Category: Nature

Learning to Saunter Like a Wolf

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Hiking, Life, Nature, Photography

View from the Crooked Lake Trail, Pinckney Recreation Area.

It’s Wednesday night and I’m off work for the rest of the week, so I poured myself a scotch. Don’t judge. I like the cheap stuff. My dog, Charlie, is fluffing up her bed. I was listening to some music but I turned it off to enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet. Now there’s just the sound of the furnace running and a few mechanical noises coming from the dishwasher. I’ve been thinking a lot about the peaceful nature of winter. Sure there are some signs of life but for the most part everything is dormant. I happen to love the fact that I can sit outside in winter and not be bothered by mosquitos, ticks or biting flies. The only real concern is not freezing..ha! Staying warm in freezing temps doesn’t seem that difficult now. However, it took a long time to learn how to stay warm. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. What I learned was this. There’s no such thing as bad weather; just bad gear and winter is a bad time to make mistakes.

Most animals in the wild are perfectly adapted to surviving in cold weather, but with domesticated humans it takes practice. I admire wolves when I see them (on tv) saunter across a frozen landscape. That is the ultimate goal…to learn how to saunter in winter. To saunter is to walk in a slow, relaxed manner, without hurry or effort. To saunter is to live in the moment. On the other hand when you’re so cold you can think of nothing more than the pain in your extremities from the bitter cold that is also living in the moment. It’s just not as fun. So stay warm folks and saunter on.

Breathing Deep, Sitting Quietly and Contemplating the Precious Stillness

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Environment, Hiking, Life, Nature, rivers

This past weekend the temps dropped to 22 degrees F. Why does 22 degrees in February feel colder than 22 degrees in December? It’s not obviously, but my thoughts about the cold certainly change as winter goes by. Mental toughness begins to fade as thoughts of spring germinate in my mind. Whatever the reason I felt cold sitting on the bank of my favorite creek in town. Maybe it was because I sacrificed a warm sitting spot out of the wind for a spot along the creek where I could hear the soft trickle of water passing beneath the ice. Sometimes you have to sacrifice physical comfort for mental comfort or spiritual comfort. It’s a little bit like spending time with someone who may not have long to live. It’s hard to see them suffer but compassion is stronger than our own discomfort. I know this creek well. It does feel like an elderly friend. I have studied it, waded through it, collected insects for science, and simply enjoyed its company for a long time. Some people simply see it as a beautiful old creek. But, I know its secrets. I know that it doesn’t hold too many insects. I’ll never know why that is for sure but I suspect it’s due to pesticide runoff from city residents and local farmers. Nobody wants to hear that though and I try not to think about it too much. I remember that Edward Abbey once said, “One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” So here I am; breathing deep, sitting quietly and contemplating the precious stillness.

Finding Shelter among the Turkeys

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Hiking, Life, Nature, The Heron

Shelter me oh mighty Pine forest. Cover me with your limbs and protect me from the cold winter winds. Why is it that every time I enter a stand of pine trees I feel as if I am home? It reminds me of a story I once read about John Muir. Whenever he left his cabin in Yosemite he would say, “I’m going in”. Like Muir, “in” is where I would rather be. I planned to hike today not realizing that it was Super Bowl Sunday. I didn’t realize it because I haven’t had cable or satellite tv for over five years. I grew up in an athletic family. I played sports and learned many valuable lessons from them. But, as the years passed I felt the tug of another life; one of my ancestors. It felt as though I was passing through a door into another space and time. Call it what you will. Some might say it was an awakening. I don’t know. I just know I feel more connected to the trees and the birds in the sky than anything else in this world.

The photo above was taken at Oak Openings Preserve near Swanton, OH along the Ridge Trail (silver trail). It was a balmy 34 degrees F which made the snow wet and sticky. I hiked with three others and zoned out for most of the 6 miles that we hiked. I noticed the ease of my breath and the sound of my footsteps through the wet snow. As we passed from one Oak savannah to the next I imagined the Native Americans setting fire to the land as they once did. Evidence of recent prescribed burns was everywhere. The birds were quiet except for the occasional drumming of a woodpecker or the friendly chatter from a Chickadee.

