Though this post is more about the serenity of the forest, the counter point is just as important. Nature is a place, beautiful and dirty, clean and messy, ambered and bloody. It, like all things, requires our respect.

Sometimes, people think that the natural world is a bit better than the commercial civilization that most of America lives in. They do have some points, but I would much rather live here and visit the woods frequently, not the other way around.

Great post all in all, though I think that Edward Abbey puts it a bit better in his poem:

“Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — the reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half for yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers,… breath deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stilness, that lovely mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will out live the bastards.”

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Great sight! Keep up the awesome work!