Kobuk Valley National Park, a Zen meditation garden surrounded by lush boreal forest and incessant water flowing across the permafrost.

It began in the mortar of the ice age. The pestle was the thousands of feet of hardened ice, pressed downwards, crushing and grinding the underlying rock into powder and glacial flour. The glaciers gone; the cold arctic winds gathered the remaining sands into a box of boreal woods. Within this magnificent palate the Zen master of nature goes to work. First ripples, then waves until the sand forms massive crescents and barchans towering above the landscape. Building dunes upon dunes, then drawing ripples upon dunes, moving the grains with every breeze. When the prevailing winds settle, seasonal breezes can rake the grains into intricate cross patterns. Sorting the heavy minerals from light. Accentuating the surface with corduroy patterns. Using the sharp palate knife of blowing air to outline the ridges with sharp accents. Undulating and flowing, beautiful curved layers form across the landscape.

Any intruder, welcome or not, the footsteps of humans, bear or wolf exist only for a moment until the next breeze erases their presence.

Then there are the rivers, gently carving the edges, creating a pathway to add color. Life giving waters flooding the valley until the life regains its foothold, allowing the fir, spruce and pines that comprise the borders, the boreal forest. Ancient trees, small in stature, thick as thieves, blanketed underneath by the moss and berries. Steadfast in their place each tree a narrow wiry post toughened to withstand the cold of winter and living above the permafrost.

From this the Zen Master plucks the flowers and decorates their garden. It is a place to find quiet, to meditate, to walk with out thinking, to wander with out being lost. Kobuk Valley is natures Zen Meditation Garden.