The Church of Nature

What makes me different from any other online hiker? This is a question I was actually asking myself, so I thought I'd share the answer with all my readers (both of you).

The purpose of my my content is to tell my story. And to let others who are affected by nature know they are not alone. If I'm lucky, I'll get to inspire others to get outside and enjoy their local trees and trails. Or to travel in search of mountains on the other side of the world, if they want to. And, of course, to leave no trace while they do all of this.

I have often said that nature is my church, as I feel it's a very spiritual environment. Bearing the scars of organized religion, I cannot stomach actual churches and their heavy doctrines. I look at religion and all I see is a cage. I can never understand why people willingly lock themselves up in it. But in the mountains, I feel both free and connected to everything at the same time. There is nothing like standing next to a rock face that extends high into the sky to remind you that you are, at once, both tiny and limitless.

When I started hiking alone during the pandemic, I was curious if mountains had any kind of symbolic meaning, as I know many animals do. What I found was that mountains were associated with the ancient, the eternal. They symbolized wisdom as they had gathered it over the many years of their existence. They were there before we humans arrived and would likely outlast us. During a time when the whole world was unsure and unsteady, being drawn to the permanence of the mountains made total sense.

When I would reach a peak or a saddle, wherever the trail I was on that particular day ended, I would of course sit and enjoy the view. Often, I was alone and if so, I had a few sort of rituals to enjoy the moment. I would do what I called my "sun salute" (which is a yoga term that refers to a series of movements of which I perform only one during my little ritual but, to be fair, I am not a practitioner of yoga). And sometimes, I would just let myself talk. I spoke to no one in particular or maybe it was to myself. I spoke into the wind, stream of consciousness style, letting the words flow without too much thought. And I found myself often repeating the phrase, "This is real." It felt like being there with the trees and these huge ancient rocks was the real world and where I belonged instead of back in the city, worried about the bills and navigating people's egos. That cannot be what life is supposed to be.

It can be so difficult to find stillness in our little human kingdom and yet it is so easy to find it in nature. In that stillness, I could finally hear myself think. I could check in with myself. I would feel so refreshed and renewed after a hike.

I have tried to find out if there is any scientific reason why nature feels so different (and so much better) and I found an article about negatively charged ions but, to be honest, I am not educated enough on the topic to tell if it's real science or pseudoscience. If anyone out there could enlighten me, I'd be very interested to know more about it.

So, if nature feels like the place where you belong, if you have conversations with chipmunks on the trail or know that there is something very special about observing tree branches dancing in the wind, you have found a space on the internet with someone else who feels the way you do. I post about gear and practical hiking tips as well, but it's not just about hiking in nature for me, it's about dancing in it. I will continue to write, make videos and just share my story because that's what content creation really is about. Connecting and story telling.

This is one of the mantras I say sometimes at the end of a trail. Also, that is my artwork!