 |
| Titcomb Basin Wind River Range in Wyoming |
Reflection and Recollection
by Joshua Brown, OAP Asst Director
Back in
college, one assignment we were assigned in Recreation Leadership was to read
Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac.” We had to pick our favorite chapter and write a
reflection essay. If you haven’t heard
of or read this book, it is an easy and interesting read. The author, Aldo Leopold, was nicknamed “Father
of Conservation,” and wrote about his experiences and encounters in the
outdoors. For this assignment, after
much debate, I chose October “Smoky Gold” describing the season transitioning
into fall, with crisp cool mornings and the smell of change in the air. The
moral of the story is to not only find joy in your journey and experiences made
in the outdoors, but develop a way to place these experiences into memory.
Having
a photographic memory would be an excellent way to remember your trips and
adventures, but not many of us have this unique ability. I encourage you to
take a small pad of paper and pencil to jot down experiences while out on a
trip. Take pictures, LOTS of pictures,
because you never get all the shots you want. I am eating my own words on these
last two; I forgot my log book on my last two backpacking trips and only took a
few pictures to submit to memory. Taking note and photos can enable you to
escape mentally back to a place that is sometimes easily forgotten. Being able
to take that mental road trip back to an epic trip or hunt is pretty amazing. So
I challenge you, on your next excursion into the outdoors take some notes and lots
of pictures. Write a reflection of your trip and create a hard copy memory that
yourself and others may enjoy. If you wish, share those stories in the comments section below.
No comments:
Post a Comment