To Walk in Solitude, To Listen to Silence

Walking Down Old Baldy

Walking Old Baldy ©2010 Bo Mackison

The more zigzag the way, the deeper the scenery.
The winding path approaches the secluded and peaceful place.
~ Huáng Bīnhóng

Reflecting on what silence looks like. I ponder what a photograph of silence might look like, and then wander (apt word) through a few of my photo catalogs. I’m drawn to the many photos of paths or trails leading into wilderness areas, paths I walked alone in silence. A meditative kind of walking.

Whether I am walking along a sand dune, part worn boardwalk and part shifting sand . . . or through a green forest, thick with green vegetation, towering leafy trees, wildflowers sprinkling pastel colors amidst my feet . . . or tramping on a desert trail, worn deeply into the side of a mountain, stretching through stands of cactus, climbing over piles of tumbled rock . . . or strolling on the smooth pavement in a tended garden, walking further and further away from the crowds, deep into the recesses where few wander, but joy is found . . . or hiking along a snaking path through the wilderness of badlands, a barren maze of eroded land, ridges, peaks, and mesas — all of these I walk in silence.

I listen to the silence, for silence has a sound. I seek answers to questions and perhaps I’ll figure out an answer or two.  Or I simply consider the questions and seek no answers, the easier way to discovery is often simply listening.

Forest Path

Forest Path ©2011 Bo Mackison

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth.
Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize:
a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black,
curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes.
All is a miracle.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Cactus, Rock and the Trail

Cactus, Rock, Trail ©2012 Bo Mackison

“Walking is the great adventure,
the first meditation,
a practice of heartiness and soul primary to humankind.
Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility.”
~ Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild

There Was a Crooked Path

There Was a Crooked Path © 2011 Bo Mackison

“A fact bobbed up from my memory,
that the ancient Egyptians prescribed walking through a garden
as a cure for the mad.
It was a mind-altering drug we took daily.

~ Paul Fleischman, in Seedfolks

Storm Approaching

Organ Pipe Path ©2012 Bo Mackison

Our way is not soft grass,
it’s a mountain path with lots of rocks.
But it goes upward, forward,
towards the hidden sun.
~ Ruth Westheimer

Badlands-Two Trees

Two Trees in the Badlands © 2011 Bo Mackison

That’s the best thing about walking, the journey itself.
It doesn’t matter much whether you get where you’re going or not.
You’ll get there anyway.
Every good hike brings you eventually back home. ~ Edward Abbey

I find my way through the wilderness and eventually back home.

 

Essence of Place – Little Horse Trail in Sedona

Sedona

Sedona © 2014 Bo Mackison

For the second year in a row, I embarked on a thousand-mile circle trip of Arizona — it helps fine tune my driving stamina in anticipation of the cross-country drive to the Midwest in another month.

This year I had the good fortune to have a companion on the excursion. My younger daughter, visiting from Wisconsin, is an avid fan of National Parks and enthusiastically agreed to accompany me on a trip through the heart of Arizona while stopping at one National Park plus four National Monuments.

Our first stop was Sedona, not a National Park, but the surrounding red rock area certainly has the flavor of one and qualifies as a National Landscape Treasure if not an official park. These rock formations, the Madonna and Two Nuns, overlook the Chapel of the Holy Cross, pictured below.

Biking on Little Horse Trail

Biking on Little Horse Trail © 2014 Bo Mackison

Exploring the trails was our chief source of pleasure. We hiked the Little Horse, a wide trail once an old jeep trail. We crossed dry creek beds, though there was evidence of the recent rainfall – thick red mud and a variety of prints, some human, some not. The trail is a favorite not only of hikers, but cyclists also take to these hills.

Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Sedona

Chapel of the Holy Cross © 2014 Amanda Fahrenbach

Once we had walked a half mile, the Chapel of the Holy Cross comes into view, a modern structure that appears to be clinging to the red rock through spiritual intervention.

Yucca

Yucca © 2014 Bo Mackison

Yucca are a common plant along the trail, reminding us that we are not far from the desert.