When our group arrived back at the parking lot a fat tire posse was about to depart. Their bright jerseys looked out of place in a landscape of stark contrasts of black wet tree bark against pure white snow. I suppose the natural world is not so different with Tom turkeys puffing their chests and fanning their tails to impress the ladies. As for me, I plopped myself into my silver Jeep Renegade with hood stripe and sports rack on the roof and headed out; with my fanned out tail feathers blowing in the wind.

The Little River, washing the spirit clean.

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Fly fishing, Nature, Photography
Little River, GSMNP, originally uploaded by Goyo P.
John Muir said go to the woods to wash your spirit clean!  I like the words of Muir so that’s what I did for two weeks in July.  I wanted to say something about the Little River because I think it’s a magical place.  The Little River runs along the northern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It’s the closest trout stream to my parents house so I have become familiar with it.  My favorite stretch is the East Branch by the Elkmont campground.  I like this area because it offers some seclusion.  Of the millions of visitors per year that pass through the Smokies only a small percentage get out of their cars.  An even smaller percentage hike further than a mile into the woods.  Conservationist Aldo Leopold said some people can live without nature, and some people cannot.  I’m one of those who cannot.  The Little River trail is an easy hike.  It’s an old road with a gradual incline.  But for a fisherman like me, “easy” may not be the best choice of words.  This is Copperhead country.  You wont find many on the trail but you’ll see plenty basking in the sun on the boulders along the river….exactly where I pass to cast a fly to native Brook Trout.  And, then there are the Black Bear.  A woman was killed a few years ago by a black bear as she rested on the rocks.  And, there are still “aggressive” bears along the trail.  The NPS is pretty good about posting signs to warn people about them.  There are a few of these warning signs along the trail.  Anyway after a few days of fishing with Copperheads and Black Bear you begin to understand the meaning of Muir’s words….”washing your spirit clean”.  It’s hard for me to get too entangled in life’s problems when it takes all my concentration and focus to stalk a wary mountain Brook Trout without stepping on a Copperhead.  It parallels Buddhist meditation.  Buddhists meditate by focusing on their breathing.  It is impossible to think about the past, present and future all at once.  Bringing the mind to the reality of the present washes away all worries of the past and anxiety of the future.  Furthermore, researchers claim that exposure to high levels of negative ions created by waterfalls improves health.  Muir would have said, “no duh!” to that.  It’s pretty obvious there are benefits to spending time in nature.  More importantly it helps me to understand that everything in nature has purpose.  Without Copperheads, Black Bear, chiggers, mosquitos we would not be able to focus on the present.  We need wild animals, insects, plants and trees of all varities to wash our spirit clean.  Some of us need it more than others.  I need it daily.

