trails

Come with me
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Come with me

Into the great wild.
Into an adventure of peaceful delight, where the gentle breezes warm your body and the sun filled meadows delight your senses. The playful butterfly drinking the last of the seasons nectar and the grasshoppers leaping in the tall grasses. The wild life leave only footprints to indicate their presence, the occasional scat of wolves and bear indicate a balance of life and the songs of birds, hawks and ducks fill the air with their calls. The berries are abundant, there are several signs of bears.
The great wild.
As usual, the wildlife are elusive and although our presence is known to them, they hide from us. We, like them, will leave only footprints. We, like them, will pass through the meadows disturbing as little as possible.
Lucky are we, to have the great wild.

Lucky are we to be the only humans in this vast landscape. A retreat for us. A welcome change in the daily routine. A back country trip of awesome wonder, fabulous scenery, a remote distance, a genuine pleasure.
Here, the mountain steams provide necessary water. Clear, clean water. We fill our cups to drink. The great Earth provides unpolluted water from numerous streams as we pass by. The great Earth provides and we, oh great human, have the great good fortune to inherit such wonder.
The protection of vast tracts of land for preservation, conservation and environmental security is a necessary gift to us.
The wildlife need their uninterrupted peace where the daily drama of their own lives can be fulfilled. We too, need uninterrupted peace, where our own minds rest and relax. We need the great wild. The calling birds, the swaying, dance of flowers, the brilliant colour, the songs of animals.
On these glorious fall days, the land was gentle to us. The sun warmed us and the streams cooled us. We could drink from the unpolluted waters of the Earth. In two glorious days, a lifetime passed. Gone were the worries of the world, the distant workplace vanished from the conscious mind into a void. No more thoughts of daily disturbances, no more the sounds of traffic. The silence greets us with restful, deep sleep and the meditative calm of nature soothes the soul.
Here, mankind, sighs the great Earth. This is a gift to you. Protect as much as you can. The great wild is a precious and fragile gift, it restores your soul, it sings to your heart and it relaxes your mind. There is no war in the great wild. There is only the daily interaction of nature as it plays out its own life. The nurturing wild. It calls us to protect it. Save us mankind. Save yourselves. Here is the land of plenty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTN8frhWOlA tranquility water music

The smells of juniper are strong and pleasing. The grasses smell sweet as we pass through them. The end of season flowers nod and wave. The sweet serenity of the far off place. The wild. So rich for us, a near at hand wonder of the great creation of the Earth.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
September 11, 2013

And they are us
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And they are us

The heroes of the past haunt us with their defiant perseverance.  Here us,  oh mortal man, we are your blood, your kin, your heart, your soul, your mind.  We are your yesterdays, your todays and your tomorrows.  We are the spirits of the conscience that will not die.  We live forever, oh mortal human.  Live forever and you will never die.

We are the example of your spirit.  The uncontested might, the strength, the courage, the path less followed, but always sought after.  We are the yearnings of your soul.  The leaders of the pack, the fortitude of the confident, skilled, accomplished human from anywhere.  We choose ourselves, to be the champions, we choose our lives to be the heartbreak.  Follow our footsteps, everyday heroes, test your strength against ours and feel the worthy soul of a brilliant life, cast in clay, dust and joy.  All that we live for is joy.

Joy!  Feel your heart sing!  Your call to order.  Claim your place.  Choose your prize.  The hero is you.

To follow in the path of a brilliant ancestor is a call to challenge your own space and time.  Limitless resources, limitless time, limitless company.  The path is the same, the company different, the skills unknown.  Would you dare to pursue the same adventure?  Would you dare to be a voyageur?

http://www.tfo.org/emissions/rendezvousvoyageur/en/world/worklife/daybrigade.html

The rivers are still tumultuous.  As long as they ever were.  The North Saskatchewan River passes through three provinces.  The Columbia River’s headwaters are in Canada and it ends at the Pacific Ocean in the United States.  Hundreds of kilometers of travel in voyageur canoes. Would you be the awesome voyageur.  The weeks of travel in open canoes, paddling hundreds of kilometers of rivers, battling currants, weather and fatigue.  Epic voyages of grand adventure.  To retrace the paths of centuries old man.  To relive the challenge of that call to adventure, that companionship, endurance, nature and freedom.  The love of the open water, the risk and the self worth.  To be the champion!  To rise to the call  of your heart and your mind.  To cast aside the daily toil.  What is a human?  What is it that is humanly possible?  The unreachable star.

