Before the onset of winter I recently visited the Canandaigua Lake overlook on route 12 near Naples, NY. It was early in the summer on July 1 that that I wrote “Beyond the Clouds in the Finger Lakes” after visiting this spot. But most of the comments that I received were from spammers, trying to sell me their wares of drugs and home medical remedies. And my reference to the clouds was interpreted by some as smoking “wacky tobacky. I have no use for any of such nonsense, but my post sure did raise a lot of thoughts and discussion!
The natural beauty of the overlook does cause one to stop and to think. The vastness of space from the southern end of Canandaigua Lake to about ten miles north up the lake brings thoughts of how the ice flows of some 14,000 years ago gouged out the Finger Lakes.
I can’t help to think about Bare Hill or Genundowa, just across the lake. This hill according to legend was the origin of the Great Hill People (the Seneca Indian Nation). It is on this hill that representatives from the Seneca Nation start a bonfire the Saturday before Labor Day to celebrate their harvest season. And all of the “flat landers” join in by lighting flares and fires around Canandaigua Lake to celebrate the end of summer.
I am sure that many of the Great Hill People visited the same spot that I am standing on and gazed upon the hill where their nation began. You can technically say that Bare Hill is just a pile of rocks, left by the last ice age and covered by trees, or you can quietly meditate on the convergence of time and space which come together at this spot. I keep coming back here. And the best way to enjoy the scene is to release all thoughts from your mind and to just quietly enjoy the moment.