There’s a sign hikers pass by on the Winsor Trail early in their ascent from the Santa Fe ski basin parking area to the gate of the Pecos Wilderness that offers an important reminder for those entering the forest. “BE HERE NOW,” it reads. It’s a message we can all use once in a while — a call to dispel distractions and be present and engaged in time and place.
Most march on with a mission in mind: Make it to Nambé Lake, Santa Fe Baldy, Lake Katherine or some other picturesque high-elevation destination. But in between points A and B, don’t forget to be and see. Sometimes while hiking I can get tunnel vision as I follow the trail, pounding out the miles without really taking in where I am or what’s around me.
Normally, the forest will reach out and grab my attention with a moment or object of beauty to focus my thoughts and activate a sense of wonder. Hiking is exercise, but it can be much more than that to the extent that we let it. As challenging terrain offers a test of our physical limits, nature offers infinite opportunities to appreciate a world teeming with life and fascinating processes.
There’s so much that we don’t see unless we slow down and make the effort. If you stop for just a minute and look closely around you, there’s always an abundance to learn. I feel like a child in nature, partially because of how small it makes me feel but also due to how little I understand of it.
As German author Thomas Mann wrote in the novel The Magic Mountain :.