek water.. at this point it is almost a natural reflex upon finishing a balance in the water.. almost like an initiation.. if the rocks can hold up through a slight water splashing, then so it goes… they remain standing.. :)  splashing water also gets me very familiar with the strength of each balance.. Of course this procedure tunes into mastery through tons of practice, repetition, errors.. EXPERIENCE… by noticing what kind of water splashing the balance can resist I begin to get a sense for what kind of wind it can withstand also. :)

***

This garden as a whole, both sections, each balance, is definitely one of the toughest, inadvertently,  I’ve created. There must be a reason i’ve become so enthralled by this garden… Now in hindsight, I’m realizing this garden is all part of an organically flowing system of “stepping stones” leading to something exciting and unknown… Through the whole evolution of this garden, my awareness has been slowly shifting from the immediate foreground garden, to the garden in the distance.. Through placing all those distant rocks, I also have done a fair bit of exploring and observation in that distant location as well.. :)

“Certain things catch your eye, But pursue only those that capture the heart.” – Unknown

Expansion

This garden was the first I had built in this specific location.. However in the distance of the camera frame is a much more familiar location, which I visited several times last summer.  The background location came into my current awareness during Day 3′s placement of two rocks back there.  It looked rather dead in the distance compared to my immediate cluster of balance.

Sunset Day 4

Today I simply realized the potential to create another focus for my garden in the distant background.  My goal was waves in my overall perspective, and I grew increasingly joyful in realizing the expansion.  Although in the distant background, all those rocks held quite a distinct energy in close vicinity.  On fractal scales, each garden; foreground and background, can be viewed as their own individual balances… each balanced in themselves down to individual rocks… but then can combine into a greater balance collectively up the scale.  Similar to galactic clusters in a sense… There is a spike in energy among the height of these gardens.. I LOVE sitting with them and walking among them..

“An experienced practitioner of the discipline works spontaneously while intuitively placing each stack at location where there is corruption of the energy fields of our world. The underlying science is best described as acupuncture for the earth and bio-system. Stone balancing = shamanic healing practice.”

~ Jim Needham (“The Rockstacker“)