Hiking With Nature Alone

When I hike by myself I’m not alone. Nature goes with me.

Nature is a companion who walks at my pace, and hides surprises along the trail, like yellow fungus on the backside of a tree. Sometimes nature talks so loudly that I can’t hear myself think, like when I’m standing at the bottom of a waterfall and feel the earth vibrate from the pounding water. Sometimes it murmurs so quietly that I have to get down on my knees and lean in close to hear what it’s saying.

The Presence of Place

When I go to Yosemite, I want to be alone with nature. As soon as I'm within the valley walls, a deep sense of peace settles over me. Every granite dome and peak looks glorious glowing in the sun. Even a nondescript spot on the valley wall below Yosemite Point is intricate with details, which I notice only because it is framed by tree branches where I'm momentarily standing. 

People travel to natural places in search for what is missing in their lives.

Morning Fog

Before dawn, fog moves up from the river, through the forest, and fills the woods behind my house. It’s a bit gloomy. Yesterday we had sunshine, and the brightness brought a surge of energy. Today, not so much. I want to put on a sweater, sit in a chair by the window, drink hot tea, and read a book about someone else’s adventures.

As the sun rises, the white particles of mist turn and twirl on the whims of the breeze. It looks like a cloud of fine snow is dancing.

Then I notice.

Walking

Out walking this morning, I’m shocked to find that nature has gotten along just fine without me. This time I’m not heading into the woods. I’m walking on the streets of my neighborhood.

I haven’t been outside for a week, not really, being busy with tasks inside the house. I don’t count driving to the store as being outdoors. The car is just a mobile room.

In the meantime, the leaves have popped out on trees and converted their empty branches to umbrellas of thick green. Bushes and plants are flowering, and birds are filling the air with chirps, chortles, whistles, and songs.

Change Your Neighborhood

If we are afraid of being in the woods by ourselves, if we don’t feel energized by hiking through the mountains or walking on the beach of an ocean, then we have cut ourselves off from one of our main sources of wisdom.

When being in nature makes us feel alive, when we have a special place that renews our spirit, then we will work to protect it. This is where our ecology begins.

Our doing something makes a difference, even if it doesn’t seem like much. Imagine if everyone stood up and protected their sacred place in nature. The one percent standing up and protecting a small area of nature makes a difference. No, not that one percent.

Boundaries

(photo of the top of Yosemite Falls)

We all have boundaries that we don’t want to cross, whether they are emotional, physical, or mental, because we get comfortable where we are.

Taking risks and crossing physical boundaries isn’t a problem for me. Late one October, I traveled to Yosemite anticipating a week of dry, cool, but sunny weather. Perfect for hiking through the glories of fall. One morning I came out of my tent to find that winter had moved in and the mountains around me had turned white. I went on a hike to the top of Yosemite Falls because I wanted to see what this looked like.

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On the switchbacks going up the canyon wall, snow begins to appear at the 6000-foot elevation. It gets deeper the higher I go, making the upward hike slippery and a little dicey.

Land Prophets

This month, as April encourages us to linger outdoors and play, we honor the death of Rachel Carson on the 14^th, remember the birth of John Muir on the 21^st and celebrate Earth Day on the 22^nd.

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The Land Prophets dedicate their lives to showing others how to do less damage to the land. They confront people in politics and businesses who exploit the land only to make money, who listen to special interest groups rather than the everyday people they represent, and who betray the public trust as trustees of the land. These are some of our prophets.

In California, John Muir saw sheep destroying the wilderness meadows of the Sierra Nevada and worked to get them removed. In the process, he helped create the Sierra Club and the National Park system that has saved large tracts of wilderness areas. He also wanted to save Hetch Hetchy, but the politicians in San Francisco sold nature out for votes.

We Are Trees

Tiny buds on the trees are giving the woods behind my house a light green sheen.

Last week I noticed a beautiful bare tree. Without any leaves, its entire structure was visible —the trunk, main branches, even the smaller branches as they tapered out into thousands of tiny fingers. The tree was so symmetrical that I gazed at it in admiration, and then I had to leave because I was in a car at a stoplight.

We are like trees.

Send Them Outside to Play

If you have no relationship with nature,

you have no relationship with humanity.

-- Krishnamurti

The landscape of one’s home is always sacramental.

 It molds our character. It’s the soil out of which we grow.

 It’s where we either encounter the divine

or we never make the connection.

-- Seamus Heaney

If we have a relationship with nature, we do better in relationships with people because we realize that there are bigger truths than our own personal ones, and we can learn from nature. Nature has a way of humbling us, and reminding us that we’re not in control outdoors. In nature we become aware of a greater force at work in the world.

Listen to the Dawn

On Nourishment 

Listening To The Dawn.

A short essay of mine published by Mindful Matter.

 http://www.holstee.com/blogs/mindful-matter/113326533-meditation-listen-to-the-dawn