So I like to hike. You know, get in the woods, smell the dirt and the trees. Get far enough enough that I can't hear a car or a plane anywhere. Get deep enough that I'm not totally sure where I am anymore, and start to wonder how long I would last if I just started walking in one direction (hate that friggin band... except their one single).
I think it's important that we do that (get deep into nature) at least once in a while. We encounter something there, something feral and older than we are ourselves. I was hiking to this glacier at (near) the top of a mountain range in Glacier National Park. The whole hike was following these old CCC trails (very common), carved into the mountainside. It was a winding trail, with many switchbacks, that ended with a narrow stairwell carved into a short cliff just before the summit. And there, at the top of the range, the trail ended, but the hike continued, over unmarked rock. I found the glacier, marked with a cairn at the spot of discovery We had left early, so I had plenty of time to sit there and overlook the range of rocky peaks.
That was an experience.
What was so fascinating about it all was that I didn't make the mountains, that no human engineered them to attract me there. It wasn't a theme park, wasn't Dubai, wasn't a gigantic ball of twine in Kansas. It was just rock, and it did not care that I found it beautiful or that I saw it at all.
And that's what we need. In this age where we have personal data appliances, customized information and entertainment every minute of every day, we as people and as a society need to remember what it's like to look at something and have it not look back at us. We need to remember that if we drop the burden of human civilization, the universe will keep calm and carry on (and, with the exception of viruses and rats, will probably be the better for it).
Then, we can go back to everything we've constructed, and it will be not so important. We, by extension, will be even less important. That's not a bad thing.
Also:
-Saw a Water Moccasin (or Cottonmouth) yesterday and that was cool. Kinda wanted to see if I could take a bite from him (but not enough to actually get bitten).
-Hiking in jeans and 90 degree heat is not advisable, but it worked.
-Funnel spiders are seriously the creepiest thing ever made. Saw a nest the size of a full-sized mattress the other day. Couldn't look directly at it, though, or the Spirit of God would come out and melt my face off. Well, probably not, but there's an outside chance that could happen with anything you look at.
-Click the ads (seriously, they don't give you viruses, people, not just by clicking on them), and go watch Drive; it's fantastic!
I think it's important that we do that (get deep into nature) at least once in a while. We encounter something there, something feral and older than we are ourselves. I was hiking to this glacier at (near) the top of a mountain range in Glacier National Park. The whole hike was following these old CCC trails (very common), carved into the mountainside. It was a winding trail, with many switchbacks, that ended with a narrow stairwell carved into a short cliff just before the summit. And there, at the top of the range, the trail ended, but the hike continued, over unmarked rock. I found the glacier, marked with a cairn at the spot of discovery We had left early, so I had plenty of time to sit there and overlook the range of rocky peaks.
That was an experience.
What was so fascinating about it all was that I didn't make the mountains, that no human engineered them to attract me there. It wasn't a theme park, wasn't Dubai, wasn't a gigantic ball of twine in Kansas. It was just rock, and it did not care that I found it beautiful or that I saw it at all.
And that's what we need. In this age where we have personal data appliances, customized information and entertainment every minute of every day, we as people and as a society need to remember what it's like to look at something and have it not look back at us. We need to remember that if we drop the burden of human civilization, the universe will keep calm and carry on (and, with the exception of viruses and rats, will probably be the better for it).
Then, we can go back to everything we've constructed, and it will be not so important. We, by extension, will be even less important. That's not a bad thing.
Also:
-Saw a Water Moccasin (or Cottonmouth) yesterday and that was cool. Kinda wanted to see if I could take a bite from him (but not enough to actually get bitten).
-Hiking in jeans and 90 degree heat is not advisable, but it worked.
-Funnel spiders are seriously the creepiest thing ever made. Saw a nest the size of a full-sized mattress the other day. Couldn't look directly at it, though, or the Spirit of God would come out and melt my face off. Well, probably not, but there's an outside chance that could happen with anything you look at.
-Click the ads (seriously, they don't give you viruses, people, not just by clicking on them), and go watch Drive; it's fantastic!
When my family lived in Georgia (the state, just to be clear) cottonmouths lived in the creek behind our house, under the tool shed, and in the bushes (which would have made an otherwise awesome fort). Understandably, my parents tore out this massive conglomeration of raspberry bushes in the middle of the yard. Their removal revealed this cute little tree that flourished once they were gone, but my brother and I were sad when the invasive, fruit-bearing shrub was gone. We hadn't had one since we lived in the UP of Michigan. Kinda cool to see the various climates they can survive.
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