Steve Barth | Reflexions

Characters Welcome

"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." Henri Cartier-Bresson

I want to see the natural trail the way Helen Levitt or Henri Cartier-Bresson saw the urban avenues of New York and Paris. I never look for a landscape or still-life. To me, every photo is a portrait trying to capture the character and characters of the neighborhood. When I am traveling, buildings and statues get this treatment. Last summer I shot Yosemite's Half Dome in the same last-light as I once took wedding portraits.

As a post-professional photographer, I don't want to be an elitist, especially while hiking. A leaf or lizard has as much nobility as an endangered pitcher plant or a bull elephant. And a backyard trail has as much wonder as Mt. Kenya or Machu Picchu. An 8oz river stone is as solid as a 5000ft massif.

Hiking Icehouse Canyon

We’ve discovered great new trails—less than hour’s drive from home—in Icehouse Canyon, in the Angeles National Forest above Claremont on the road to Mt. Baldy. The canyon runs east-west between steep ridges, so the shadows keep the air frigid and snow frozen. The main canyon, about 4 miles from trailhead to saddle, is rocky drainage forested with oak, big cone spruce, pine, fir and cedar. However, other trails climb hillsides and side canyons and there are peaks to bag beyond the saddle.

Seeing the forest and the trees

A new study suggests that spending time in natural environments improves cognition more than in urban environments. Subjects tested better in terms of both memory and attention after walking in a park versus walking downtown. They suggest this is because the natural world is relaxing rather than stimulating.

I think it’s possible the authors understand little about “cognition in the wild” and perhaps need to get out more. The natural environment may be more pleasing, but it is clearly as complex as the urban scene for anybody who is paying attention. Their notion that there is a more coherent and less confusing pattern of stimulation, and that's the key to better performance, is interesting. But if you’re confusing complex with complicated, you aren’t likely to survive in either setting. I suspect the real reason you’re smarter after a hike is just the opposite. Seeing the forest and the trees requires both attention to and awareness of many more complex dynamics than we can consciously perceive. That's an ancient skill and renewing the practice undoubtedly helps us remember the problem-solving capacities we were designed for.

Alpenglow as prelude

We arrived at Glacier Point moments after sunset—the end of a long day driving and hiking through Yosemite southward from Tioga Pass. Alpenglow resonated off Half Dome in a way that hushed the crowds looking for seats on the granite boulders.

We spread our picnic on the precipice. About half an hour later, the moon rose to the east, just off full. Even though I was watching for it, I gasped at loud when it appeared. We watched it rise to spill into the valley 3200ft below.

Despite its brightness, many stars came out. We were especially surprised to see stars twinkling across the faces of Half Dome and El Capitan: headlamps from climbing parties bivouacked on their way up.

Moonrise photo after the break.

Technology for the Grassroots

Robert Nightingale is the designer of a project called Water Shelter: Sustainable Shelter Solutions for Sub Saharan Africa. The family-sized tent is designed to be dropped from an aircraft (serving as its own parachute), catch rainwater to be filtered and stored in a plastic bucket, and then to be packed and rolled in the bucket (used as a cartwheel) when it’s time to move on. I’m not sure how practical it is or if it could be affordable, but I liked that Nightingale has given it so much thought: more like an urban planner than an architect or product designer. I first discovered it on this design blog, but today I discovered there is also a slide show, and even a music video with fun animation.

 Between my longtime interest in ultralight backpacking gear and my new work in microfinance and grassroots development, I guess it was inevitable that I’d be drawn to innovations such as this.

24 hours on Mt. Kenya

Or: Shooting an elephant in your pajamas

After five days of meetings and field trips regarding microfinance in and around Nairobi, I had a little more than 24-hours before my return flight. Fortunately, l was able to spend it at the Serena Mountain Lodge, 7,200 feet up the slopes of Mt. Kenya, overlooking a watering hole visited by a constant stream of local wildlife. You can actually shoot (photograph) an elephant in your pajamas—also Cape buffalo, bushbuck, waterbuck, forest hogs, hyenas, mongoose, genet, baboons and colobus monkeys.

The Journeys of Crow

One day I was scanning a review of a backpacking products and stumbled on “As The Crow Flies” written from a remote solar-powered cabin in the woods somewhere. Suddenly, I took the day off and devoured every one of Crow’s entries from end to beginning, piecing together the puzzle of a fascinating, uncompromising life from only occasional clues—someone who has gone into the woods to live very, very deliberately, telling compelling stories with insight, simplicity and grace in words, photos and drawings.

As spring approaches I turn my attention to what this year’s adventure will be. This has been the winter of the blog and Netflix DVD’s. I’m thinking about this summer being yet another PCT thru-hike. When I start thinking about being back on that trail my body starts humming and vibrating. A part of me thinks that that would be the best thing to do this summer. Another part of me remembers how hard it is: the heat, the pain, the stinking horses and their obnoxious riders, the cold and the rain, bear worries, etc. How can something so hard be so alluring? I think it must be something in a person’s intrinsic programming that makes some people want to start roaming as spring nears where as others start thinking about planting a garden.

—Feb. 11, 2007 “Some people plant, some people gather”

Crow is a long distance hiker, and next month will begin a new pilgrimage up the Pacific Crest Trail. So you will have time to catch up.

2 Million Steps for 200 Eyes

One of my favorite quotes (attributed to Proust) is: "The secret is not seeing new landscapes, but having new eyes."

The idea has taken on additional meaning for a friend of mine. this week, Jumbhot Chuasai begins a month-long 1000km walk along the Camino Santiago in Spain to raise money for eye operations in Thailand. I've been acting as khun Jumbhot's virtual coach, helping him prepare with conditioning and ultralight gear via email and long distance phone calls. Attached are details about his trip and his fundraising mission. As his trip reports come in via SMS, you can follow his progress--or make a donation--via his website: www.rotarywalktosantiago.com

New Shoes on an Old Road

Yesterday at A16 in Westwood I picked up a pair of Salomon XA Sport Trail Runners on sale. I promptly gave my new shoes a dry run on a favorite old trail. Well, not so dry after all...

Tribute to Tom Dibblee

I learned recently of the passing, last December, of legendary Santa Barbara geologist Tom Dibblee. In ways that were almost mystical, Tom could read the tides of rock the way ancient mariners read the sea. It was both an education and an honor to walk with him in the canyons of his native country.

This is one of two magazine profiles I wrote about Tom...

GoLite Speed (Gear Review)

I have owned a medium-sized GoLite Speed for a year now, although I've only been able to use it for a few weekend trips. I can definitely say that it's more than enough capacity for my purposes on a longer trip. A lot depends on how much fleece you're taking and how compact your food is, naturally.

The Dales Way

I just got back from a week in the UK. It was mostly business but I managed a long weekend off. My knees were in such bad shape I had no hope of really hiking some place rugged like the Lake District or Snowdonia. I took my gear anyway in case I wanted to do some car camping. My friend recommended I explore the Yorkshire Dales. I didn't intend to walk at all, but the scenery was so beautiful asked at a mountain shop and got some recommendations about flat walks along canals and rivers. I was able to walk for a few hours at a time, which was more than enough to see that this is a perfect area for a long vacation.