Hi guys. Here's our blog. I'll get on and write something more later. See if you're able to post photos on this. Either way, write a little bit about what you were thinking about during different parts of the day, perhaps observations that you might not have had in the more structured environment of school.
mrh
That’s a pretty righteous spot on top of Stelzer ridge -- the boulders, the secret cave, the view. I’ve been up there maybe a half dozen times, and the thing that always strikes me is how little time it takes to feel pretty far away. A quick drive, a quick hike, and there you are: AWAY. I could imagine sitting in that cave and watching a summer thunderstorm come in from the east. Be a nice way to spend a July afternoon, watching the lightning in the distance and writing poems by thunderstorm.
ReplyDeleteI do think it takes some time, though, to experience fully the master cleanse that being in the natural world can offer. I read a piece once written by a guy who tried to follow Thoreau’s route along the Merrimack river in New England. He said it took at least two days to really start to feel different, to stop thinking so much about the world left behind, to turn off the non-stop CNN news of the self that runs through our heads. At some point something clicked and he started feeling more and more a part of the environment, and less and less like a guy on a jailbreak. Maybe tomorrow, when we scatter ourselves on the boulders spaced out across the snow filled landscape, we can start to feel a little of that.
Pack smart tomorrow. I have two sleds and one extra pair of gloves.
Building off of what Mr. Harrington said, I had the same sense that we were beginning to feel the freedom on nature, but not quite there yet. One of the things that I found today was that I enjoyed walking in the front of the pack much more than the rear. In the back of the group I noticed that I would look at my feet or the backs of the heads of the people in front of me. In the lead I think I spent more time looking at nature and felt its calming effects much more. Tomorrow I look forward to having more time to blaze my own trail and some time alone to get in touch with nature.
ReplyDeleteI think today every one of us found a moment for ourselves, whether it be on the buses freestyle sesh or the vast surroundings of nothing but nature in the lakeside trials. I think my favorite part of the day, no offense Mr. Aiston, was seeing Aiston's phone drop though his pocket down the rocks, to the ground. At that moment i felt like our group became one. I felt the escape from society that Mr. H mentioned above. From that point on everything around me seemed more natural than it ever has before. I think all the events leading up to our hike, got me in the moment to spend the day with quality people in the great outdoors. Although we had a football with us throughout the day, i felt like it was a good balance of society joining us on out journey into solitude. The football was a good balance between being completely submerged in nature but also not to close to the things we are so familiar with day in and day out. After day one of a great week to come, i am already in touch with ideas and thoughts that i never would have thought were in me. Thanks to CH and Aiston and the rest of you boys.
ReplyDeleteKevin, you’ll have ample opportunity to blaze your own trail tomorrow. The beauty of snow travel is that everything is fair game. All you need to do is look for an untouched expanse and lay down fresh tracks. Regardless of where those fresh tracks lead, I guarantee it will be somewhere quiet – the snow tends to swallow sound.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes tell people that this is my favorite teaching week of the year, but I'm beginning to realize that's a lie. This week is my favorite learning week of the year. I'm right there alongside the rest of you this week, learning, though I have to admit that Nature didn’t teach me much today. Today I was too busy running from imaginary bees, throwing the football around, and telling questionable jokes about Fence-Builder McGregor. Today it was more about Solidude than Solitude. Today I did not listen like a good student should. Today was about decompression and good times. Tomorrow, I'll let Nature in.
That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything. I learned that Colin is a liability, that Raphie can do 1,004 push-ups, that Otter Boxes are stout, and a good many other things. Mainly, though, I learned that we've got a good crew this time around.
Here's a bit of what I wrote as I sat on the boulder this morning:
It’s still strange to me, going east to get away. When I was a kid, it was always west: 16 hours to the front range of the Rockies, 22 to Moab. That’s where the west began. Now the west begins fifteen minutes to the east. Wacky.
I block out the white-noise of the generator and let the bird chatter in. The boulder pulls the heat out of me. This thermodynamic exchange lets me know I’m still a part of all this. Sometimes I forget that, of late especially, but it’s a familiar feeling, a comforting feeling, a feeling played out so many mornings in my life after climbing out of a tent in this range, that canyon: the cold rock drawing my heat.
Up in the tree now, my arm wedged in a crook, writing. Ants on my notebook, just there (an arrow drawn). Ants on my hand. Biting ants.
Looking forward to The Water of the Woods.
Robert, yes, my phone's descent was a metaphor. So is the hole in my pocket. Tomorrow, I will climb to a high, exposed place and put all our worries and cares into my pocket. Then we can watch them fall to the desert floor, far below.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we are not quite there yet, but that's not to say today wasn't productive. We had a few moments of solitude; I really enjoyed sitting on the dam staring at the foam by the small waterfall, watching the sun reflect off of it into multiple bright colors, and it was fun to look at the morph into odd shapes. We got a small taste of what's to come, but I feel like today was our time to get into a groove as a group and prepare ourselves for the rest of the week. We mostly spent our time bonding with each other, tossing the football around and talking about awesome music and sports. I think the best moment was when we tried to disturb the beehive. I've found that a great way to bond with someone else is to do something stupid with them, and I think we accomplished that today. So now that we have established a good, close group, I cannot wait to really experience the solitude part of this course, as well as to come up with more brilliantly awful ideas with you guys.
