We attended an REI-sponsored presentation last night about "Journey," the first wild wolf to have ventured into California in almost ninety years. It was an enjoyable and educational talk. The issue of wolf reintroduction is a complicated and sometimes divisive one, but the continued return of these animals to California wilderness is something that anyone with an appreciation for the natural environment will likely hope for. In any case, it's nice to know that there is enough forward-thinking taking place that a management plan is being worked out in advance of possible proliferation. One can only hope that business and political interests do not take precedence over longer-term considerations.
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Slowing down, looking around and getting along
When we began hiking we were like a lot of people who decide to traipse around in the outdoors later in life - amazed at how out of shape we were. So of course the first thing we did was set a big goal to motivate ourselves. "Let's climb Half Dome," we agreed, and set about hiking farther and going faster.
But farther and faster can put limits on the rewards for which one heads out onto the trail in the first place. So even after the Half Dome trip passed and the trend continued, those limits began to run up against other priorities. What with my wish to go farther
and see more, and Laura's need to photograph every living thing there is (and plenty of non-living things as well) we were on a track that threatened the peace we had always seemed to find in nature.