A year of wandering around the woods
- John Lorson: The Rail Trail Naturalist
- December 18, 2024
- 424
Another year has come and gone and I still haven’t remodeled the bathroom. My wife is not particularly happy about this. When I suggest, however, that the dozens of hours we spent wandering around the woods together this year might have been better spent pulling up old linoleum, caulking tile and choosing between Sea Mist Blue and Pale Cornflower for the walls she quickly stands down.
“We’re only young once,” I remind her, even though we no longer qualify as "young" by anyone’s standard other than our own. Never mind that there’s no age limit to wandering around in the woods in the first place.
Up until three or four years ago the bathroom job might have had a fighting chance. That was before Kristin got me started on hiking with her. Up until that point I’d regarded the act of simply walking around in the wild a poor use of my time. You could cover a lot more ground on a bicycle, after all. And if the weather wasn’t fit for riding, there was a good chance it was the right time of year to “wander with a purpose” with a gun in my hand and a dog at my side.
Somewhere along the line my wife talked me into following her around the woods on foot and it’s turned out to be one of our favorite things to do together! Now, anytime the specter of household duty threatens to suck the joy out of my weekend, I simply suggest to Kristin that we go on a hike and the trail gets well-trodden and the work goes undone!
I tell you this not because I wish you to chuck your domestic responsibilities for a Thoreauian existence, rather, I am attempting to gently nudge you in the direction of trying something new. Here in this season of ambitious resolutions, make a promise to yourself to do something different that will lead you further in the direction of the great outdoors. Take a nightly walk around the block or a weekly trip down the trail. Take note of what changes from one trip to the next. Keep a journal of what you see, think and feel while you are out there in it. It will make a difference in your life.
The natural world is out there to be enjoyed and appreciated and the more we do of each of those things — enjoy and appreciate — the more we’ll be willing to work to preserve it. That, and we’re only young once!
Have peaceful and happy Christmas and a safe and wonderful New Year!
If you have comments on this column or questions about the natural world, write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com. You also can follow along on Instagram @railtrailnaturalist.