Humans have always had a strong connection to the land they inhabit. Some seek to settle in and build on the land, others choose to pass through and others yet seek a higher understanding. all of us have a little bit of all of this in us as we are all human and we all interact to some extent with the land. In my experience, building can come in all shapes and sizes, from making a debris hut on a hiking trail to crafting the most ancient bonds around a fire with friends new and old in the forest behind the old rehab center.Â
Nomadity has been a lifestyle that has been around since the beginning of time, as has the idea of passing through land and leaving some form of mark on the world. This manifests in my life mainly as building cairns like the one pictured above. The construction of these semipermanent testaments to patience are an old form of meditation as they require patience, dexterity and concentration on the present. Stumbling upon these monuments of past travelers' alterations of their world in order not to be forgotten is one of the many joys I encounter in my life. Leaving this mark in hopes of its discovery is a way I try to connect with and give back to the land I encounter.
Seeking a higher understanding is the most amorphous of all of these concepts, as it is entirely relative. In the eternal quest for knowledge, a friend and mentor told me, we often find more out about ourselves than out subject. It was in my early years of life on this big rock that I discovered my passion for the outdoors and my yearning for some sort of mutual understanding with the mountains that scrape the clouds, the trees that hold me as I swing and the dirt that cushions my fall subsequent to the swinging in the tree. I feel as though the realest connection one can have to the earth is to enjoy all the opportunities that it provides for us to connect with those around us, nature and oursleves.