Indian Paintbrush on Little Horse Trail

Indian Paintbrush on Little Horse Trail © 2014 Bo Mackison

Scarlet Indian Paintbrush is a favorite flower, adding bright color, though we only spotted it in a few places. Usually we saw just one or two stalks of the bright orange stalks, so we stopped to take photos when we found a large stand of the wildflower in the brush of a downed tree.

The flowers of Indian paintbrush are edible, and were often mixed with fresh greens by southwestern Native American tribes. It was also used as a hair conditioner, a treatment for rheumatism, and an overall health tonic – an all-purpose plant!

IMG_2245

Crossroads – Little Horse Trail and Llama Trail © 2014 Bo Mackison

A criss-cross of trails makes it doubly important to note the trail signs. Though Little Horse Trail is an easy hike, it leads into the wilderness area beyond Chicken Point. It’s always a good idea to have a map and plenty of water when hiking any of the red rock trails.

Little Horse Trail Sedona

Little Horse Trail, Sedona © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lots of red rock. Lots of blue skies with fast-moving clouds. Lots of Arizona cypress. And views of many of the more recognizable rock monuments. A great place to get in touch with the natural beauty of Sedona.

Choosing a Path

Ajo Mountain Trail

Ajo Mountain Trail ©2013 Bo Mackison

“One’s options in this world are as vast as the horizon, which is technically a circle and thus infinitely broad.
Yet we must choose each step we take with utmost caution,
for the footprints we leave behind are as important as the path we will follow.
They’re part of the same journey — our story.” ~ Lori R Lopez

Sherpa and I hiked several of the trails in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. When we trekked up the Bull Pasture Trail, we encountered lots of switchbacks, lots of rocky trail. Occasionally we walked along a packed dirt path, but more often we were picking our way through rocky rubble. Every foot placement was a decision.

I noticed that Sherpa and I chose very different paths. He would choose to veer to the side and balance on wobbly stones. I would choose to climb up larger, more solid rocks, balancing with my hiking stick and my hands when necessary. He sidestepped down the side of an arroyo, slip sliding as he descended. I did my sidesteps in smaller increments, testing the stability of the rocks so I had a firm footing. We each choose different paths, but we chose our individual paths with intention.

So different — hiking on a rocky trail versus strolling on a smooth sidewalk. For the majority of us, a sidewalk poses little problem. We barely notice where we place our feet. We walk, usually heading to a destination, and often pay little attention to our surroundings. Walking on a rocky path requires concentration and deliberation, the path is seldom designed for speed, and often rewards us with magnificent views.

The kinds of paths we choose can apply to living a full life, also. We can choose to walk the easier path, walk it in such a way as to never call attention to ourselves. Follow the same path as everyone else. Or we can maneuver over a rockier trail, choosing our own way. We can walk with intention. We can be observant. We can take in the view.

I can’t do all of my walking climbing a mountain path, but I don’t want to do all of my walking on a sidewalk either.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She continues to make discoveries when she connects with the natural world.

Autumn Hike in Wisconsin

Autumn Walk XI

Let’s Take an Autumn Walk ©2012 Bo Mackison

A Colorful Autumn Hike in Wisconsin

One of the urban parks in Madison, Wisconsin – Owen Conservation Park – has a maze of hiking trails. There are dozens of paths, views of the city, prairie remnants, trails through hardwood forests, and a small pond for water fowl. The park seems specially designed for a colorful hike in autumn.

Autumn Walk VII

View Across the Prairie ©2012 Bo Mackison

Prairie view. Most of the golden-rods and asters – the last blooms in autumn – have now gone to seed. The prairie is filled with fluffs of white blowing seeds.

Autumn Walk III

Autumn Colors in the Woods ©2012 Bo Mackison

The forests, though small, have a fine variety of hardwoods. Maples, oaks, hickory are the predominant species, and together produce a fine color mix of yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

Autumn Walk XII

Leafy Shadows in Autumn ©2012 Bo Mackison

I love to hike when the sun is still low enough in the morning to cast leafy shadows on the tree trunks in the more open spaces.

