Enjoy all that is bursting around you
- Bruce Stambaugh: The Rural View
- May 12, 2021
- 907
Don’t look now, but we are in the middle of May already. May always goes too fast for my liking.
Ideally, it would be nice to put a speed limit on each of May’s 31 days to slow their pace. Of course, that is a romantic pipe dream.
There is an antidote. We can each slow down, take our time, enjoy all that is around us.
Here in the Shenandoah Valley, I am grateful to be part of a hiking group that helps me do just that. It’s a program primarily designed for retirees, so going slow is what we do.
The group generally hikes twice a month and almost always in the gem of the valley, Shenandoah National Park. Each outing is limited to a dozen hikers. The leader is a retired bank president who volunteers in the park by keeping trails open for hikers.
I can’t participate in every hike, but I try to do both hikes in May if I can. The leaves of the mountain forests have yet to unfurl, allowing many wildflowers and trees to bloom. Plus, hikers’ nemeses — heat, humidity and insects — are scarce.
Our leader plans the hikes and reminds us to come ready for the cool mountain temperatures and bring plenty of water and a lunch. We often trek to a precipice that overlooks the rolling countryside that dominates the Shenandoah Valley.
Mosey might be a better way to describe our hikes. We usually take four or more hours to hike 3-4 miles round trip. Pokey we may be, but we indeed have a glorious time enjoying each other’s company and the beauty we encounter.
It’s not unusual for us to climb 1,000 feet or more in that distance and back down again. Along the way we frequently stop to enjoy and photograph the floral display spread out for us like a colorful carpet on the forest floor.
On our latest trip, we enjoyed seeing both large- and small-flowered white trilliums, patches of red trilliums, wild geraniums, yellow and blue violets, black haw bushes, and hawthorn trees in bloom. Wild strawberries blossomed low while towering tulip poplar buds opened high above.
To reach the summit of Hightop Mountain, we walked the Appalachian Trail, which snakes its way the entire length of the national park. We meet other day hikers like us, section hikers and through hikers.
Section hikers walk the AT one section at a time, returning multiple times later to do more hiking. Through hikers are the serious ones. Their goal is to hike the entire 2,500 miles of the AT.
Most start at the trail’s beginning in Georgia and hike north to its terminus in Maine. In doing so, they experience an unfolding of spring over and over from the south to the rugged northeast.
Our group tries to give way to these more experienced hikers, but they are often as curious about us as we are about them. They often share their trail names and hometowns, and off they go.
We then return to observing the songbirds singing and flitting all around us and the many varieties of wildflowers as we meander. At our age we have no choice but to simply take our time to be safe and to inhale both our surroundings and the refreshingly cool mountain air.
Perhaps that is a good lesson for all of us. Slow down. Take your time. Enjoy all you encounter, moment by moment, breath by breath. Maybe then the remainder of May will gladly join you.
Bruce Stambaugh writes about nature, weather, hobbies and people, often using personal experiences. Much to their dismay, he also writes about his family. He uses humor and pathos when he can’t think of anything else to include. To read more The Rural View, visit Stambaugh at www.thebargainhunter.com.