Remembering:
After your picture is complete, turn back to the tree and draw the picture again. Look at the tree and try to capture as many details as possible on the paper. When done, match the two drawings together and see how similar they are. Do this with various trees, shrubs and plants. Eventually you will begin to see the drawings are more and more similar to each other as you learn to pay attention to detail when getting to know this wonderful spirit of Nature.
When I was doing Environmental Programs for the Forest Service, I use to have an Interpretive Hike that I added to the program. There were times I had 150 nine year old kids on a 2 1/2 mile trail at one time. No matter how often I said at the beginning of the trail “if you are queit, you will SEE more, HEAR more, LEARN more, ….” I can honestly say, there are very few ways to keep that many people quiet on a trail. So I devised a plan.
About halfway through the hike, at a beautiful spot beside the Ocoee River, I had them all sit down for a “break”. THEN….I pulled out paper and pencils from my backpack and passed them around. The 1st 5 minutes I had no rules other than write down everything you hear. The lists were short and contained nothing but coughs, talking, laughing, etc. Then the rules changed. The goal was, for 15 minutes, no one could speak. They were told to write down everything they heard in that 15 minutes.
Not only did this give me a needed break from all of the noise that many people can bring to a trail, it gave them a chance to SEE through HEARING. It made a difference in each of them. I always noticed the next mile of the hike was much quieter!
It was amazing what some of the kids would write down and the conversations that started when we all read our lists out loud. Discussion about the wind and hearing the results it causes. Trying to determine WHAT kind of bird and not just “bird”. The different sounds the water makes on various rocks in the river.
When we shut our mouth and open our ears, the world can change so drastically for us.
One of my groups doing the exercise described above.
Look at this picture, it looks like a random pic of a scene you would encounter anywhere there are a few trees.
Did you miss the Bear?
In this busy world, it has become difficult for humans to shed themselves of the ill effects of society and enjoy those gifts of Nature. I cannot begin to tell you how many people I have taken on interpretive hikes and in the first mile I hear, “Why aren’t we seeing anything?”
I believe it may have been Tom Brown, Jr. who said something to the effect that “Happiness is not found at the end of the trail but along the way”. I discovered this for myself long ago and have tried to teach this to others over time. I use to get very frustrated with an ex boyfriend/hiking partner. When we got up at 4am to get to teh trailhead by daylight, he would say “we are going hiking TO Falls Branch Falls today” and his quest for the day was to make it to the Falls in record time and back out of the wilderness area to the car. I would say, “we are exploring Jeffrey’s Hell today around Falls Branch Falls” and I would be about a mile or more behind him on the trail, snapping pictures of fungi, watching birds look for seeds or following a track to its source.
One cannot enter Nature, with the expectation of becoming more “aware” with the mindset that there is a specific goal to attain from the experience and if that goal is not reached, the experience itself was a loss. I use to teach Environmental Education for the Forest Service and it never failed that I would have about 60 seven year old kids at the beginning of a trail and hear “I hope we see a bear today, if we don’t see a bear I am going to be very disappointed”. I made sure, in my introductory spill before the hike started, that we will see tons of amazing things along the trail and what we are meant to see will present itself….if we open our mind to it. To experience it ALL in one trip, would not only overload our weak brains, it would give us nothing else to look forward to in Nature.
It is a mistake to have pre-set expectation when attempting to practice nature awareness. Sometimes I see more by spending 3 hour in the first half mile of a trail, than if I had hiked the entire 7 miles. I once planned to spend the day zigzagging through Citico Wilderness Area and ended up only walking 2 miles on one trail. Why? Because I discovered some amazing tracks in the snow that quickly had me on my knees, putting scat in a ziplock bag, taking pictures of tracks and following them to the source. What was the source? A chipmunk. Nothing as “amazing” as a bear, boar or deer…. just a simple little chipmunk that I enjoyed watching for over an hour.
