Wednesday, April 29, 2020


                                       Oceanside's Back Country...Douglas Drive

Walking “Wild”

Walking, or sometimes referred to as "The Wild", is a lecture by Henry David Thoreau first delivered at the Concord Lyceum on April 23, 1851

April 28, 2020, 9:30 AM
Reading has become my other way of walking here in Rancho Hermosa. I'm rereading some of Thoreau's writings and lectures. He wrote an essay on Walking which I had not read before, in the same wondrous way as he wrote about Walden Pond, this lecture is about human nature as it interacts with Planet Earth's nature in a good way and in some ways not so good.
Walking

He describes how he seeks out the forests where no one has walked before, and the places where the soul of our environment seeps into our open minds with the walking becoming the vehicle of transferred transcendence.  He tells of the sometimes when the brain keeps turning over the problems of the day so that he is out of his “senses”. Our senses so necessary to be open to the songs of nature. We can look but do we see? We hear, but do we listen? We breathe, but do we inhale the essence of the wild?

I remember when we first came to Oceanside in the year of 1991. We lived near Reynolds school, and Douglas Drive was a road where in places the “wild” still existed. There was a bog, filled with the rushes and reeds of a smelly dark atmosphere where the croaking of the bull frogs gave you chills. They did sound like some prehistoric scary thing waiting to lurch out the bog and wangle their “wild” from anyone who dared to come their way. I did listen to these sounds of the bull frog, and it was a sound of majesty of his place. I did indeed inhale the essence of this place, it was a place of primeval. Is this place still there, I don't know, it is too far to walk from RH and so I will drive today and see if indeed, the wild is still here in Oceanside.

11:30 AM
The swampy bog is still there. There is a pond-like serenity about it that has been born from the this months rains. The White Egrets regal in their whiteness, wade the shallow waters. There is now a fence along Douglas Dr. which is foreboding in it's progression along the roadway. There is only one place where the fence has been cut apart wide enough for a body to pass through. I think about it, this wild place, where there are no paths or places where anyone has trod, but this time, I will pass. It seems like I could get stuck in the muck and then where would I be?. I don't know who owns this particular parcel of wildness. It is the same way on both sides of Douglas, it could be the City.
Douglas Drive Pond-Bog

The ecosystem of today's towns and cities are so much different that in the day of Thoreau. He would be amazed and probably devastated at the way humans are crowded together in the Cities like New York, Hong Kong, and Wuhan China. With the crowding comes the devastation of our environment. We have poisoned our Good Earth. What we walk in now is a planet in crisis. The new normal will bring so many more devastating events, and what we want and what we need will have to become pared down from the harmful habits of the the past, “the more, the bigger, the newer, the cruising, the flying, and the many things we have considered to be our rights to do, to essential changes of common sense to save our planet Earth's ecosystem which sustains our human lives.

There are Paths in Oceanside maintained by the City and Non profit organizations.
El Corazon: “This mile-long nature trail along Garrison Creek at El Corazon Park was opened May 2, 2016. To access the trail head, enter the park at 3210 Oceanside Blvd. at the Agriservice and Moody’s street entrance, just east of El Camino Real. The trail will be open to the public Monday – Friday, 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and closed on Sundays. This slice of rural life in the heart of Oceanside offers the chance to soak in peace and tranquility
El Corazon
You will have to scroll down to find this text”.

San Luis Rey River Trail
The City Bike Path “The San Luis Rey River Trail. This trail is a Class I bicycle trail which is open to pedestrians as well. The trail is 7.2 miles, one way, from the Neptune access (west end) to the eastern-most point on the College Bridge. The trail follows the path to the San Luis Rey River. This relatively flat trail is safe for all age groups, is completely separate from motorized traffic, and is free of stop signs and traffic lights”.( It is best to have a buddy with you as there are homeless camps prone to this area near the city.)


The Buena Vista AudubonBuena Vista Audubon Society is canceling all its programs & closing the Nature Center through at least April 30 to prevent spread of the coronavirus. The health and safety of all of you takes precedence. We will evaluate the situation at the end of April and give updates. ALL BIRD WALKS ARE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. While our nature trail remains open, we advise against using it as it is impossible to maintain social distancing and we want everyone to stay safe”.
The Buena Vista Audubon lagoon...
It is my intention to go back to the Douglas site, slip through the fence, when further into the summer and the waters have receded, to walk in this wild place. A place where the definition of walking is one of uncharted paths, and the feet will decide the pathway of the “Wild”.








2 comments:

  1. Looks like some great birding at the Douglas site. It's so lovely to have natural spaces close by!

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  2. Thoreau knew the power of nature on the creative spirit. Thanks for this post with his musings. He swam every morning too--did you know that? Of course he did!

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