It’s February. This winter has been pretty mild, but even so, our restless bodies and spirits let us know it was time to get outdoors and run, hike, and play. We decided to head northward for a weekend of snowy fun!
We left Columbus on Saturday morning of President’s Day weekend and drove to Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville, Ohio to go tobogganing and kickoff our weekend adventure.
The Toboggan slid so fast! Scott took our boys along with Harriett, and Amelie and I ventured the next ride on our own. I was petrified as we first started our descent; it was thrilling. As the boys ran ahead for another go with the toboggan, the girls and I hung back and played in the snow.
After a good night’s rest, a pancake breakfast, and a few rounds of family hide-n-seek, we dressed and felt naturally ready for Day 2 of our winter weekend outdoor adventure. When we arrived at Polar Blast Snow Tubing, the snow tube hills were too slushy because of the sun and unseasonable warmth that day. The staff there suggested we come back in a few hours, just as the sun was setting. We decided to head over to the Boston Mill Visitor Center, where the kids engaged in a scavenger hunt and got their junior ranger workbooks. From there, we headed to Deep Lock Quarry Metropark for more snow play, hiking, and discovering…
We made snow people, played in snowball fights, and went on a winter hike to see and learn about the Erie Canal.
Nightfall began to descend. We got some dinner and made our way back to snow tubing. What an experience! Our kids loved it and expressed a confidence in their ability to brave the tallest hills on their own. It was truly spectacular for our family.
We snow tubed from 6pm until 9pm… we could have kept on going, but our 3-hour pass had expired and it was getting very late. We headed home and fell into a peaceful sleep. The next morning, we made a final stop at Lake Erie before heading home.
On the journey home, the kids worked on their Junior Ranger workbooks to later mail in and receive their first badge.
We are a blended family. We are so fortunate to have 4 children who love and care for one another, and even so, just like nuclear families, blended families require carved out special time to come together, laugh and explore, and reinforce bonding and family memory making. We find that the natural world offers our family a playground to come together more mindfully, slowing us down even as we speed down snowy hills and dash to dodge a snowball. We are a family that relishes camping, hiking, paddling, boating, fishing… and in these spaces we find ourselves and one another in special and invaluable ways. Soon we will be putting together programming to facilitate and invite other families to join us in outdoor adventuring and memory-making.
We invite you to stay tuned…
What is forest therapy, forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku?
For now, perhaps I can simply invite you… where ever you are as you read this… to notice the air around you as it touches your body with your inhale and departs, warmed, with your exhale… and to imagine that the air you meet longs for you just as your body longs for the air… and both you and the air are influenced by one another.
In the sandy expanse of the Indiana Dunes disappearing into the waves of Lake Michigan at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, I am aware of my freedom, as well as the illusions of constancy I often cling to in life. I feel my surrender to the sand moving underneath my toes; the sound of the water rhythmically arriving and departing against the shore; the feeling of the breeze swirling around me… to the arrival and departure of my breath, of my thoughts, of each moment… to my ever changing and moving life.
The walk-in campsites at the National Lakeshore campground were lovely. And during one of our hikes at the dunes, we had privilege of watching a bald eagle perched and gracefully take flight.
I am so thankful to find myself in each of these landscapes. For the land to bring me back to such different elements of my own be-ing. To be reminded of all the ways in which earth and I are truly one.
This was my first time exploring the area. I was lucky to be guided by a very special person who shared with me personal stories that had unfolded for him within this landscape. As we walked towards the thawing lake, I curiously listened to his rich stories of times past on this land.
I was coming off of a particularly stressful couple of weeks and weariness felt heavy in my body. As we climbed out of the car and started our hike among the trails of Hocking Hills, it seemed as though I was gradually awakening; my fatigue lifted and my senses shifted into clearer focus. As Steven Harper eloquently states:
Breathing the frigid air into my lungs, my feet crunching over the snow, I couldn’t help but be called back to right now. My awareness of the vulnerability of my body deepened as I navigated the slick, icy ground. I felt the power of that slippery frozen earth calling my perspective back into check, reminding me of my exquisite smallness on this planet. Nothing that had felt so pressing before seemed urgent… or even relevant… now. 
After just 3 days immersed in the snow covered hills, I reconnected with a deeply felt sense of serenity and ease.
We then began walking along a trail on metaphorical and meditative journey involving three chapters…
It had been 4 months since my colleague Russell and I had taken our last backpacking trip together. During that space in time, we both had some outdoor adventures separately and moved through significant life-altering experiences along the way. As we began our trip out to West Virginia, I noticed the comforting feeling of easing into an unknown wilderness with a familiar companion.
 As we shifted out of the overwhelming stimuli of our urbanized environment, I noticed my whole body quieting. I felt more spaciousness and allowance for simply what was in the moment. I noticed appreciating the richness of shared silence as much as the richness of meaningful conversation. I became more fully aware of the stars overhead (there was no rain on this particular trip, so we were truly able to sleep beneath the stars each night), the sounds of the birds, the lulling trickle of the creeks and streams nearby, and the cadence of my own breath.
We experienced the physical exertion of carrying a pack, navigating some muddy trails, walking long distances in search of water, and moving up some steep inclines. We experienced deep relaxation provoked by the sensations of sunlight and the breeze against our skin, delicious food cooked over a camp stove while surrounded by a stunning environment, and by the knowing that both of us relied on one another in such fundamental ways on those trails, and that both of us would show up in support of one another as we navigated areas of smooth and challenging terrain.
During our car ride back to Ohio, we talked about our hope for future backpacking trips. As we reached the month of May 2018, we both agreed: of course we will return to the Monongahela National Forest. The plentiful orchids will be in bloom. The majestic Cranberry Wilderness will call us back.
We arrived in at Zaleski State Forest on a Saturday afternoon. It was a perfect September day. The grandson and grandfather were excited and uncertain…would they be able to do it? Would their packs be too heavy? Would the hills be too steep? Would the night be too dark? The animals too wild?
Natural Step Wilderness Experience (NSWE) 