Thursday, December 3, 2015

Outside Reading- Kaitlin Pommert

Outside Reading 
December 1st 
 “My third – and most lasting- response was one of gratitude: that the trail exists, that it has survived megalopolis, a motorized population, and ready-mixed concrete.” – By Ronald Fisher in The Appalachian Trail. Page 9.

This quote made me appreciate the trail and its effect on people. I’m not a nature person. I don’t like sleeping on the ground. So it’s hard for me to understand long distance trail hikers. However, I do believe it is amazing how trails and trail culture manages to survive even as technology encroaches on modern day life. I actually think modern life has revitalized the trails. People need an escape from technology. Technology has made escaping from work and obligations and even having a moment to yourself nearly impossible. People need time to reconnect with themselves and the trails provide this necessary escape. We need nature. Not just in that we need trees to give us oxygen to breath but we need the solitude and beauty in our lives that nature provides. So while its amazing trails such as the Appalachian have survived mechanization. I believe that these natural landmarks are more essential to the human psychic than we realized. 

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