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One of my absolute favorite things to do is traipsing around the natural world — away from man-made scenery and noise. It’s right up there at the top of my list.
With that freshly oxygenated air, which the surrounding greenery has just converted from carbon dioxide, I can fill my thirsty lungs.
My dog and other friends also enjoy it — that’s probably partly why they are my friends.
As we can all feel stressed and overwhelmed around the frantic holiday season, it can be especially important to take time away from the usual traditions (family, shopping, parties…) and immerse ourselves in nature — both alone and with supportive friends.
Sometimes we don’t even realize we need it until we are “out there.” And when I do this, my legs will often just stop, as if rooted in place. It’s like a signal to slow down, take a breath, and relax my focus.
Our community is lucky to have such a multitude of hiking trails right here in the greater Ramona valley and beyond. And plenty of wineries where we can linger on their patios and gaze out at the vineyards and surrounding mountains, while listening to local musicians sing their unique homegrown songs. What a blessing to live here.
Sometimes it’s all I can do to wait for enough daylight to fill the sky before heading out for a run with my dog. Here in the canyon she can tag along and race through the bushes to her heart’s content. The rabbits, squirrels, and sometimes deer, give her a run for the money, but soon enough she’s after the next little adventure.
It must be wonderful to live in the moment. I could use some lessons from her in that regard. Once a week I choose to run solo — out the dirt road and up the mountain.
Several of my friends like to hike. It almost doesn’t matter where we walk, as long as we walk: the Grasslands, Barnett Ranch, lower Mussey Grade, the meadow on top of our mountain… Being together fuels each one of us. Sometimes it’s just a few, but occasionally we’re a bigger group (never that large).
It’s hard to know if my love for the outdoors stems from being raised in a rural environment or if it’s genetically embedded in my DNA, or something else entirely. But whatever — I’m grateful for it. I can’t imagine anything better.
That’s why when my sister proposed a hiking tour of the Amalfi coast while staying at an agriturismo, we were tempted — and then glad we joined in. It was much more to our liking than a cruise or a guided city tour could ever be.
But I think a balance is important. Yes, we sometimes had to go through big, busy cities in order to go from an airport or train station to our destination. And when we reached the countryside I’d feel myself unclench, then appreciate it all the more.
It can be the same around the holidays. I’m more apt to enjoy both the festive busyness as well as my time alone, as long as I keep a realistic balance.
Being a volunteer County Parks ranger for the last few decades has been a good fit for me to give back to the community. Whether leading hikes or just being an extra set of eyes on the amazing swaths of public land set aside for us to enjoy in sustainable and responsible ways, it allows me to stay in touch with the bigger picture.
There is no more important work than for us to help keep our mother earth healthy and thriving, since we all depend on her for our very lives.
We clear trails on our own property so that we and our guests can enjoy wandering around in this natural environment. For many years I’ve invited friends to come gather in the yard or down in the creekbed area, in the shade or sunshine — wherever the season dictates, providing a space for conversations of anything that comes to mind.
This seems to serve varying purposes for us, such as being a social circle or talk therapy group or simply a place to catch up with each other. Or learn new things.
I hope to keep learning new things as I get older. One workshop I attended with other rangers was “Tracking.. We learned how to use a flashlight in the daylight to highlight a bobcat footprint. You shine it low and at an angle to create shadows.
A friend and I joined an acorn flour-making seminar up at Volcan Mountain Wilderness Preserve where we picked, ground, leached, and baked acorns into cookies. This year, the grandkids helped us pick some here in the canyon. We found ourselves leisurely taking the time to find the most suitable trees.
The girls, of course, turned it into a contest of who picked the most, but other than that… We’re now drying them in baskets so they’ll be easier to crack and grind into a highly nutritious flour that we can add to some of our own recipes.
The long, slow process is not only difficult for the kids to understand, it can be hard for us too. Other natural foods we’ve made use of here are elderberries (for tinctures and drying), olives (brining), miner’s lettuce, curly dock, mustard… So much bounty… So little time.
Now, coming up on our calendar is a hike to Eagle Rock. I used to ride my horse out there, but it will be a new hike for me. It’s a good feeling to have fun things like this to look forward to. Maybe I’ll see you out there. Or — where’s your next adventure?
Chi Varnado has published six books including fiction, nonfiction and children’s books. They are available on www.amazon.com. Her collection of essays, Quail Mutterings, can be found on www.chivarnado.com or www.dancecentrepresents.com.
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