Sing it from the Mountain Top, or "Too Far From the Beaten Path".

  

Top of the Mountain

   Since last time I wrote a post I have a lot of stuff go on in my life, all of it positive I might add, but still requiring a lot of thought processing. When I feel overwhelmed or stressed out, the best place for me is outdoors. I realize that there is a lot of talk about how the outdoors can help with things like depression and anxiety, and that might be true in some cases, but that is not true for everyone. But

Looking East from the Sandias

that's not necessarily what I am talking about. Being outside is like my meditation. Being surrounded by the Natural World refreshes sense of wonder and gives me some perspective. Its like meditation for me. Except I don't really know what that feels like because my mind wanders too much. But I can imagine there is a similarity. Maybe it's standing next to towering Ponderosa pines, hearing the wind blow through the the grass in a high mountain meadow, or making eye contact with a pair of deer as they nonchalantly pick their way through the brush; whatever it is, it brings me peace. As I mentioned before, big week for me. Lots to think about. Something in me decided to climb a mountain. So I did.
     I had been reading about interesting things in the area and read about an outcrop of limestone at the top the Sandias that supposedly had fossils. Nothing really special, mostly coral and small bivalves, but regardless, I wanted to see it. I could have driven to the top, parked, had a short, relaxing hike and been done. Did I do that? No. No I didn't. On a whim I parked just short of halfway up that bad boy and hiked. One of my favorite parts of hiking up a mountain is being able to go through all the different ecosystems that melt together as the elevation increases. The trail I chose began next to a small stream at the very top of Madera Canyon, it was a fairly modest trail, lacking in upkeep and only tenuously marked, making it all the more exciting. Looming above me, somewhere above the massive pines, was the peak that I sought to reach. The tail meandered up around the side the mountain, taking me through some truly beautiful stretches of forest. Unfortunately that was not the case the whole time.
     I spent a lot of time in my life working for a Nature Center in Nebraska where were basically in constant battle with Invasive Species. Sounds dramatic? Good. Because it was. Lost a lot of good

Prescribed burn back in NE

people out there. Stretches of the forest that I walked through were in really bad shape. Inches of duff (basically dead plant matter) covered the forest floor with barely any under story growth. In other places Scrub Oak blanketed the area in a near mono-culture. The mountain is in desperate need of a good burning. Fire was one of the most important aspects of managing our Prairie back home, and is also super important for keeping a healthy forest. I admit, I am not an expert in forest management and I realize there is a ton of planning an budgeting that goes into it. Problem is, unless you stay on top of it, the next time there is a fire it can be severe. Just a week or so ago, a large fire sprung up in the Manzano mountains southeast of Albuquerque. The Sandias are closer to an urban area and could potentially cause a greater loss of property and life if not contained in time. Thousands of years ago, lightening and mindful Native Americans made sure that fire did its part, whether it was intended or not. There are even a number of plants that will remain as seeds until fire coaxes them out. Fire is important, and it hurts my heart to see the forest in such bad shape.

Easiest way to read "Owls Hoot in the Daytime"

     Anyway, enough of the preaching. So I am about halfway to my destination and I stop to down some Powerade. What do I hear? An owl hoot in the daytime. First off, I freaking LOVE owls. Back at the nature center we had these two little screech owls and they were so cute and perched on my hand and then there was this blind Barn Owl and watching him eat was disgustingly fascinating. Second: "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by Manly Wade Wellman is one of my favorite short stories ever! If you haven't had the chance to read it, find me and I will make sure you do. In the story, the owl calling out during the day signifies that the main character has traveled too far from the beaten
path. It is derived from old Appalachian folklore; I promptly ignored its warning and continued on.

     It was a long trek, not going to lie. I had to take a more than a few breathers because walking up hills is hard work. My eyes widened as I walked

Looking down from the top

into a wide open meadow very near the top. The top of the Sandias is a really popular hiking/trail running/dog walking area and I rapidly came to realize that I was not really in the wild anymore. My dreams of bear taming crushed for the day, I couldn't help but pick up some of the trash I came across in the trail to at least be placed in a trash can next time I saw it. I can forgive ill maintenance of the parkland, I get it, its hard, it costs money, and it can be really dangerous. You know what isn't any of those things? THROWING AWAY YOUR DAMN TRASH. Seriously. Put it where it belongs. Awesome, two preachy moments in one post.

      Anyway, eventually I made my way the highest point on the mountain and looked down and out across the world around me. Gods is it a beautiful sight. In moments like that, I am overwhelmed with a sense of place. That meditation thing I was talking about at the beginning. I knew where I was and for a moment my doubts and fears rushed away with wind. But I still had a goal. I had to find me some fossils. The age of the earth is profound to me. The fact that at the top of the mountain I am standing on what used to be the bottom of an ancient sea. Untold centuries of violent processes radically changed the shape of the surface into what I was seeing then. Talk about perspective. Looking out into the horizon, feeling the weight of time and pressing my hands against the remnants of some of the earliest lifeforms on the planet. People find solace in many things. Religion. Fantasy. Art. I find it most often in the feeling of insignificance. It is peaceful there. Maybe a bit lonely. But it's clarity. For me at least. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I look up at the sky. Down at the world. Peace. The hike back down in way easier. I feel a little high. Maybe its the meditation, maybe its dehydration. Who knows. Aside from being stabbed in the side by a Yucca thorn, it was a good day.

