the blogger asked about activities that a parent can do during the winter to keep their child’s interest in the outdoors and nature.The post got me thinking about how someone gets kids interested in being outdoors and how to foster that interest.
When I was in Texas over the Christmas holiday, my cousin Jordan wanted to go for a nature hike.He loves the outdoors and knew that I loved going hiking since I had sent him 20 or so postcards from my CDT hike.Since my plane didn’t leave until late in the afternoon, we went on an excursion.It was Jordan’s mom (my cousin), Jordan and his two brothers.We ended up going to a special place near their house, ok so maybe it wasn’t the most wild of all places but it had trees and mud and a stream.It was perfect.It was a drainage area put there to deal with rain water and has some designated green space on one side with a walking path to a park.
We had a great time crossing the water, walking along the bank, looking for animal tracks in the mud.It just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend tons of money on kids hiking equipment and tons of time driving to a National Forest or Wilderness Area.Sometimes the best thing is to just get out and make the most of the time you have.Engage their senses and let them play and discover what’s there.But, maybe the most important part is just spending quality time with the kids and the people who are important to you.
I think the best way to get a child interested and enthusiastic about the outdoors is to show them how excited you are about it.If you spend quality time doing something you enjoy with them, then they may grow to love it.It doesn’t have to be a major production you could go to an area like I described and look for animal tracks or hike around.You could do backyard camping trips so you get the feel of camping but without much planning.Those types of activities could pique their interests enough that when the time comes to go on a big trip, they are ready and willing.
So get out there, find a place close to home and explore it with those you care about!
During the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to do high elevation trail maintenance in Colorado.I was enthralled by the wildflowers.I thought I would highlight some of my favorites, one at a time, so that you could learn a bit about each one.The information comes from both my experiences and the book “Guide to Colorado Wildflowers” by G.K. Guennel.I really found this book helpful in unmasking the identities of these beautiful flowers.I took the pictures; they don’t do the flowers justice.If you think my picture is good, go out and see them in person, it’s a hundred times better.Happy Trails!
Sky Pilot, also known as Sticky Polemonium or Skunkweed, is a member of the Phlox family.
The Sky Pilot’s flowers are fragrant, funnel-shaped, and in tight, terminal clusters. They have 5 blue or lavender (or sometimes white), roundish corolla lobes and a densely hairy calyx.
When hiking in Colorado, look for the Sky Pilot in alpine areas, 11,500 feet to 14,400 feet in elevation.Be sure to inspect tundra slopes and crests, boulder fields and disturbed meadows, and along trails to catch a glimpse of them.
To catch them while flowering, plan a hike to the high country anytime the conditions allow from June to August.I saw this flower while inspecting one of our trail crew’s work on the re-route on Mt. Yale.I wasn’t expecting to see it but when I did, it put a big smile on my face.
Book Review:The Thousand Mile Summer in Desert and High Sierra by Colin Fletcher
Colin Fletcher is an iconic figure in outdoor literature and modern day backpacking.Many people know him as the author of The Man Who Walked Through Time or The Complete Walker.His books have changed people’s views of the outdoors and have inspired countless people to don their backpack and get outside.
I had the honor to win his book, The Thousand Mile Summer in Desert and High Sierra, in a raffle at ALDHA-West, a hiker gathering.I was quite possibly the happiest and luckiest person in the room, after all, I won the book while others were winning titanium flasks, t-shirts, sleeping bags and other such non-sense.
I haven’t read any of Mr. Fletcher’s works in the past.It had always been on my radar but just never in my reading queue.But ALDHA-West changed that and I am now a better person having read him, having gotten go to along with him on his journey, backpacking up through the state of California from Mexico to Oregon.
The book was quite different than I expected and it seemed to me that he was young and a bit inexperienced in a way, but his descriptions are magical and artistic.His prose made me yearn to be out hiking in the desert, experiencing my own desert landscape and then in the Sierra, having glacial bowls carved into granitic giants as my backdrop.
It is perhaps his personal evolution, his maturity as the story progresses that is of the most interest to me.In the beginning of the story he is deathly and violently afraid of rattlesnakes.So much so he has a tirade about the evil that emanates from them and then beats one to death.I was totally perplexed by this.From a man who is a hiking icon, I was shocked by this behavior.But as the story progresses, he learns from a ranger the importance of rattlesnakes and the impact they have on the ecosystem, and the impact not having them would have on the ecosystem.He learns to let them be, to let them live, that they are not evil.As happens for many people, with knowledge comes decreased fear and increased understanding and peace.Mr. Fletcher is no exception.
