Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Time in Nature

Laura has decided to begin going on a hike every weekend if possible and has invited me along. That's certainly more often than I had planned to go initially, but I like the idea of spending time together someplace other than on a couch, so I'm down for a hike any time she is.

Hiking is more than just a nice date opportunity for me, though.

I'm an inside person. I could spend the rest of my life right here in this room, connected to the Internet, for the rest of my life and not complain. I am totally, unapologetically attached to the comforts of civilization.

That said, nature holds wonders you really just can't experience from a computer desk. (Yet.) For instance, a few days ago we went to walk a short trail in nearby Saguaro National Park. Although the trail itself wasn't as awesome as the canyon trails we've been to before, there were tons of things to experience along the trail that wound through the desert: the hum of bees all around, pollinating the desert flowers; an abandoned copper mine, and the scars it left on the desert surface; a chance meeting with a pair of horse riders at the top of a hill; a huge jackrabbit, braving the desert sun as he forages along the trail.

Consider that my account of that hike, by the way.

The idea of a mountain being majestic never sets in until you've actually been near one. It's an awe that never gets old, and never gets conveyed through a photograph. Same for rivers and waterfalls, animals in the wild, and the simple joy of being surrounded by life on all sides.

I won't say that nature is better than civilization (I love air conditioning), but there's probably some immeasurable value in spending some time in each world.

2 comments:

  1. The mountains in Switzerland continued to feel unreal even when I was on top of one. Felt like an old-school Hollywood landscape poster.

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    1. That sounds incredible.

      I would guess that mountains are just a bit more fascinating to people like us, who grew up with nothing along the horizon but trees and sky, than they are to people who lived around them all their lives. But maybe not.

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