My job these past few weeks in New Hampshire has been to help prepare SCA crew leaders to go to public lands across the nation with 8 high school students to do trail projects. This gave me the chance to see the phenology of central NH - lots of loon calls at night, steep rocky terrain with warblers in spruce trees, and very dry soil, I think they've had a drought this spring - as well as spend a lot of time thinking and teaching about the purpose of trails. The trails that most of us in the United States travel on today are made of asphalt, straight and wide, and we travel them at incredible speeds of 25-75 miles per hour. This makes it difficult, almost impossible, for our senses to connect with the land we pass through. I spent many hours this week walking on soil at 2-3 miles per hour, stopping often to point out the grade or signs of erosion or a giant boulder. I remembered how beautiful a New England hemlock-birch forest can be on a June afternoon. Also, my body remembered that it likes walking and using tools and carrying rocks and being generally active for most of a day. Here's a look at my friends finishing up a 5 step stone staircase by placing chunky rocks on the side of steps to funnel traffic into the staircase. Get out on a slower trail this season and reconnect with things you've maybe missed a while.
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