I’m something of a news junkie. Not at any type of obsessive level, and certainly not to the point of watching any sort of 24-hour news channel or anything like that, but I do like to keep myself informed of what’s going on in the world. It’s important, I think, to have some perspective and knowledge of what’s going on out there, some idea of all the complex interactions that happen on this little ball of rock we all share.
Don’t worry. I’ll be sparing you my diatribe about how pathetic U.S. news coverage of the rest of the globe is.
Huell Howser, the man with the Tennessee twang that made it his life’s mission to prove that everyone in California had a story to tell, passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. California has lost its greatest booster.
As best as I can recall, I’ve never written a post about the benefits of hiking.
Not really sure why that is. Maybe, for as much as I’m a fan of hiking, I tend to see the benefits as largely personal. By that I don’t mean that those benefits can’t be shared, but that each person who hikes probably has they’re own, particular set of benefits that they get from it. Some do it strictly for the exercise, others to commune with nature, others as a social exercise, etc.
Skimming the recent news on the web a few days ago, I ran across this article about the cable route that goes up the back side of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. The article talks about how the National Park Service has decided permanently to keep in place a plan limiting the number of people who can ascend the cable route each day to 300, through a permit and lottery system.
I was reminded of when I last hiked Half Dome, over 15 years ago While I haven’t been back to do it since, it’s a hike that still brings back some pretty vivid memories. (I’d share the pictures with you, but I was shooting film back then and they’re all in storage at the moment.) It was a long day, leaving from the Valley and ascending 4,000 feet up, past Nevada and Vernal Falls, through Little Yosemite Valley, then scrambling over the rough staircase on the shoulder before finally facing the narrow path of two cables climbing up the granite. As you ascend, clinging to the narrow cable, the rock drops off smoothly at a 60 degree angle, all the way to the Valley floor. It’s one hike you know you don’t want to slip on.
The reward? As small as it looks in pictures, the top of Half Dome has about 17 square acres of space to run around and explore. It’s fantastic.
I didn’t intend for my first post of the New Year to be a rant. In fact, the first post was going to be about how I spend my New Year’s Day, tramping through the oak-dotted grasslands of the nearby Sierra Nevada foothills. Unfortunately, when the brief paragraph that I was writing about why I’d chosen the particular park as my destination started spinning out of control into a lengthy diatribe, I figured it must be something worth writing about.
Resolutions. I don’t, as a general rule, do them. New Year’s resolutions in particular. Well, not on a serious level, anyway. It’s fun, on occasion, to do them when you’re at New Year’s parties for example. A couple of years ago I was at a friend’s party for New Year’s eve and we went around the room, each of us sharing our resolutions for the coming year. Some were serious, some were less-so, some were outright jokes. But a completely sober, written-on-paper list of resolutions? Nah.
I think it’s a combination of things: lack of stick-to-itiveness, a complete inability to come up with good resolutions under pressure, the fact that you can resolve to change aspects of your life at any ‘ol time. So it is that the only thing I’ve resolved to do at the moment is to write this one, last post of 2012.
As I continue down the employment-seeking path, I continue to write, albeit slowly in my surprisingly less-than-you-might-think free time. At the moment, I’m in the midst of putting together four posts (two travel posts, a post on airplanes (of all things), and a hiking post (which, really, is only written in my head at the moment)). In the meantime, I continue on my quest to get rid of a lot of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years: old papers, remnants of old hobbies, stuff that’s broken that I’ll never actually fix, etc. The notable exception to this is books, few of which have left my possession.
Parting with books is just… hard.
Anyway, in lieu of actually putting up a post this week, I present you with this: a fortune cookie fortune. Oh, not just any fortune cookie fortune, my friends. Oh, no. This is, bar none, the absolute best, most remarkable, most profound fortune cookie fortune you will ever read. And, no longer wanting to keep the paper forever and ever, I have scanned it, and present it here for both your pleasure and for all posterity:
This week I had the opportunity to apply for the most interesting job position, one that has little to do with what I was doing previously, but takes in so many of my interests I’ve been finding it hard not to get excited about the possibilities. Moreover, no matter the outcome, just the application process alone has spawned a lot of thoughts in me.
The job is a social media position for an organization that promotes parks and parklands. Looking over their website and some of their recent accomplishments, I’ll admit it: I swooned a bit. One doesn’t run a hiking blog for over five years and not have a deep appreciation for the value of parks.
I thought about my childhood in Sacramento, about the open unused spaces under the powerlines (ones that, last I drove past, had been re-christened as actual parks, with names no less). About the summer days that I rode down dirt pathways on my one-speed and explored and adventured under ancient oaks that had been growing there long before the subdivision arrived.
I thought a lot about where I’m currently staying: in a thoroughly modern, car-dependent suburban landscape that’s nevertheless saved by the number of parks and open space preserves, many of which I’ve found solace in during the stresses of my time back. My favorite time has been walking or biking the paths in the afternoons, seeing kids out there exploring the creeklands just like I did in my youth, and not hiding at home with their Wii’s and Nintendos. Every kid should have that opportunity.
I thought about the parks I encountered on my recent travels, whether they be wild parks in BC, National Parks like Yellowstone, designed parks like Central Park in New York City, or the exquisitely manicured landscapes of the traditional English gardens in Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore and London.
Reading all that makes you want to go take a proverbial “walk in the park”, doesn’t it?
Sadly, none of those thoughts really fit into a CV.
I have no idea if I’ll get the job, or even be asked to interview. Reading the description and knowing that I can bring so many skills to the position, everything from writing and photography, to my education in film and cinematography and editing, to my online experiences and computer skills, to my love of hiking and the outdoors and desire to get more people out there? And the idea of being able to do that to help spread the word and contribute to the success of an organization that strives to bring parks to everyone? It’s hard not to jump up and down at the idea. Literally.
I hope enthusiasm counts for something.
Whatever the outcome, it’s been both the most stressful and most fun I’ve had putting together a job application. Stressful, because writing the cover letter and tweaking the CV was difficult. Fun because one of the requirements for the application was to put together a video, which I’ve posted below (minus the name of the organization, in case they wouldn’t want to be associated with the site). Be sure to watch in HD!
Hopefully they’ll forgive the fact that all of the fluid leaked out of my tripod head, resulting in a little less smooth camera work than I would have liked…
I’ve changed my primary email address to geekhiker@gmail.com. If you want to write and I do luv’s me the letters, that’ll be the address from now on. The old att.net address will be shut down shortly.
I remember a hundred lovely lakes,
and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir
and cedar and poplar trees.
The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk,
opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.
It has given me blessed release from care and worry
and the troubled thinking of our modern day.
It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful.
Whenever the pressure of our complex city life
thins my blood and benumbs my brain,
I seek relief in the trail;
and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn,
my cares fall from me
- I am happy. -- Hamlin Garland
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The GeekHiker 