Curiosity

June 11, 2024 I By Katie Cox, Executive Director

Happy June! 

Just the other day, Dave returned from a month of Stone Age living (I’ll get to this later), and when I heard he was back, I dashed into his office because I had a question that I had been burning to ask.

“Did you see the Northern Lights?”

The night the northern lights danced in the sky all I could think about was Dave and his fellow wild explorers.  

All of us knew what was going to happen on May 10. Our social media was filled with reminders, the news ran the story and everyone was reminding each other to look up.

Dave and his wife Susie were not getting these reminders or bits of news. They were deep in the North Cascades and by this time had been unplugged for weeks. In their group of 10 they didn’t have a cell phone among them. In fact they didn’t even have anything made of metal on them (not that that would have helped). All they had was what they had made with their own two hands from natural materials. 

Dave and Susie were on a Stone Age trip with ten other adventurers guided by the well known Lynx Vilden. This was a trip the two of them had wanted to do for many years. 

Most of the previous year was spent preparing all the items they needed for the month-long journey. Everything had to be sourced from nature, including their food, and were made by hand. Winter nights were spent sewing and knitting and tanning hides as they made everything needed to be comfortable in the alpine and dried or prepared the food needed for their journey. 

So on this special night in May, as I looked up in wonder and thought of Dave and Susie, I actually worried that they might sleep right through it. Spending days in the woods, foraging for food and building shelters is not easy stuff. I imagined exhaustion at the end of the day and a deep slumber while the lights danced above. But I also imagined one of those individuals waking up to go to the bathroom (of course) and looking up. I imagined the emotion that must have followed as they tried to make sense of what they saw. 

Nature can offer surprises and bring a sense of wonder each day if we open our eyes to the world around us. 

When I asked Dave my question, it filled me with joy when he said, “Oh yes, we saw them!” 

That night they were all deep asleep when Lynx, who indeed had had to go to the bathroom, awoke them with shouts. The 10 travelers rose from their sleeping spots and gathered in wonder as the sky danced in radiant colors above them. 

But, unlike us, they had no idea why colors were filling the sky. As I thought about what this experience would be like for Dave, I loved imagining having this experience with no prior warning. For me, I knew the science behind it and when and where to look. They, instead, were just in it as witnesses, asking questions, exactly as if they were in the Stone Age. I imagine their wonder was tenfold ours. 

As Dave and I talked about that night, I was giddy to hear about their experience. They laid awake together for hours watching the sky. They wondered if the world was ending. They asked questions about the colors and the intensity. Their view appeared as an eye that was projecting  color and they wondered what it was and where it had come from. They didn’t have cell phones to look up the answers or take photos; they just experienced the event with awe and wonder. 

This made me think about how I experience the world every day. It also made me want to dig for the data just a little less and to experience more: to walk in the woods and take note of a wildflower in bloom and just observe it from every angle and not be inclined to take a photo and tap the info button to identify it. But to just experience it instead.

This will be my summer challenge to you: get out into the wild, whatever that looks like for you – a hike, a backpacking trip, a sleepout in your backyard. Open up your heart and mind to nature and just take it all in. See things through the eyes of someone living in the Stone Age. Enjoy the experience and don’t search for the answer (at least not right away). I look forward to hearing about your moment of wonder.

Happy Summer,

Katie

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