“Hiking - I don't like either the word 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.”
John Muir, quoted by Albert Palmer in A Parable of Sauntering
The kids asked to hike Day Mt this year…each time we have climbed it in August there have been lots of blueberries to pick along the way…This time however there weren’t any…I think that they ripened early. Trail mix replaced the blueberries and the hike remained a success.
3 comments:
looks like fun... and what beautiful views.
I love the John Muir quote! I have hiked, and I have sauntered, and I rather agree with him, because I noticed more when I sauntered. The hiking was always about a goal (so many miles in a day, for instance).
I can understand you not wanting to wear the baby on rocks and climbs like this. :-)
Your photos are just splendid! What a tremendous thing to share as family.
* sigh *
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