Nature Essays

More Gaze, Less Craze

More Gaze, Less Craze

With a recent intention to stop and ‘listen’ to trees while hiking, I keep feeling the trees ask me to slow down and stay a while. Every time I do this, the question arises—Why are humans in such a hurry? Whether it’s originating in my consciousness or I’m feeling the tree asking I don’t know, and …

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Open the Door

Open the Door

I was a bit overzealous in piling the incense blend I made onto the glowing charcoal. My home filled with the sweet smoke, which is awesome. But I was concerned it would cause the smoke detectors to start blaring, which would make my dogs lose their minds…not so awesome. It was 26 degrees outside, but …

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The Twelve Hikes Challenge

The Twelve Hikes Challenge

Over the course of 12 days away from work, I finished a goal I set to hike each day. I called my self-challenge, The Twelve Hikes of Christmas. Over the course of this time, I hiked a total of 57.63 miles and had an elevation gain of 9302 feet. No records, but that wasn’t the reason …

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To Infinity and Beyond!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Buzz Lightyear is an optimistic character in the movie Toy Story. He’s excited about the future and illustrates that by saysing, “To infinity and beyond,” several times in the movie. Recent star gazing has helped me become optimistic about the future as well. Watching Orion rise last night and slowly, ever-so-slowly, make its way above the bare …

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The Twelve Hikes of Christmas

The Twelve Hikes of Christmas

A while ago, I thought how fun it would be to hike every day I’m off over the winter break. You know…like The Twelve Days of Christmas, but hikes. I’ve just finished Day 6 and feel like I might just complete it. Of course, there is rain in the forecast; but, luckily I have rain gear. …

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