Tag: hiking

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Solitude and Stillness: Reflections on a Summer Hike

As I pull into the parking lot, I realize this won’t be one of those days when I have the trails to myself. That’s fine. Even when the lot is full, this park never feels crowded. With miles of trails traversing hilly, wooded terrain, I’ll see other hikers but won’t feel like they’re encroaching on my solitude.

Solo hiking comes with a range of emotions. It can be a wonderful escape, with no concern about how far or fast others want to hike, or what they’ll think every time I stop to look at a bird or a mushroom. I can ramble through the park at my own pace. But it can also be lonely. I’ve had plenty of experiences I wished I could share with someone else. Still, hiking alone leaves a lot of room for reflection and can become almost meditative for me.

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Mysterious Forest

It’s notoriously hard to get a good weather forecast for Shenandoah National Park. The park is over 100 miles long and the closest cities and towns are at least 1,000′ lower than the ridge line.

I checked the weather before leaving home. The forecast for a nearby town was for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 70’s. There was a slight chance of rain so I grabbed my rain jacket on the way out the door.

As I reached the foothills of the mountains it began to rain. “Not to worry,” I thought. I had my rain gear and the trailhead is 20 miles north of the entrance station. The weather there could be completely different.

I entered the park in a steady rain with temperatures 15 degrees lower than I expected. The drive to the trailhead was mostly inside clouds intent on shedding their moisture as they crossed the Appalachian Mountains.

When I arrived at the trailhead the rain was slow but steady. Having already driven over two hours to hike this trail, I decided to don my rain gear and make the best of it. As they say “there’s no bad weather, only bad gear.”

About 15 minutes into my hike the clouds still enshrouded the mountains but the rain had stopped. The vistas I came to see were clouded in but it was still a good day and left me with a reason to come back another time.

There weren’t many dramatic views that day but the weather gave the mountains a peaceful and mysterious quality.

Photograph of a foggy and misty forest in Shenandoah National Park by Doug Couvillion
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The day I met Tessa

Photograph of a woodland box turtle by Doug Couvillion

This little Woodland Box Turtle and I briefly shared a hiking trail in Powhatan State Park earlier this month. Encountering wildlife, even a small, humble turtle, always makes me feel more connected and brings me a sense of joy and awe.

I prompted ChatGPT to write a short story about a turtle and a photographer meeting on a hike and here’s what it came up with.

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Grand Teton Peaks

photograph of the peaks of the Grand Teton mountains with wildflowers in the foreground

The views of the Grand Teton range are spectacular enough on their own.  Throw in a few blooming flowers in the foreground and it’s hard to imagine a better landscape opportunity.

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Lichen Bloom

photograph of lichen blooming on the side of a tree

Sometimes it’s the little things in nature that really catch my eye.  This lichen was growing on the side of a very large pine tree.  I approached the tree to get a closer look at something else when I noticed the tiny, bright red blooms on the lichen.  Who knew that lichen actually bloomed?

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Melt Off

photograph of trees reflected in a puddle of melting snow

As I hiked past this puddle of melting snow I stopped to look at the reflections in it.  Snow was falling off the trees in clumps and caused ripples in the puddle.

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Steaming Stump

photograph of steam coming off a log as snow melts

When I arrived at the edge of the lake, this stump was absorbing the sun.  As the dark wood warmed snow was converted into a small cloud of steam.  As a result, this photo shows all three forms of water:  frozen (snow), liquid (water), and vapor (steam).