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.

 

New Beginnings – The Arrival of Spring

Wisconsin Woods in Spring

Wisconsin Woods in Early Spring © 2015 Bo Mackison

A few weeks into Spring by the calendar and I’m seeing the first hints of green in the woodlands. The forest floor is greening and will soon be a mass of ferns, wildflowers and green ground cover. The early spring forest floor has a brief window of time for its glory. Once the tree canopy shades the ground and the sun no longer than filter through the skeletal branches, the wildflower show will diminish. But for now, we are at the beginning.

Fern Appears

The Ferns Appear © 2015 Bo Mackison

Amidst the leaf litter from last year, green plants and ferns break through the earth and poke above the leaves. I hiked several miles through woodland and admired the hints of green while looking for the first flower of spring (not counting the garden variety flowers nor a few flowering forsythia).

First Wild Flower of Spring - April 11, 2015

First Flower of Spring – Wood Squill © 2015 Bo Mackison

The wood squill  (or Siberian squill) is one of the first of the spring-flowering bulbs to emerge in early spring.  The flower has six “petals” (actually three petals and three sepals) and is less than an inch across. These deep blue flowers will last only few weeks. This was one of the several I saw, the earliest ones to emerge, but soon the scattered parts of the forest floor will be a sea of blue.

 

 

 

 

The Last of Winter in Wisconsin

Ice Out - Not Yet © 2015 Bo Mackison

Ice Out – Not Yet © 2015 Bo Mackison

The snow is melting. A fine layer of sand coats many of the road surfaces, but the ice is gone. Heavy winter coats are back in the far corner of the closet, though the lighter winter coats are still front and center. Although there are a few piles of snow in parking lots, most of the snow is gone.  The last remains of winter remain on the lakes.

It was a long, cold, unrelenting winter. Once the cold in early January took hold, there were no warm spells, and even  ten days ago we were still seeing -2˚ in the early morning. But a week of sun and warming temperatures, and winter has disappeared and a muddy early spring has arrived.

Only the lakes are still winter bound. And parts of the larger lakes are still covered with 12-15 inches of ice.

Not ready for winter to warm into spring? Head down to the lakes for a last look at winter’s grip.

Golden Grasses Under Snow Covered Branches

Tree in Olbrich

What do the trees know?
To bend when all the wild winds blow.
Roots are deep and time is slow.
All we grasp we must let go.

~Joyce Sidman

Winter Star at Sunrise – Everyday a Story

Star at Sunrise

Star at Sunrise © 2015 Bo Mackison

There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.”
~ Terry Pratchett