Nature-alists

The outdoor world is full of all kinds of enthusiasts who relate to nature in a variety of ways-extreme divers, bug collectors, weather watchers, ocean admirers and on and on. I come from a family of mostly indoor folks except for my sister. I like to think of her as an unplugged hiker.


She's the kind of outdoor person who relates to the natural world by walking in it and observing everything around her while absorbing everything through her senses. She's done this for the last 25 years. She has hiked in the Andes Mountains, crossed the country of Switzerland from border to border on foot, and traversed the Pacific Crest Trail from the California border to the Washington border with only her dog for a companion. She has completed literally hundreds of hikes in the Cascades Mountain Range.


I'm a plugged in sort of hiker. For a period of ten years or so, I joined her on some of her jaunts in the Cascades. But I needed to plug into a weather source, determine where and what we would eat and require a nap on a mossy bank beside a stream somewhere. Before I quit smoking on June 16, 1991, I also demanded a number of smoke breaks. She was so tolerate. She'd hand me a topographical map to determine a location while I puffed away and I'd hand it right back to her. I never really could learn to read one. Then she'd make me deposit the cig butt in a litter bag to carry out.


When we returned home, she'd make careful notes in her distinct handwriting about everything she saw, heard, smelled, etc. Today she keeps species specific field observation journals about whatever she might be studying at the moment. (See my first blog about our owl adventure.)


I'd talk with her endlessly for a few days about whatever experience we'd had and then e-mail a friend about it. She wrote journals; I did narratives.


Another variety of nature-alist was my brother Gary. He headed up my large clan of relatives in Washington. He spent as many days of his life as he could in the woods. And at home, he had hanging in his front yard a replica of a spotted owl with an arrow through it. You can't say he didn't feel strongly about the outdoor world. You gotta love that as well. I do.



My other brother, Bill, behaved differently than all the other siblings but was connected to nature in his own way. For example, once he and his best friend since 6th grade Greg spent a day with the goal of fishing six different sites and making it home in time to watch a ball game. They made it. What kind of nature-alist is THAT?! I still don't know if they caught anything.



Go outside for a while today.