Hiking

The Look Ahead and Behind

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It’s been a busy past few days! Working on last minute details as winter approaches in these last days of autumn. The Grand Harvest of collecting firewood continues but we reach a milestone of accomplishment. It’s like that with the blog as well. I still continue my introduction of myself for the moment. Most people who know me on social media will remember it was in 2018 when I first joined Facebook. Retirement in 2017 would see me finding more time to write.New beginnings and a ramping up of adventures. The works of that year and every year after continue to pile up! Unpublished but not forgotten. Facebook has been the ultimate practice writing site! Consider it an experiment of sorts! Several people suggested that I begin a blog. Thx!The message today dwells in the simple word “now “. My now is that place I choose to exist these days. It’s that place where I try to sync in with nature in seasonal harmony. Nothing new for me honestly. Only in a greater sense of appreciation and perception. I find strength and positivity as I dive deeper into nature. It’s something I wish to share at a deep emotional level while keeping it fun at the same time!Another experiment! My best writing I feel is in the emotion of the now.Day to day. Nothing staged.Not processed and prepackaged with artificial ingredients.Best served raw with minimal editing. Nature taught me valuable lessons in the raw honesty of hard truths. Very real at a primitive level. It’s about life and death.Everything in between. Diving deep is fine but it’s the stories I’ve learned that people seem to enjoy most! I’ve been experimenting on other individuals sites. In fact I’ve been kicked off one for crossing manmade boundaries! Gently kicked I’d have to add! They were patient!Nature exists everywhere on earth. That’s where the stories can get interesting! I fear my continued introduction may bore you to tears! Patience! Remember this quote! “In nature there is no hurry yet all is accomplished “! There’s time and plenty of stories! The now will trigger memories. New ones are made each day. It all ties together! That’s a promise I can honestly make. It’s time for me to pack for our next adventure! Consider this the end of formal introductions. Don’t worry comments will be accepted in time! I’ll jump right into it next time! But first we must live those moments! Taz

A Journey Begins With The First Step

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My journeys in nature started some 58 years ago. I can’t remember my first steps as a baby.Who does? I do remember the need I felt to spend time outside in my earliest recollections. Journeys are the stories of our lives. All beginning with that first step. My first step into writing a blog might be best compared to a leap. Writing down my observations certainly not new to me. The story of the origins of the energy that would drive my hand must wait for now. It’s as winding and twisting as the vines of the forest bittersweet. Round and round the tree they grow headed for the canopy where the sunlight is the most intense. The tiny berries beautiful to some if they spot them.If I am the bittersweet at 58 my vine enters the canopy in its continued push for the sunlight. You have entered the “spin”! That place where I will begin to stray from my original message! I offer my personal invitation to follow the growth of my vine in the forest. My vine doesn’t grow in a flawless forest. Groomed and trimmed into something artificial. Nature is very real. Full of life and death. Struggles and survival.A balance of connection. My connections to nature are real.Grounded in the past and present. This vine thrives in the elements. That is the simple message. I thank those who have nurtured my vine. Family,friends,and the special lady I know as Adk Girl. My Facebook followers of the past two years. My administrator Gerry (my cousin and friend!) who patiently works with me. I must also thank my late father. For he raised me in a rural farm setting here in the St.Law. Valley. Encouraged and taught me the ways of nature. I also thank my son Zane! His love of nature and adventure fuels my energy. I ask everyone to leap into the forest of blogging with me!Why wait? The words can’t once the spin begins.🌲✍️

Bog River Flow

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The beautiful warm weather continued yesterday and we took full advantage of all it might offer! Jennifer backed my decision to head to Bog River Flow. It’s a bit of a drive but well worth the time! My motives were premeditated. This would be our third autumn trip since we started our journey together! I sought to put us into an adventure that would bring peace and relaxation while giving us a pause to reflect on our time together. But let’s be totally honest! I knew there would be a great selection of beaver sticks also!What transpired was a day that was filled with sensory overload. Calm stretches of dark water with stunning reflections. The shadowy sections of forest bringing the damp smell of balsam and pine to our nostrils as the midday sun continued to warm it. Signs of wildlife around us. Chattering red squirrels and a couple scurrying gray squirrels on the fallen leaves of the forest floor. The occasional lone duck who would take flight with a sudden burst of energy. But there were other signs of wildlife to notice.Beaver chewed sticks and mud covered lodges.Carefully piled brush piles nearby as they prepared for a winter trapped below the coming ice. Muskrat droppings on logs and rocks. Their feed beds a little less obvious but tucked into crannies along side old stumps and logs. We traveled up to the beach landing at the end of Hitchin’s Pond. Only a few other paddlers whom we easily avoided but gave a friendly wave. The collection of beaver sticks began before we beached below the tail race of the upper dam. We stopped for our lunch on the cobble stone walls of the former Lowe’s compound. History that nature is slowly reclaiming. We had history here as well. On a much shorter timeline. It was here in this beautiful Adk setting in 2018 that I began to truly realize the depth of my burgeoning feelings for my tall lovely companion. It’s a story worthy of its own book especially the memories of our first hike to the Hitchin’s Pond overlook. We hiked the trail again yesterday together.Took photos and shared some memories..The world has changed dramatically since 2018 but some things have not. The bare rock surfaces of the overlook solid as ever. Jennifer’s new knees and my healed pelvic injury behind us.The distant high peaks gray and prominent on the horizon. And as I had done each time I had hiked to this special location a pause for quiet reflections. Of days past. The present. Thoughts on the future. Recharged and empowered in hope for all that nature holds in trust. Simple blessings.Once more to take the high ground. Together. The tiny gusts of warm air that fuel the spirit spin. That place where the mind of Taz takes the reins and connects to everything in a sixth sense moment of the now.The ADK clock would hint at the coming darkness.Part of a season headed for the next solstice.There a spin of another kind. Where active beaver prepare for winter. That’s part two of a wonder filled day!