The test of strength is good for the body and the test of will is good for the mind.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Langley-Canoe-Club-2013-Fraser-Brigade/195684620567080

Play!  The joy of being, the fun of it all.   Play!  For sport, for relaxation, for companionship, for fun and for your body.  Come you awesome human.  Follow your ancestors on a path to glory.  Come and join the grand adventure of your life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLCBXdTA0Yg

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 23, 2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html

The Voyageurs
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The Voyageurs

The dawn is breaking and the currant is forceful.   Onward, onward the paddle pushes through the water.  The morning echoes with the wakening of new life, a new day, a song from the forest, joy!

The rugged life of the everyday entrepreneur.  Constant travel, constant hardship, work all day, work most of the night.  On and on through the vast river system, through the lakes and to the fur trading posts, with canoes laden with goods for trade.  Freedoms sings it’s song in the mind, wealth creeps into view.  The tantalizing call of riches.  The wealth of the nation is in trade.  The doors opened to the adventurer.  To those so hearty that they could travel great distances with focus and determination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyageurs

To this end the change became the hired employee.  The race to conquer the nation, to fill the shelves with fur product, to make a fortune from the wealth of the land, attracted business entrepreneurs whose goal was to have it all.  From a life of  individual trade for profit to a life of the licenced, employed trader.  The business of trade boomed throughout the country.  Still the life of the voyageur was virtually the same as his predesessor.   Now, the trade was for a merchant, previously, it had been trade for themselves.

The rivers filled with hearty, strong, determined men, venturing on a highway of water.  The canoes travelling thousands of kilometers, the negotiation for trade.  It filled our lives, our dreams, our destinies.  The world of trade.  The world of fur.

For 350 years the Canadians ventured throughout the land in search of trading partners to expand their wealth.  Trading with the native peoples, then setting up traplines of their own.  The fur trade started in the 1500’s and ended in the 1870’s.

Negotiate.  The peaceful venture of business enterprise was the most fashionable and luxurious calling of all.  Profits on both sides, wealth and adventure.   The call of the wild was a call to prosperity.  Heed the call, almighty man.

The birch bark canoe, the voyageur canoe, the life of the land.  The peaceful settling of  a nation built on trade.  A nation built from the strength of human enterprise more valuable that any adversary or foe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8rGaj2Bt7A  heart chakra earth healing meditation

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 20, 2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html

http://www.empowernetwork.com/?id=louisehayes

David Thompson
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David Thompson

1814 map of the Pacific Northwest and central ...

1814 map of the Pacific Northwest and central Canada by David Thompson. The Kootenay River is shown near the bottom left as McGillivray’s River. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Always, there are heroes.  Always there are those whose feats are more daring, whose lives are more accomplished, whose endeavors more respected, whose praises more deserving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thompson_(explorer)

A name rings out from our history.  A name of the fur trade, a name of accomplishment, unparalleled achievement, a surprise!  A victory for us in the mapping of the land.  The long stretches of river lay before them, the endless land.  On it goes, seemingly forever.  The land, the water, the endless travel, the constant voyage.  How far?  To map the country, how far?

Day after day, the endless journey.  Mile after mile the endless mapping, negotiation, fur trading and establishing fur trading posts.   On and on into the annals of history for this one persistent and indomitable being.  The great negotiation saves us and the great negotiation lasts forever.

This almighty human was David Thompson and the great negotiation was his metis bride, Charlotte Small.  Together they travelled thousands of kilometers throughout the country.  On and on, mile after mile with a mission to accomplish an enormous feat.  The endless mapping, the constant surveying, the passion!  It must be done.  The thousands of kilometers of surveyed land all throughout Canada and Northern United States.

http://www.thefurtrapper.com/david_thompson.htm

To pass the route to another.  No more the unknown land.  No more the fear of failure, the lost souls of the misguided would now have a marked route, a secure map, a written guide.  Someone has gone before and secured the way, spoken to the people, traded, claimed the unknown, claimed the land and its people and saved their lives.

Oh, to be the aptitude of the brave and daring.  To set the pace of adventure, skills, knowledge and courage. To be the champion.

The vast river system of continental Canada and northern United States provided a lifetime of travel and adventure and professional pursuits as well.  From Ontario to the Pacific, down the Columbia River to it’s end at the Pacific Ocean, down to the Mississippi River,  along the boarder of Canada and the United States, north to Lake Athabasca.

