Although I can't tell you what day or where I was on the trail, I distinctly remember struggling, as usual in a climb, with my mental outlook on it all. Perhaps it was during the extreme heat and humidity of the first week. Or maybe it was in the second week when I was discouraged by the realization that I was having a harder time carrying a pack than in previous years. I … [Read more...] about Gentle Calling
2018
What I Discovered in Vermont
What did I discover hiking 140 miles or so through Vermont? 1. First, I love Vermont. 2. I tried to have conversations with local people when I was in town. The Vermont people I met care about their land and love to be outdoors—hiking, boating, camping, skiing, fishing, hunting. They are serious about recycling, passionate about education as a priority, are concerned … [Read more...] about What I Discovered in Vermont
In the Cool of the Day
By the time I walk in this evening, the blackness of my dog to guide in waning light, I am abandoning myself to the smell of sweetened June shrubs, to deep listening, fine-tuned to crickets and frogs, to reliance on night-vision. No matter. The shadows and absence of color shift my eyes on discerning the path. Yet the … [Read more...] about In the Cool of the Day
An Afternoon Walk with Mary Oliver
I had a chance to walk 4 miles along McCormick Road this afternoon. I let Mary Oliver's questions in her poem "Gratitude" guide my observations. What did you notice? The joy of legs walking; the smell of tiny points of snow tossed in the air. What did you hear? The calling of barred owls and red-headed woodpeckers to their mates; the crackle of leaf litter as camouflaged … [Read more...] about An Afternoon Walk with Mary Oliver