A Curious Mind is Never Bored

When I headed out Saturday for a hike, it was a pre-designated data gathering day, volunteering for MeadoWatch. Because of that, it was not going to be a speed hiking day…not that it was going to be anyway, since lately I find myself to be a tad bit out of shape. Moreover, the nature and intent of my hikes has been changing slowly over time.

When I started out hiking, I had grand designs. I was going to hike every trail in Mt. Rainier National Park. I was going to train hard and attempt to summit. The first year, I was proud of myself because I hiked every single week at the mountain, from April through October, rain, shine, or swirling snow… It was becoming more about notches in my belt and crossing hikes off the list than it was about personal satisfaction and soul recharging. I became more goal-oriented (read: obsessed) which was not necessarily a bad thing, because I was motivated to get healthier. But I was missing a lot of the enjoyment. I was not taking time to smell the heather and alpine air, to see the birds, the clouds, and nature as nature was intended to be, at every step along the trail.

Lately, on my hikes,  I have been trying to be more in tune with my surroundings, and to really focus on taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, and really experience each moment on the trail.  In trying to further my quest to become a naturalist, I am taking the time to look carefully at everything, and think through what I am seeing.  (Note to others:  this makes me very annoying to hike with, just in case you did not already think that.)  I find myself stopping every few feet, enthralled by moss, the grain of a log, a seedling, an animal print, a pile of droppings or scat or animal remains.  I can spend what others would consider an inordinate amount of time watching an insect go about its business, and be perfectly content doing so.

Saturday’s hike was full of enjoyment. I spent time looking for the survey markers, making the requisite notes about the wildflowers in each plot, then counting the steps and clues to find the next marker. In between, I was looking closely at everything else around me. I did not get as far as I thought I would, nor did I go as fast as most other people on the trail, but I guarantee that I saw more than anyone else. I was amazed at how many people would politely scoot past me or step over me without the slightest curiosity about what I was looking at. I saw much more than wildflowers…

At the end of the hike, I stopped at the map board to deposit my data sheet in the MeadoWatch collection box. There was a mother there, with two children. One, a girl of about six years old, spinning and trying to climb her mother like a tiny monkey, and an older brother, who stood by patiently. The woman explained that they were thinking of hiking a bit, but her daughter was balking, saying she was bored, and was intent on continuing to be bored if they proceeded. I told the little girl that there was so many interesting things to see, she could not possibly be bored, if she would just look for the interesting things. I told her there was streams and moss and waterfalls, giant grasshoppers and tiny chipmunks, gathering nesting material and mushroom feasts to take back to their burrows. I showed her a video I had taken of termites swarming over a log, turning it into sawdust. We said our goodbyes, and I encouraged her to go be an explorer. I headed on to my car, and they headed up the trail. I hope she wasn’t bored.

For more information about the MeadoWatch wildflower phenology project, go to www.meadowatch.org