So at college, my roomate Max told me and our suitemate Tape (we were the three that enjoyed the outdoors) about a day hike hosted by the Parks & Recreation society. It was awesome. We all got into a car with some other people (a driver, a girl I think, and two hippies).
It was funny, the ride down was a huge bonding moment for my roommate and I. Me being a societally conditioned introvert who was adverse to partying (and still is not a big one), I wasn't too close to many people in my suite. But on the ride down, one of us brought up the idea that Conkle's Hollow was named after an old man living in a hollow (whatever that is). We started using a deep old man voice, saying creepy things like "Why don't you come into my hollow here and sit 'cho self down on this hea' rock?" The voice eventually became a high voice like the creepy old man from Family Guy.
We were howlin' so hard!
Above: Inside the cabin, and the most bizarre multiple choice question ever.
We got there and went in a log cabin (looked like a great place to stay). We talked to a few people. A tour guide came in and showed us maps of Ohio's soil and other things. It was sort of interesting... sort of. Max, Tape and I were all starting to fall asleep, and we were laughing so hard (like when the guy said, 'this is interesting stuff,' we all tried to stifle our laughing).
We set out on the hike finally, and the tour guide kept stopping at every tree to talk about something, which made us laugh more. I asked why they called it Conkle's Hollow, and he said it was because an old man named Conkle came and lived here for a while, to which I looked at Max and said, "So the legends are true..." Hahaha.
One cool thing that the tour guide did point out was that there was a plant called Cherry Wood (I think that's what he called it) that smelled just like root beer (but it wasn't sarsaparilla). He broke off some branches and let us chew on it, and it tasted like root beer too.
He also said Conkle's Hollow was a nature preserve rather than part of the park, so we shouldn't go off the trail.
We did anyway. Hey, we treaded softly, and nature is meant to be interactive. The only reason we're so careful with it is because we have so little of it now. It was fun to go off the trail, and we all fell behind the tour guide a lot.
We especially wandered off once we reached Conkle's Hollow.
Beautiful frozen waterfall (it was a huge column)
More frozen falls.
Up in some rocks.
Well, another thing I wanted to talk about was books. Particularily, good nature books. Walden (and other writings by Thoreau, like his Walking essay) is a wonderful book for any nature lover.
I haven't read this yet, but I really want to read My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir. I've recently picked up Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac, and Return to Wild America by Scott Weidensaul.
Works by Rachel Carson are also suggested. I haven't gotten around to reading any of these yet, though, as I am finishing up another book at the time (No Contest: The Case Against Competition by Alfie Kohn... I recommend it). I am, regrettably, a pathetically slow reader.
So anyway, I've been thinking a lot recently (as I always do), and I realized that all of my ideas are connected. My thoughts on simple living, on more economic equality... I believe it is so unjust that people like BP or Massey (the coal mining company) can ignore safety warnings and regulations, resulting in dead workers (11 and 25, respectively), and disastrous ecological catastrophes, just so the CEOs can try and make more money on top of the millions of dollars they earn annually.
On top of that, people are so disconnected from each other. This greed found in CEOs is the cause and effect of a deep materialistic and consumerist culture in America. I won't go too deep in this issue on this blog, but what I do know is that our desire for materialistic things is just a way for us to try and fill, in vain, a void caused by a disconnect of people. Neighbors don't know each other. People in New York don't talk to each other on the subways. People on the buses at campus don't talk.
What I realize now is that nature shows us so much about this. In nature, you live simply. Nature shows us how to be connected to nature (including the part of nature that is other human beings). In nature, you live to live. You support each other and other human beings. You have a deeply connected community. Nature reminds me of a nostalgic childhood where it seemed like that was how the world worked. But now I see nature can bring that communal, loving life to reality.
Go out in nature. Take your shoes off. Eat when you're hungry, drink when you're thirsty. Connect with the trees, the sky, the animals, and the people. Love.
No comments:
Post a Comment