Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
John Burroughs
" I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see." ~ John Burroughs
pedestrianism, or our need as a people to cultivate the art. I think it would tend to soften the national manners, to teach us the meaning of leisure, to acquaint us with the charms of the open air." ~ John Burroughs
Burroughs was born in the Catskills and although he traveled far and wide to go on nature expeditions, hike and camp and talk nature with men like Theodore Roosevelt, Luther Burbank, John Muir, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison, he was always overjoyed to get back to the Catskill ~ Hudson Valley region.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Mysteries
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Catskills Region
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hiking Update
A heavy work schedule and some thunderstorms have kept me from hiking as much as I'd like to. But I was lucky to be able to hike when I could. One hike was a sweet unplanned ramble lasting nearly eight hours. There is a lot to be said for having meals outdoors and wandering aimlessly, just exploring. Rain today but that's okay.
It is no use to grumble and complain;
It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice;
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain -
Why, rain's my choice.
~James Whitcomb Riley
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Bridge Thoughts
The bridge has been an excellent symbol for me lately, since I have work deadlines. Hiking helps me think more clearly and I'm more productive. I have my eye on a spot that would be a perfect outdoor "office" for a few hours every week, and I can see part of the bridge from it. You may see me sitting there on a yoga mat with pencil and notebook.
"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."
~ Jim Rohn
Monday, May 10, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Time Travel
Some places feel wild even if they aren't really. They've seen mining and quarrying and logging and dam-building and all sorts of activity. When I took this snapshot, I had been wandering through a very serene and wild feeling world, on my way to Bald Mountain. I didn't see or hear another human being for over 3 hours of steady wandering.
I hope to vacation in The Adirondacks this September. Here are some Bill McKibben quotes from his book
"Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks."
" I'd hiked Giant several times in my life--the best was on the first anniversary of meeting my wife, Sue, when we walked up in a grey fog with a bottle of champagne, only to have the clouds instantly part as we sat on the summit, pulled away like stage curtains to reveal the late-September glory below."
"A world without Giant Mountain, or a Giant Mountain with a toll road on it, or a gondola, or an ATV mosh pit, seems more worth fighting against than ever. 'Forever Wild' as the New York Constitution puts it, even if 'wild' means a little less than it used to."
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Like a kid in the Park
Hike time: 4.5 hours (rained for about twenty mins, but some of it was mist and sunshowers.) Very comfortable hike, but 20 mins of it were stops to take photos/ catch my breath on the steep climbs --also took 20 mins to sit & eat lunch.
I was going to wander around some more, but dark clouds rolled in with some good wind gusts, I decided to go home--like a kid, I always get this feeling of disappointment when it's time to leave the park. There was more rain, but not the thunderstorm that was predicted.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Big & Little
Monday, May 3, 2010
Around the Next Bend
When I walk, since I'm often walking in the same areas, I try to go off trail and explore a bit. Yesterday I walked down a hidden lane on my way to Rockland Lake State Park and spotted a sign promising an encounter with a rooster. I didn't have to wait long--the instant he spotted me he came running up the hill as fast as he could, in an attitude of extreme huffiness. I did not grab one of the sticks.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Nature Reclaims
A Walk Through History
All that remains of Doodletown today are three cemeteries, lots of walls, foundations, steps... wisteria that once covered the porches of Victorians and humble cottages now grows rampant. All has returned to nature. It isn't a ghost town, it's alive with hikers and former residents who still enjoy a ramble through the place where they grew up. Sadness is mixed with being grateful that no part of their hamlet was paved over for a parking lot, but that it has become a hiking trail with many historic markers ... a popular place to wander and imagine what it was.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Walking as Medicine
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Walk on the Pier
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