In 2015, I went backpacking through the Himalayas on a three month excursion with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). This included a two week home stay in the remote village of Sarmoli deep in the Himalayan mountain range, and two week white water rafting down the Kali Ganga which is the river separating India and Nepal.
When I went to Ithaca New York to visit Ithaca College over the summer of 2015, my family and I went to visit the famous Buttermilk Falls. It is a beautiful hiking spot. Along the trails are various waterfalls that you can swim and play in. When you enter the trails it feels less manufactured and more natural. You are surrounded by trees and the sound of rushing water.
This is the large pool that is usually full all the way up to the stairs.
This is another view of the same spot above. There is a hiking trail on the right of the waterfall.
And so the long journey of self-discovery in the natural world begins here, inside a classroom ironically. But I’ve always been more of an indoor kind of guy. I got proper exercise and Vitamin D mind you, but I’d usually read comics instead of climbing trees. But I do remember there was and still is always one place in our great big natural world that’s quite special to me: the quiet and beautiful South Beach, in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
It was always peaceful as waves washed against the sand as the seagulls dive-bombed the water, almost like a carnival act. And so, as one could imagine, I’ve always been more of a tropical guy when it comes to nature. Give me palm trees, sandy beaches and coconuts any day of the week.
Which is why I believe that this journey will be quite essential to broadening my own horizons. Nature comes in many forms. Getting out of your comfort zone and thrusting yourself into the unknown is ideal to becoming a more well rounded human being. And for me, if all goes well, a better writer.
A paragraph here.
An image here.
Paragraph.
Now a Google Map – this one has a specific place chosen:
Another Google Map, this time with no place marker chosen:
And one last map, a Google My Map, this time with annotations/ a custom map marker:
