Myst vs. the Pacific Northwest

Brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, as we know, dreamed up the mythos of Myst. But how much was only a dream? The adventurous duo loved trekking through the woods and along the coasts of the Pacific Northwest. Even the Cyan Worlds headquarters, located in Spokane, WA, sits between the forested foothills of two mountain ranges.

Last week, I somehow found myself trudging along a path of moss-splotched pieces of wood winding through the forests of the Olympic Peninsula, rimmed with sixty miles of undeveloped coastline. I remembered what I’d heard over the dinner table the day before, confirmed by the blogs of strangers: this place inspired Myst.

Here is Myst…

and here is what I saw:

Anyone remember the Stoneship age? These are called sea stacks. Even the telescope was there, mounted on top of one of them and operated by a couple of wandering naturalists who let me take a look. Next to one of the countless rocks that had emerged at low tide, there was a dark clump of movement – a bob of sea lions playing. Should I have taken better note of their position? Could these floppy-footed creatures have been key to my expedition?

Here is the Channelwood age…

and here is the boardwalk through the Olympic forest. Do they look similar?

Here is Myst…

…and here is the Olympic Coast. A little reminiscent.

The Olympic Coast not only looks like Myst – it feels like a mystery. Sometimes what looks like a small depression between rocks will turn out to be a passageway, opening into a deep clearing with a huge wooden swing. Here and there, touches of civilization. When a fallen tree at high tide hinders the path, there might be a thick rope you can follow up a steep, root-woven slope, around the great roots, and back down another wild slope. Sometimes the woods seem tempting as a shortcut, but you have to find your way back out of them. Tide pools hide bright ruby starfish, purple urchins, neon green anemones, smooth stones of infinite color, chalk runes. The next cove always reveals something different.

So yeah, I sort of got to experience Myst IRL.

If you want more Myst, but lack access to the northwest coast at the moment, you might check out the recently reestablished Uru Live, now called the “Myst Online: Restoration Experiment,” which will depend on the efforts of individual players more than ever before.