I got out on a 10\nmile hike yesterday, my first in well over a month. The last hike was marked by\nthe vivid transition into autumn while yesterday\u2019s hike clearly demonstrated\nthat, not only did autumn arrive but that winter is upon us \u2013 at least from the\nperspective of the forest. Mother Nature has fully opened her robes of green to\nreveal the bones of the woods; aside from the coniferous patches of white pine\nor mountain laurel, the woods are dominated with shades of grey. The trees\nstand bare, looking dead and barren, with only the oaks still possessing a few\ndry brown leaves still holding on to their branches. The sky was, fittingly,\ngrey; a classic November sky which only served to enhance the mystic of the\nwinter woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the woods are laid\nbare, you see things that you never saw through the spring, summer, or fall.\nThe masking of the massive vegetation growth is gone and the features hidden\nthrough most of the year are now visible. There were streams, ponds, and springs\nthat had been hidden from sight. Hills, cliffs, and ridges sprang to view.\nStone walls I never knew existed now ramble on in sight for miles. So much is\nnow visible that it actually becomes like a new hike! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what was unexpected was the quiet. We are all familiar with what happens when we take everything out of a room, to paint it or install a floor or when we move. An empty room echoes \u2013 loudly \u2013 objects absorb sound and dampen the echoes. So the expectation would be the same in the woods: lose all that vegetation and you think it would be louder. But it is actually the opposite \u2013 the bare winter woods are silent, eerily so. The silence is overwhelming in fact. Perhaps it is because most all of the animal life has either migrated or are in hibernation, there was almost no life to be seen aside from a bird or two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think, though, what\nI saw as odd \u2013 the silence \u2013 may be as much perceptual as factual. The summer\nwoods are also rather quiet and serene. But there are also dirt bikes,\nbicycles, hikers, and canoers; there are people in the woods and they all make\nnoise, at least to some extent. I suspect that the lack of humans in the\nforest, coupled with the diminished bird and animal population result in a\nquieter woods, which given the already stark and mysterious barren landscape,\nlead one to feel the silence as more than it truly is. That all aside, the\nwinter woods are as lovely as when full and lush in the summer, and at least to\nthis observer, are actually a bit more magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I think that is\nan understandable reaction: to find the bare woods more magical. When all the\ntrappings and ornaments have been stripped away and we can really see what is\nunderneath, what is real, and what it is built upon, we understand it better.\nAnd much the same with humans; when we manage to get through the masks, the posturing,\nthe public persona, and we finally get to see the real person underneath \u2013 the laid\nbare soul \u2013 we invariably find greater joy and pleasure with them. Think about\nthat dear reader and then look deeper at those closer to you \u2013 see their winter\nwoods and luxuriate in that magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I got out on a 10 mile hike yesterday, my first in well over a month. The last hike was marked by the vivid transition into autumn while yesterday\u2019s hike clearly demonstrated that, not only did autumn arrive but that winter is upon us \u2013 at least from the perspective of the forest. Mother Nature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspective","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n