Sabino Canyon Reflections

 "I hold the most archaic values on earth ... the fertility of the soul, the magic of the animals, the power-vision in solitude, .... the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe."

Gary Snyder 

"We will be passing from the terminal Cenozoic into what I call the Ecozoic.  And the primary principle of the Ecozoic is that the Universe - and in particular planet Earth – is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.  If we don’t learn that – nothing is going to work."

Thomas Berry

 

 It was a magnificent day yesterday, so I took a long hike up Sabino Canyon, something I haven't done, I'm embarrassed to say, for years.    It was not long, as I got into the canyon, before the energy of the life there, so close to Tucson and yet so graciously well preserved, thanks to the State Park System, brought all my love of the area back.

About half-way up this 5 mile trail, I was struck to notice that more than half of the people making the excursion were running up the trail.  Outfitted with water bottles and Nikes, and plugged in to stop watches and earphones, they all looked stressed out as they puffed and sweated (some looked like they were downright suffering) up the trail, deadly serious, and as ungreetable as a wall of laptops at a wifi cafe.  I felt not a drop of guilt as I meandered,  stupidly blissed out in the sunshine, talking to early butterflies and birds, and trying to not get run over by the thundering but fit hordes.  There's something so very American about that - get out into nature, and achieve!  Compete with yourself! 

And now that I've got that off my chest, I have to add that as a kind of benediction for all those suffering runners, I made it a point to sit for quite some time on my plump rear on a boulder, eating bagel, and thinking of absolutely nothing.  I had some fine encounters with hawks, especially hawks seem to be speaking to me of late.  And one comical roadrunner - I find the birds much more of a contrary than any serious, determined coyote I ever met.  I have nothing magical to report to this journal today, just the magic that is already abundantly there.  I wish, for those friends who are suffering the cold, I could bring this warm day to you.

 

"In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."
— John Muir

"When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world."
— John Muir