It’s April Fools’ Day but no time for joking. The world is in the grip of a pandemic of COVID-19. Fortunately I have still been able to get out for nature walks without violating the Maryland stay-at-home order.
Five years ago, after I retired from full-time employment, I started going on long walks to clear my head and get a little outdoor activity. I was drawn to the C&O Canal towpath because it is convenient and scenic. Pretty quickly I started bringing a camera with a long zoom lens to photograph the birds and creatures I saw along the way. What started out as a low-impact exercise regimen turned into a photography project.
The stay-at-home order allows going outside for exercise, so I am still OK hitting the towpath. The C&O National Historical Park has closed some of the popular parking areas and access points, but so far I have not been deterred. I don’t think the Park Service can close off the whole canal, and I hope they won’t. My strolls are important to my mental as well as physical health.
My walks are leisurely. I rarely hike. I love this quote from John Muir:
“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’, ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”
All but one of these photographs were taken along the canal in the past few months. I included one of a mallard in flight from Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Va. that I took about a month ago.
Thanks for looking. I will be sauntering.
