Landscapes of the Sacred 1

Mount Tahoma is a giant mountain located near the Pacific Northwest standing about 14,408 feet tall. The mountain was discovered in the year 1792 by George Vancouver, a British Navigator. George tried naming the mountain after an officer in the Royal Navy, “but Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest had always known its true name, Tahoma” “The Mountain That Was God” (Lane 91). What interested me about this reading was the way the author was describing the mountain and the way he made a connection with him and the mountain. He made it seem like one of the most beautiful sacred places in the world. “With pain I knew myself hollow and naked before those great trees. But suddenly came the absurd and happy thought that I could leave my blessing, if nothing else” (Lane 96).