Forest of Arden

On my way up to Northern California, I picked up a hitchhiker, one night. She was an exotic dancer (as we called them) and said yes when I asked if she would like to go with me. I think there was some reason why she wanted to get out of town.

We packed up a few things, all we had, and headed up north. I tried desperately to find photos of the lodge, but as I may have mentioned, it burned down some years ago and there doesn't seem to be a record that I can find. But the lodge was beautiful. Huge stone fireplace and the ceilings were held up with solid hand hewn redwood beams. Massive.

The little cabins were cute, and we were given one of the ones that was pretty close to habitable. Didn't take much to set ourselves up. They had a bedroom, living room, a kitchenette and bathroom. Most of them had old style clawfoot tubs. 

There isn't much to tell about my time there. I fixed up several of the cabins, working during the day and enjoyed quiet evenings in the redwood forest. There weren't any other residents, other than a cook and manager.

I do remember one memorable evening, when the cook invited me to take a "trip" with him to a local, black sand beach. It was about a 30 minute drive away, but on another planet. We were alone on a stretch of beach, with black volcanic sand. We made a bonfire. Now when I say bonfire, this was no small affair. There were 50 foot trees, aplenty, that had washed up on the shore. We found a few that had arranged themselves into some sort of triangle and brought some more over to add to the mass of wood. Then we started the fire and the flames would leap as high as I have ever seen any flames.

Naturally, we got naked. That's just what you would do, under the influence of psychedelics, on a black sand beach in the middle of the night. It was cold, but we would take turns running out of the warmth of the fire, and stand at the edge of the water and look up at the stars and gaze out over the water. I think that it would have been a moving experience under any circumstances. I remember uncovering the riddles of the universe.... just can't remember what they were.

As time went on, the relationship between Ginger (my hitchhiker friend) and myself got kind of complicated. And eventually, she tired of the Forest of Arden and wanted to return to Hollywood. I couldn't blame her. I am a city person myself, and while the natural beauty that surrounded me was fantastic, I did need to resume some sort of real life. We returned to Hollywood and left the forest behind.

Did the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ever visit? I do not know. Did they ever finish the renovation? I do not know. When we returned, Kent Morrill let me stay in the house, again and even let me stay in the basement apartment that he used. I think Lance may have been out of town at the time.

But I was back in Hollywood.