By Jane Bauer

“The savanna hypothesis
addresses the issue of how we select places to
live and why we find some landscapes more beautiful than others. The central argument is that our preferences in this domain were shaped over evolutionary time through the repeated selection of safe and healthy environments over dangerous
and resource poor landscapes.”
Kevin Bennett
Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State

On a podcast I listened to recently, the interviewee suggested that each of us has a landscape that defines us. I hadn’t thought of looking at the world this way but it made a lot of sense. The chef being interviewed talked about his pull towards certain types of food and certain landscapes which, if he looked back far enough, were a part of his ancestry.

I wondered, what landscape am I? Where do I feel most at home? What are the sensations I crave; open desert spaces, high mountains, plains with grasses, the woods or the wide ocean and a sandy beach?

I didn’t have to think too hard. I am drawn to the forest and the jungle. I yearn to feel dwarfed by an army of majestic trees, small dirt paths, and rocky rivers that cleave and twist their the way between hills. I love seeing sunlight speckled through canopies of tree branches, Japanese has a word for this: komorebi.

When people ask me how I got here, I tell them about that first visit and the people I met. That something made me want to return, I try and find the words for it but they always seem to slip away. I don’t mention the landscape because it sounds sort of silly and fantastical, but that is what it really was. I came to this seam where the mountains kiss the ocean, it closed me in between the lapping waves and the darkness of its forest. It beckoned me down dirt paths and up river beds and waterfalls. Stay with me it said and I did.

This month our writers explore outdoor pursuits. We hope it encourages you to do a little exploring. If it does, please let us know via email or on our socials.

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Happy Exploring!

Web Cover photo by Ryan Murray Photo