ReplyDeleteDamn. That was deep. My favorite lesson today was learning where Ents came from, thanks to Colin and one lucky oak tree. I wrote this when we broke off today, before we embarked on our hikes:
ReplyDelete"There's something about round rocks that's comforting, but jagged rocks that's inspiring. Here I sit, in wild, Wildcat Canyon, comfortably on a squat round rock. The view is fantastic from here, no doubt, but as I look to the east, I see the ugliest crag I've laid eyes on. Yet, I want to sit upon that one ten times more than my current station. Rough edges inspire.
When the Athenians sought to pay tribute to the heavens, they looked not to the smooth beaches and benevolent ocean which served as their blue vein to the rest of the world, but up. Up to the hideous mount which they built their city around. At the Acropolis, they erected a home worthy of the gods.
Meanwhile, an ocean of sea, land, and time away, a man known simply as John ventured through the crests and valleys of a wild island of gold, California. Mr. Muir conquered the terrain as one man, but claimed it for all. There, he laid eyes on a dome—well half of one—made of hard, stubborn granite. Yet, despite the solitude of this Yosemite Valley, he agreed with the native tradition of calling Half Dome motherly—a beacon of warmth in a pit of wild. This tradition comes from the tan outline worn from the rock of a woman-like figure on the dome's smooth face. In the shadow of harsh, stern rock and frigid, babbling rivers, John Muir saw Half Dome, and took comfort; comfort like me, squatting on a nice round rock in wild, Wildcat Canyon, looking to the east, and seeing an acropolis."
Wise words from all of us...
ReplyDeleteI found that the drive to and from school to be the hardest parts of my day. Like any other weekday, the somber drive to school is a long one. There is always the guilty feeling of not finishing the reading for history, or not studying for the math test. But today on the drive over to school, the thought of hiking tall mountain peaks and river beds pushed out the anxious thoughts that have become synonymous with driving on Linda Vista Rd for me.
It was a nice change of pace. It was a nice change of scenery from zero period Biology. I enjoyed every moment of the day. And was reluctant to see the day end on such a high note as Mr. H's stellar parking job.
I am really excited for tomorrow, especially now since I picked up some waterproof hiking boots and some hiking pants. I can now retire my CLARKS.
"Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain tops are within reach."
-- John Muir
Tony, something tells me that at least one of tomorrow's "brilliantly awful ideas" will involve my sled: Ludwig von Hermes. He brings out the best, and worst, in man.
ReplyDeleteToday was the start of our transition into the great solitary writers we are about to become. The first little bit of writing we did before the hike really set the mood for the whole day for me. Just thinking those thoughts puts you in a mindset that is ready for the day. Like others have said before me, this was a great first day, and full of good bonding moments. I know that if we are able to bond like we did in one day this week is going to be amazing. Aistons phone fiasco was by far the highlight of the day for me as well. Metaphor or not it was quite entertaining. I look forward to doing more solitary writing like we did today in the future. Writing in different environments like the snow tomorrow or the dessert later in the week will be beneficial I am sure. I feel like it really lets us learn about ourselves, but we also get the opportunuty to learn about each other. We connect to a much deeper, concentrated level when we are out in the wild, nothing to which a classroom could compare...
ReplyDeleteI wrote yesterday about how nature will never give you the same thing twice. Whether its difference in trail conditions, weather, or the people you are with, you will never have the same experience twice. I have been in a lot of different natural places and never had the same experience twice. There is something about the natural world that makes you think too. The peace and quiet and the ambience of nature make you think about more than just yourself. You think more deeply about things when you are in nature. Thats as far as I got.
ReplyDeleteI think our day in the snow is going to be a perfect continuation of what we did yesterday. whether it be bad ideas (I was thinking sled backflip), snowball fights, or solitary writing among the snowy trees, we will have a great day that we will remember for a long time. I think this is one thing from senior year I will remember very fondly, and I couldnt ask for a better group
I really liked what Colin had to say about never encountering the same thing twice. The outdoors is a mystery you never know what your going to get. I wrote about the gloomy covered mountain pastures and the sent of rich soil and fresh greenery wafting from the earth beneath. In my time alone I got in-touch with my inter nature. I closely listened to the mating call of the Ruby Crowned Kinglet. Heard from a distance in intervals of three seconds it was as if I was part of their bird conversation. Their prime chirping aroused me - in the physical sense of course - and I too began exchange some chirps of my own.
ReplyDeleteNature is cool