Another tip…. SLOW DOWN. People walk way too fast in modern society and carry this bad habit into the forest with them. You will miss so many things if you do not slow down. While you are walking, do not just look straight ahead, or down. Stop, look around, look up at the sky, look into the shadowy places, look in streams, gently turn over rocks and look at the bottoms (you will find wonderful creatures there), look at rotting logs, moss, trees, spend time with them, speak to them, touch the ground, smell things, taste things….enjoy. These are things one cannot do if they are speed walking through Nature.
Live in an urban area and you are finding it difficult to spend time in Nature, you do not have forest nearby that you can explore? Go to a Park or in your backyard (if you have one). You can generally find some form of Nature, alive and thriving, in just a 1×1 foot area of ground. Get down on your knees, take a magnifying glass, pull the grass back and see what is underneath, look at each blade of grass and determine what is different about each one. Remember where your small piece of Nature is and visit it regularly. Carry a log with you and document what you see. Read this occasionally and see how it changes over time.
We can all enjoy Nature and be more aware of the pleasures it has to offer us. It only takes the will to discover, the desire to enhance your senses, and the patience to step out of “civilized society” and learn.
“I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree….” ~ Joyce Kilmer
Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and Slickrock Wilderness Area is a place not far from here that is something everyone needs to experience at least once in this lifetime. Many people have never seen a Virgin Forest and this is one of the few left in existence.
There are trees in this forest that are estimated to be 400-500 years old. To stand beside and touch one of these magnificent beauties is a spiritual experience. There are Yellow Poplars that over over 100 feet tall and over 20 feet in circumference. To see these amazing trees, you must hike a fairly easy trail that is a 2 mile loop.
Here is a link to more information about the forest.
In addition, there is a neat link that has a Real Time Camera in the forest and is pretty cool to check out once in awhile. That can be found HERE. Today there is a small amount of snow on the mountains.
Here are a few pictures I have taken in this area.
Me and Lakota hug a tree!
Stone People
Take a walk near a stream. As you walk slowly, listening to the water sings its endless song, the birds telling each other of your presence, a squirrel warning you not to get too close, the sound of your feet caressing the Earth, pick up a small stone every once in awhile and place it in your pocket. After collecting 10-15 stones, find a secluded, quiet place to sit. Lay all of the stones in front of you on the ground and choose one stone to become your friend. Spend 15 minutes at least with this stone in your hand, touch every part of the stone, caress it, roll it in your hand, trace all edges with your fingertips, learn everything the stone has to teach you. After doing this, make a small mark on the stone. You can either do this with a pencil, scrape it with another stone to leave a small identifiable mark, etc. Then place the stone back into the pile and mix them up well. At this time, close your eyes and mix the pile of stones up together. Keeping your eyes closed, begin picking up the stones one at a time. Feel them, talk to them, know them…..and do this with each stone until you are able to find YOUR stone that you just spent 15 minutes with. The trick is keeping your eyes closed and not peeking with the idea that you will know this stone by touch…not by sight. When you think you have found your stone, open your eyes and look for the mark.
Do not be discouraged if you do not find your stone in the beginning. This is an activity you can do often and with experience and developing a special connection to our Stone People, you will improve. This is a great activity for partners and also to do with children.
Something came to my mind today. Just a little while ago I was sitting here working and I suddenly remembered when I was hiking once in Jeffrey’s Hell. I was having a wonderful hike with someone. We were headed towards the Falls, taking our time and taking photos I planned to use later for my book. At the same tome we spotted some mushrooms on a piece of rotting log. They were so interesting. I had rarely seen them before. They were Birds Nest Mushrooms and were very unique. When you see them from a distance, you would never think they are as intricate as they are. I am putting up the pics we took from a slight distance and one close up. Inside each little one, when it opens, looks like a little nest of bird eggs. It is actually a fungus and the “eggs” are actually peridioles. Raindrops help dispense the spores that are inside the peridioles. When released, the have a little springy cord that attaches to a passing animal and this is how they spread.
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