"Walking" Thoreau

The last hike I went on. Scottsdale, AZ.

"You must be born into the family of the Walkers."  Actually, I do come from a family of passionate walkers, though hardly in the way that Thoreau meant. My parents love to go on walks. The family black sheep is my brother, precisely for the reason that he doesn't like to join us on walks. My dad once got frost bite on his lips, because he just had to go out for his daily walk, even in the desolate frigid January weather. So even just a few paragraphs in, I was immediately swept up in Thoreau's reverence for walks. And I love the way he paints them as journeys. To think of each walk as an adventure is certainly not common-place in my family. There's a routine, a destination, or a specific reason for our walks. But the notion of a physical walk truly embodying all of the soulful implications we give to the word in other circumstances feels romantic and wonderful to me.

I loved the line "I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit." Again, this idea of the walk being so much more than a body moving in space. He emphasizes that that space be one of nature, specifically woods, and that the space and the body moving in that space is what brings his spirit and mind to life. I love that idea.

I can't help but think of all the people, family and friends included, who watch their health apps,or their fitbits every day to try and make it to their 10,000 steps. And I can't help but wonder how much greater the benefit would be for them if the steps were taken in a way similar to Thoreau's sacred walks.

Although I found that the excerpt drifted a bit too far into tangents toward the middle, there were a few that I enjoyed. I  found the line "...for the hero is commonly the simplest and obscurest of men" to be very profound. Maybe it's a bit of a cliche, but it didn't strike me that way in the context of his story.

My dad on a hike.

I'm not sure how to conclude, other than to say I found Thoreau's perspectives rejuvenating and inspiring. And honestly I just really want to take a hike right now.