Bottom of the Ocean

What Lies Beneath, or "I'm Telling you...It was THIS BIG!"

     Ever since I was a kid, I loved the water. I loved swimming and if you ask my parents I loved taking loooooong showers. Heck, I even had a bedroom decorated entirely with underwater life. There were many times I remember being referred to as being part fish. The state I grew up in has a good quality game and parks program and a number of nearby streams, lakes, ponds and rivers to drop a line into. As a child I never went fishing a lot, occasionally I went with my dad, friends or on a Boy Scout camping trip (proud recipient of the Fishing Merit Badge). However, this never really amounted to very much in the way of a fishing passion. I do remember that I always had a keen curiosity for what was underneath the waves. At one point, my roving grandparents lived in a small town in Missouri that was near a series of large lakes. On one particular visit we went to a restaurant on a bank high above the water. This joint specialized in catfish and they had a tank full of some of the fattest catfish I had ever seen. Of course that may have partially been due to my minute stature as a kid. I think perhaps ever since that day, catfish have been my favorite under water curiosity, both to look at and eat. Attached to the restaurant was a long suspension bridge that dangled above the narrowing water below. My mother, who was afraid of heights mind you, took me out to the middle and we looked down below at the churning brown waves. What was down there?
    During my teen and pre-teen years, my parents had taken me to Mexico (partially the reason I turned to archaeology) and Spain. I like to say that mother has this disease where she thinks she is part Mexican. The symptoms include a fascination with all things Spanish, be them from Spain or Mexico or elsewhere. She probably has like...stage 3 chronic onset or something, as displayed by the mixture of pseudo Hispanic decorations all over our house. Anyway, this brought me close to the ocean of more than one occasion. The ocean to me was always kind of scary. Not like the run away and hide scary, but scary none the less. It was large, and who knows what lie in the vast abyss beneath the wind tossed waves? Multiple readings of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and other Lovecraft stories only fueled this feeling and curiosity. It was not only the ocean that gave me a macabre since of wonder. On a trip down to Cancun, my parents took me to a massive sink hole where the guide told us that the Maya had thrown in sacrificial victims. The water was a deep sapphire and two tourists swam in the eerie gloom. All I could think of was the hundreds of bones and relics that lie in a heap deep beneath the crisp surface in the unwavering black.
     Over time I continued to fuel my untapped passion for the water by various means. A particular video game, titled "Endless Ocean", was the only reason I even bought a Nintendo Wii. I savored the experience of scuba diving among all sorts of strange and beautiful life, even if it was just an educational video game. I discovered another quirky game about fishing and then low and behold I saw and advertisement on Animal Planet for a new series. River Monsters with Jeremy Wade. Wade is an "extreme angler" and biologist that hunts down the the subjects of the worlds greatest "Fish Tales". I ate this show up, from giant catfish to freshwater sharks and massive rays. Oh the marvels that lurked on the river beds of the world. My father, just over one year ago, graced my presence with a fantastic book by Jeremy Wade himself and this prompted me to buy my first, very own fishing pole! I was giddy. I by no means hopped to catch a giant carp or man eating catfish like Mr. Wade but I now had a chance to explore what was under the water on my own. I spent many afternoons on the rocky shore of a nearby lake during the hot summer. I only managed to catch a few Bluegill and Sunfish but I loved every second of it. The waiting, the sweat from the sun, the tug of war between the fish and I, and finally seeing the creature that I had struggled with before I let it return to its watery home,  it was all exhilarating.
    The waters of the world are an important resource, both for survival and to feed human wonderment. There is so little of the ocean that has been explored; the ocean is teaming with life yet unseen. Even the channels and waterways that are so close to home can hold mysteries and legends just waiting to be uncovered. These habitats are also is danger. Pollution, tourism and commercial overfishing are ruining the world's oceans and freshwater. There is a Star Trek movie that involves the consequences of whales going extinct. And while I have little hope a giant alien vessel will come and punish us for ruining the environment, that is still not a world I would like to live in.
    This is my last semester of college (finally, I know!), and I have been trying to come up with projects or pursuits that will fuel my thirst for adventure and for writing. Over the summer I will be posting some of my adventures in fishing and scuba diving as I plan to take classes in my spare time. I guess the point of this particular post is to show that their are many ways of exploring. Hiking, climbing, star gazing, fishing; all different ways to experience our wonderful world/universe and all that it has in store for us.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about your home state's fishing programs, check your local Park and Recreation website. For those of you in my home state, you are in luck! I'll provide the links!

http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/fishing.asp
http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/fishing/programs/aquaticed/aquarium.asp (a really nice local aquarium)