Autumn Walk VI

Reds and Yellows in Autumn ©2012 Bo Mackison

Sumacs give the park’s open spaces a deep red glow. More whites in the prairie — fluffy seeds. Yellow ashes still have some of their leaves.

Autumn Walk V

Autumn Walk in the Forest ©2012 Bo Mackison

Another path through the woods and I’m back to the parking area.

Autumn Walk I

Owen Park Road ©2012 Bo Mackison

Even while leaving the park, there are so many trees in bright colors. I pulled along the side of the road a half-dozen times for that “one last shot.”

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Thankful for the opportunity for a nature walk today.

She is attending the Filter Festival in Chicago the week of October 15. Workshops, lecture series, gallery walks, portfolio reviews, and much more. But no opportunities for walks in the autumn woods.

Hiking Sabino Canyon

Yipes Stripes

Yipes Stripes © 2012 Bo Mackison

On a sunny, 80˚ day in March, Sherpa and I agreed it was a great day for a hike, especially a hike that had a bit of a cheat to it. We hiked the Phoneline Trail in Sabino Canyon, a gorgeous canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains bordering Tucson. Our cheat was this — we paid a few bucks each for a ride on the shuttle which comfortably took us from the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center to the top of the line, stop #9. We figured once we were up on the mountain, it would be an easy hike down.

I love this photo of Sherpa with the many variations of stripes. Stripe shadows, stripes from the ramada on Sherpa’s shirt, and he’s even wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes. “Yipes, stripes” is right. I was seeing stripes for most of the shuttle ride.

End of the Shuttle Run

End of the Shuttle Run © 2012 Bo Mackison

As the tram takes you deeper and deeper into the canyon, the world of natural beauty feels immense. Towering mountains, rocky ledges, saguaro reaching up. This is another sky island, once of several dozen in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Desert at the lowest levels, a juniper, pine, and rocky habitat at the top.

The Hike Begins

The Hike Begins © 2012 Bo Mackison

This trail starts at the end of the paved road. A half mile climb of ever-upward-reaching switchbacks takes us to the main Phoneline Trail. Once there, the trail follows the road, only several hundred feet higher. It isn’t a hard hike, but there are gentle ups and downs throughout the “descent” and several hundred boulders to help you climb up or climb down.

The Peak

The Peak © 2012 Bo Mackison

Once we climbed high enough, we could look to the north and see Mount Lemmon, the highest mountain peak in the Tucson area. If we had been really ambitious — and 30 years younger — perhaps we would have climbed up and over. But since neither the ambition or the age was happening, we took a lot of long looks from the trail we were on.

Eye Level with a 40 Foot Tall Saguaro

Eye Level with a 40 Foot Tall Saguaro © 2012 Bo Mackison

There is one tricky thing about hiking on a desert oasis on a mountain trail. The saguaro are conveniently within grabbing distance if one was to lose their balance. I started to reach out for a steadying cactus arm more than once before I realized what I was doing and quickly pulled away. This saguaro was a forty footer, but at my eye level on the trail I could see the upper third in great detail. Wow! Imagine what it will look like in another month, full of white cactus blooms.

Switchbacks on the Sabino Canyon Trail

Switchbacks on the Sabino Canyon Trail © 2012 Bo Mackison

We looked back and laughed when we saw the trail we had just hiked, snaking up and down, switch-backing a mere 200 feet in elevation in a half mile.

It Seems the Trail Always Climbs Uphill

It Seems the Trail Always Climbs Uphill © 2012 Bo Mackison

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Careful here to not trip and stumble, as the fall would be a long one. Since this area had a foot of snow earlier this week, the trail was bordered by lots of green — bushes, trees leafing out, wildflowers everywhere.

Wildflowers Along the Trail

Wildflowers Along the Trail © 2012 Bo Mackison

We both had had our exercise for the day when we reached the picnic area near the Visitor Center. And let me say — my peanut butter and strawberry jam on thick whole wheat never tasted better. And that cold bottle of water — perfect!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, is living in southern Arizona,  photographing and hiking the sky islands and giving thanks that she can see such sights.