Mr. Fletcher’s book is full of colorful stories of the people he met and the places he visited.He has his idiosyncrasies and is not afraid to display them, most notably his firm belief that rattlesnakes ooze evil and, coming in a close second, his obsession with Silver King and it’s Piute cutthroat trout.He is honest and shows reverence when musing about Yellowstone National Park and the 5 men who found it.“Back in civilization, they registered no land or mineral claims.Instead, they wrote and lectured on the wonders of Yellowstone’s natural beauty.”
I think the best passage to describe the book, and Mr. Fletcher’s message, is found on page 188.He says, “Before long the sun dropped behind a line of stark peaks.Down on the valley floor it was suddenly very gray.But I knew that the copper-red dragonfly beside the Rubicon had given me something I would never altogether lose.And I knew that it was for moments like these that people came to the Wild Area.
Wilderness would be worth conserving if it did nothing but make such moments possible.And as I walked I found myself wishing I could thank the five men who had sat around their Yellowstone campfire in the fall of 1870.It would have been satisfying for them to know that their altruism that night-their altruism in a cockpit of rapacity and exploitation-had done so much not only for me but for the nesting Girl Scouts and for Thor astride his horse and for the father and son fishing in Lake Aloha and for Jinny stretching ecstatically on the mountain top and for Twig in his jeep and for millions of other Americans and for millions more, born and yet to be born, all over the world.”
Thank you Mr. Fletcher for reminding me of your message, of the importance of gratitude to those before us, the importance of treasuring what you have at the moment, the importance of what we leave to future generations and for letting me live vicariously through your adventure.It was a pleasure to read your words.
During the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to do high elevation trail maintenance in Colorado.I was enthralled by the wildflowers.I thought I would highlight some of my favorites, one at a time, so that you could learn a bit about each one.The information comes from both my experiences and the book “Guide to Colorado Wildflowers” by G.K. Guennel.I really found this book helpful in unmasking the identities of these beautiful flowers.I took the pictures; they don’t do the flowers justice.If you think my picture is good, go out and see them in person, it’s a hundred times better.Happy Trails!
The Arctic Gentian is part of the Gentian Family just like the Mountain Gentian.
There are 3 flowers per stem and they are barrel-shaped and up to 2” long.Their color can be anywhere from a white to greenish color with purplish streaks on the outside and spots inside.Life Zones:Subalpine and Alpine
When trying to catch a glimpse of this flower, check in grassy areas along stream banks, in meadows and near ponds.I found quite a few when I was hiking up Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado in August.The Arctic Gentian is found in the Subalpine and Alpine zones, anywhere between 10,000 and 14,400 feet in elevation in Colorado.The best time of year to spot the Arctic Gentian, August.Happy hiking!
If you’ve ever been to the Sierra, or to any special place outdoors, then the novel, The Last Season, will both captivate and haunt you.Part life reflective, part mystery, and part who’s who of the outdoors, this novel conveys the ups and downs of the life of Randy Morgenson, an under-recognized but highly experienced, seasonal backcountry ranger.
Blehm does an excellent job of giving the reader insight into Morgenson’s life without imposing his own biases.This excellently researched book mixes Morgenson’s original prose with the Author’s own work to develop a deep understanding and connection to Morgenson.The reader gains insight as to what it was like to grow up in Yosemite and the influence it had on Morgenson as an adult.Blehm details the impact that family friends, like Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner, had on Morgenson’s creative passions and their development.
But Blehm does more than paint a picture of Morgenson’s life, he makes the reader want to be part of it.I couldn’t help but wish that I could have met Randy Morgenson.Although I didn’t travel into the Sierra until 2005, long after Morgenson’s last season in the Sierra, I feel like I missed out by not running into Ranger Randy while in the backcountry.
I would highly recommend The Last Season to anyone who has ever been to the Sierra, had a positive interaction with a backcountry ranger, has worked or wanted to volunteer for Search and Rescue or just likes a good read.However, this novel haunts me with it’s mystery, mistakes and my own familiarity with the area where everything goes down.No matter how haunting, there is no denying that it was one of those “can’t put it down” books.Happy Reading!