Faith and Physics

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Book Review, Nature

With the power outage that occurred last week I had an opportunity to catch up on some reading. I finished “The Complete Angler” by Izaak Walton and “The Grand Design” by Steven Hawkings. These books are polar opposites in content. The first, a poetic book of fishing and religion. The second a book of physics and science. I am a little biased towards fishing so you can probably guess which one I liked better. But I do enjoy reading about science occasionally.  I was particularly interested in The Grand Design because intelligent design intrigues me. Hawkins slowly worked his way to it throughout the book. In the process he described the history of science, philosophy and religion. I’m no physicist so reading about quantum theory and other scientific concepts took a lot of concentration. Hawkins went on to discuss a possible universal law called “M Theory”.  Even after reading the book I can’t say I understand it completely.  But physicists are looking for a universal law to tie up their loose ends and come to a complete understanding of the universe.   I may have this all wrong but apparently the laws of physics in the tiniest sub atomic particles of life do not apply to the laws of the entire universe. It’s now believed that there are infinite universes, each one having their own set of laws. M-Theory is supposed to tie them all together somehow. I wish them luck on that quest.  I’m not looking for answers to creation. They say that we are here by chance and it can be mathematically proven. They say that God does not exist because the universe must remain in balance and something cannot be created from nothing. They have faith in their mathematics. They admit that life evolved due to a number of fascinating probabilities.  One change in the process and life would not exist.   Some call it “intelligent design”.  But they still believe that it happened by chance and we are just a roll of the dice. Well I may believe them some day when they solve all the mysteries of the universe. But I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. The further we dive into the mysteries of the universe the more we encounter more mysteries. That’s the only constant I see.  Not everything in life is logical.  As long as there are mysteries there will always be room for Faith. Faith can coexist with science.  Faith doesn’t need proof. Faith is not looking for answers but accepts life as a gift. I admire physicists who unravel the mysteries of life.  It would seem to me they could either feel closer to God from their discoveries or further from God.  It all depends on their Faith in my opinion.  Anyway, I probably won’t read many more books on solving the answers to life. Life is too short and I’ll find out soon enough when my time comes.  So I think I’ll stick to poetry and fly fishing.

Birds to the rescue!

by Gregorio Perez, posted in Birds, Environment, Nature, The Heron
Yellow Warbler, Copyright Gregorio Perez

Any of my friends will tell you I get a little goofy about birds.  My dad introduced me and my brothers to birds.  I don’t recall a moment in my childhood when we did not have a bird feeder in our yard.  For a few years we even raised chickens.  Today I have my own feeders.  I like to photograph birds.  My artwork is about birds.  I enjoy identifying them by their song.  I own a good pair of binoculars for watching them.  I get updates via email on birding in Southeast Michigan.  I participate in bird counts.  On the 19th of December I helped count birds for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.  Every year I learn something new about birds that fuel my passion for them.  One of my favorite birds is the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos).  There are several books out there about the American Crow which describe their intelligence and social behavior.  I’m also impressed by the world travelling migratory warblers who travel thousands of miles without a gps.  The more you learn about birds the more you realize they don’t get the respect they deserve.  I personally think we humans would be a better species if we deflated our egos a bit and allowed ourselves to learn something from the birds.  They are perfectly adapted for survival on this planet.  We seem to be struggling in that regard.

I’ve given this a little thought.  Given our current problems with our economy and climate why not look to nature for answers to sustainability?  Organic farming practices are bird friendly and earth friendly.  Planting native plants and trees are bird friendly and earth friendly.  Keeping our watershed clean is bird friendly and earth friendly.  The things we can do to help the birds also help our planet.  That’s why I’m promoting the recreational birding industry in my hometown.  It’s good for the birds and it’s good for the planet.  This isn’t a new concept.  I’m also a member of Trout Unlimited (TU).  TU fights for the protection of trout habitat for the sport fishing industry.  Trout are the saviors of the great rivers of northern Michigan.  Unfortunately trout can’t save us here in Lenawee.  Geographically the River Raisin Watershed is too warm to sustain them.  So what else is there?  Birds!  Birds! Birds!  The River Raisin Watershed is located in the path of two major bird migratory flyways.  Let your imagination run wild here.  Lenawee County is also a major agriculture community.  We could be leading a transition from industrial farming to organic farming.  Instead of constructing more manufacturing plants why not reestablish the wetlands that once existing before they were drained for farming?  Could birds be the answer to a failing economy and a deteriorating climate?  I realize it’s not that simple.  One might argue that capitalism will prevent this from ever happening without Government intervention.  If you read the history of our great National Park Service you will find this to be true.  The human spirit is hell-bent on destruction and devours everything in its path.  But there are also equal amounts of faith in the human spirit.  If trout can protect the great rivers of northern Michigan can the birds save us here?  The answer lies in how much Faith we have and whether we live according to it.