chris' walking project

Every walk tells a story

Author: chris (Page 17 of 17)

Bear country – Mt Wilson from Sierra Madre

May 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

I think it safe to say that, in fifteen plus years of hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, more bears have seen me than I have seen bears. The bears I’ve encountered lurk in the imagination, like the hip, existentialist jazz saxophone blowing Bear from Rafi Zabor’s “The Bear”

“Something came through for a couple of choruses and floated above the demands of the time and turned slowly on its axis, but then, even before the Bear was aware of it, he had lowered his saxophone and begun to walk offstage. His solo, apparently, was over.”

Or the extraordinary true tale of Wojtek, the bear who served alongside a Polish Artillery unit during WWII, related in “Bear Season” (Bernie Hafeli)

“A lorry driver, a German prisoner-of-war, was so shocked to see the bear out for a stroll that he drove his vehicle off the road, into a pond, and couldn’t get it restarted. When Wojtek went to investigate, the horrified driver took off running. Wojtek lumbered along in curious pursuit until the driver scrambled up a tree. The bear had never treed a human being before; what new game was this? For a minute he watched the man, utterly intrigued, then decided to climb up after him. This evoked a series of blood-curdling screams; the German was certain his time had come. Alerted by the screams of imminent death, Piotr, my uncle, and some others ran to the rescue, coaxing Wojtek down with a bottle of beer.”

And of course there is the grizzly specimen that adorns the California flag, the Ursus arctos californicus “Monarch”.

A useful and detailed guide to the Old Mt Wilson trail from Sierra Madre.

 

Walking Project 004_ROAR from chris worland on Vimeo.

 

 

 

The Fort and the Jail – Downtown Fort Wayne

May 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

“Brothers! We have heard the talk of our great father; it is very kind, he says he loves his red children. Brothers! I have listened to many talks from our great father. When he first came over the wide waters, he was but a little man, and wore a red coat. Our chiefs met him on the banks of the river Savannah, and smoked with him the pipe of peace. His legs were cramped by sitting long in his big boat, and he begged for a little land to light his fire on. He said he had come over the wide waters to teach Indians new things, and to make them happy. He said he loved his red brothers, which is very kind. The Muscogees gave the white man land, and kindled him a fire, that he might warm himself; and when his enemies, the pale faces of the south, made war on him, their young men drew the tomahawk, and protected his head from the scalping knife.”

“But when the white man had warmed himself before the Indian’s fire, and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large. With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains and the valleys. His hands grasped the eastern and western sea, and his head rested on the moon. Then he became our Great Father. He loved his red children, and he said, “Get a little further, lest I tread on thee.” With one foot he pushed the red man over the Oconee, and with the other he trampled down the graves of his fathers and the forests where he had so long hunted the deer.”

Speckled Snake, Creek chief, speaking to his people after Pres. Andrew Jackson’s speech about Indian removal west of Mississippi

Read the full speech here

Read about Fort Wayne History

Walking Project 003_american history from chris worland on Vimeo.

fieldtrip – Altadena Crest Trail

May 11, 2017 / / 0 Comments

“Ayant donc formé le projet de décrire l’état habituel de mon âme dans la plus étrange position où se puisse jamais trouver un mortel, je n’ai vu nulle manière plus simple et plus sûre d’exécuter cette entreprise que de tenir un registre fidèle de mes promenades solitaires et des rêveries qui les remplissent quand je laisse ma tête entièrement libre, et mes idées suivre leur pente sans gêne.”

“Having therefore formed the project of describing the habitual state of my soul, in the strangest situation a mortal can possibly be found; I saw no method of executing it, so simple and so sure , as keeping a faithful record of my solitary walks, and the meditations which accompany them when I leave my mind free, and my ideas follow their propensity without resistance or constraint.”

Les Rêveries du Promeneur Solitaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

translation and full english text found here

More info on the Altadena Crest Trail.

 

Walking Project 002: fieldtrip from chris worland on Vimeo.

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