Lately I have not had much chance to get out into the wilds of Washington and enjoy my scenic hikes to familiar and favorite places.  I realize how much I miss these weekend journeys into the woods and hope that I can soon find time to get back to the things I truly love.  The following excerpt from a book I was reading expresses some of my thoughts rather well.

"The woods are so human that to know them one must live with them.  An occasional saunter through them, keeping to the well-trodden paths, will never admit us to their intimacy.  If we wish to be friends, we must seek them out and win them by frequent, reverent visits at all hours; by morning, by noon, and by night; and at all seasons, in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter.  Otherwise we can never really know them and any pretense we may make to the contrary will never impose on them.



They have their own effective way of keeping aliens at a distance and shutting their hearts to mere casual sightseers.  It is of no use to seek the woods from any motive except sheer love of them; they will find us out at once and hide all their sweet, old-world secrets from us.  But if they know we come to them because we love them, they will be very kind to us and give us such treasures of beauty and delight as are not bought or sold in any marketplace.



For the woods, when they give at all, give unstintingly and hold nothing back from their true admirers.  We must go to them humbly, patiently, watchfully, and we shall learn what poignant loveliness lurks in the wild places and silent intervales, lying under starshine and sunset, what cadences of unearthly music are harped on aged pine boughs or crooned in copses of fir, what delicate savors exhale from mosses and ferns in sunny corners or on damp brooklands.



Then, the immortal heart of the woods will beat against ours and its subtle life will steal into our veins and make us its own forever, so that no matter where we go, or how widely we wander, we shall yet be drawn back to the forest to find our most enduring kinship."

~from Thistle Harvest by John Foster

Tags: hiking, weekends