A Little Outdoor Inspiration

Most people I know grew up going camping with their families. Some camped in tents among the trees and alongside lakes while others had more of a KOA tent-trailer and swimming pool experience. In this land of 10,000 lakes many people also have family cabins for savoring a few lush and sunny months before the cold returns.

When I was a kid our family trips generally entailed traveling by air to visit relatives in other medium-sized cities. I enjoyed seeing other cities -- San Francisco, in particular, made a mark on my middle school self -- and now that I think about it, as an adult the vast majority of the trips I've taken have been to major cities. I can probably count the number of times I've slept in a tent in my entire life on my own two hands.

Despite the fact that I actually choose to spend very little time out in natural landscapes, I have such a romantic view of being out in, and part of, an environment untouched (well, less touched) by human beings. I think that most people must feel this way; are there people who don't long to be surrounded on all sides by prairies, forests, oceans, and/or deserts? Hands down one of the best days of my life was spent on a gorgeous isolated hike through the Cascade mountains with two of my favorite people (and one of my favorite dogs).

The exciting news is that SB and I will actually be breaking our big-city travel habit and taking a road trip this summer to spend time with close friends (and their adorable baby) in beautiful Vermont. We will even be spending two nights camping in the Adirondacks as part of the trip. I am pumped.

Anyway, all of these thoughts were inspired by a poem that came to mind, of the blue, while I was sitting at home this evening. I originally came across the poem via Greg Brown, who recites it on a live album. I absolutely love the second stanza; the phrase "creek music, heart music" is so beautiful.

For All
By Gary Snyder 

Ah to be alive
on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.

I pledge allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.