Trail Enjoyment

Adventure Location:  Everywhere

Trails need to be walked at least three times to enjoy all that is there to enjoy. The first time on a trail you are looking at the scenery, keeping track of where you are and enjoying the grand scope of the experience. This is a wonderful experience and all that most folks ever experience.

However there are even more items on a trail to enjoy. The next time on the trail you know what the area is like and can enjoy looking at the closer scenery and what it might lead to.  Is that opening in the rocks wide enough that folks can look behind the rock?  What is down/up that small creek/wash/animal trail that might be interesting? Hmmm why is that green shrub over there when the rest of the area is brown? I hope you are getting the idea now for the second trip on the trail.

For the third trip we need to get small.  Look for anything around that is not ordinary for the area. Why is there a shiny spot in all this dark black lava flow? How come the trail just changed from small sharp rocks to pebbles like river rocks?  Look those deer tracks go right into that rock wall! That is not possible let us look at what is really going on over there.

It is also important to enjoy the trail in at least two different seasons.

For some good training in observing and techniques for what to look for please visit these two web sites.  Tamia Nelson is a serious expert at wilderness observation and her very helpful website is http://www.tamiasoutside.com/ .

For looking at the obvious and actually seeing it, my teacher was Granny J. She has passed on now but her blog and all its helpful techniques is still available to help us all to see the obvious right in front of our eyes. Her monument to those who wish to really see what is in front of them is http://walkingprescott.blogspot.com/ .

Please notice that this is not about beachcombing which is a whole book on its own. Nor is it about historical sites and how to enjoy them. That is another book or three of techniques. And most importantly be assured that the OFM has no fat head that he really knows what he is doing. His only goal is in trying to have tooooo much fun.