Walking

From the trail--along the Bow in the Fall

Walking can be liberating. Some walk to and from work, some walk to see things they cannot see otherwise, some for exercise, and some just for the joy of moving from one place to another without any contrivance. Others feel that walking is too slow, too much work, too minimalist.

Is the walk the stepping from one place to the other or is it the journey? When in tune with a journey we have the time to look around us as we move. We notice things, people, events. We don’t have to focus on the control of our transportation device. We can be relaxed.

How can anyone who lives close to or in the mountains not have a memory of one of those special days walking amongst the peaks, with blue sky overhead and pristine air in our lungs? We find it hard to think of any scene that will compete with those visual sensations and yet, there are many who find another display of nature to be equally impressive.

This appears when you are walking on the prairie, looking to the seemingly endless horizon ahead, the land covered with the monochromatic spring landscape of grasses and bush. Then, as you move forward, the land steadily falls away to reveal a hidden coulee with its potpourri of trees and bushes clasped around a sometimes wet, sometimes dry creek bed. There is no colour, but the tones created by the light are too numerous to count.

This moment is for anyone to enjoy. It is not a time for comparison, but a time to simply absorb what is there for the taking.

A prairie coulee for walking