The spirit soars in a human who has no disability, only a limp and the loss of site in one eye.  All of the surveying, the astronomical calculations, the travel by canoe, horseback, on foot, limping along an unknown course, his vision impaired by loss of site.  No disability here.  Only the passion, only the drive, only the will to succeed and the call of adventure.

Come, almighty man!  Becons the great unknown and the adventure begins.  It ends with the congratulation for the achievement “the greatest land geographer who ever lived”  For mapping millions of kilometers of land and producing maps so accurate they were used in Canada for approximately 150 years.

Hail bravehearts.  Let your stories be known.

In a nation of fantastic achievers, one name calls to us from the past.  I live forever.  I am David Thompson.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 17, 2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html

http://www.empowernetwork.com/?id=louisehayes

Commuter Challenge
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Commuter Challenge

And God created the Earth.

The vast heavens, the bountiful  oceans, the abundant life on the planet.  And He also created us, the human.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFq42IibUeY earth song meditation

It’s environment week and there are many ways to enjoy this national celebration of preservation and environmental protection.  We all need clean air, clean water, sunshine and healthy living.  We all need to stretch our legs and join the crusade to walk, run, hike, bicycle and to be the champion.  The more often we leave our vehicles at home and use other methods of transportation to reach our goals, for example, public transportation, car pools, bicycling or walking, the fewer emisions we put into the atmosphere.  With less emmisions the air is cleaner and clean air is better for us and better for the planet.

http://www.environment.gov.ab.ca/edu/eweek/

Yes, the trees and plants are capable of cleaning the air, but they can’t do it all.  Pollution is a cause of decreasing life expectancy and disease.

To take to the trails or the streets for running, walking and cycling is a pursuit of the joy of living.  The increased fitness level powers you on and the earth sighs with gratitude.  Only footsteps, only the power of the muscles.  Each step increases lung capacity and cardiovascular strength.  Each step promotes healthy living and promotes the health of the planet.

Each breath that you take, fills your lungs with oxygen for the health of your blood and your cells.  The increased oxygen feeds your cells and helps them to fight off disease.

Feel the cool of the forest as you pass under the canopy of the trees.  There is life in the foliage and oxygen productivity in the leaves.  The cool shade is a welcome retreat from the scorching sun.  The busy birds and insects hurry onward with their own day.  The plantings save the water shed and the rushing sound of water fills our ears.  Clean water!  Water for our bodies, we can’t live without it.  Clean water with no pollution,  no water born disease.

The busy sidewalks turn into a carpet of grass.  Soft, green, fresh grass.  The life under your feet saves the soil, with all of it’s life supporting nutrients.  Under your feet is the domain of the soil and all of the tiny micro organisms and earth life.  The soil, the building block of plant growth.

Feel the earth under your feet.  The life producing quality of the soil.  Rich in nutrients for our harvest, the soil is key to our survival.  Healthy soil, healthy food.  No pollution or contaminants of the earth

As we prepare ourselves for another day of healthy living, for us, for the environment, for the earth, remember to give thanks for life itself, all life.

The commuter challenge promotes healthy bodies, healthy lives, healthy living.  Brilliant mankind, the choice has always been yours, choose health.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 6, 2013

National trails hiking day
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National trails hiking day

Good Morning Brave hearts.  Do you feel the call to the wild today?  This great day is set aside for you to enjoy and to explore the fabulous system of national trails throughout the country.  A day for exploration, for rejuvenation, to connect to nature, to encounter the beauty, the splendor, the grandeur and the persona of a wonderful, immense country, with an beautiful multitude of trails.  The artist, the athlete, the nature lover, the photographer,  the environmentalist, the hiker, the walker, runner, the adventurer, young and old, differing fitness levels,  all enjoy our spectacular scenery and the awesome call of the wild.

To be so fortunate as to be able to hike a trail to a protected place, a special place, a place of natural or cultural significance.  A place of wonder, of immense beauty.  A place where only the few adventurous humans have the delight to travel.  A nature trail, or an historic trail, a guided trail.   Nonetheless, a trail of significance.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jasper-Trail-Alliance/168509399845259

Worthy human, you chose this trail of significance yourselves.  These are the worthwhile paths of discovery, to destinations superb, that you chose as special, protected, significant.  These destinations are your own call to adventure.

To enjoy the beauty of this great land is a privilege for most of us.  The vast system of parklands offer a diverse opportunity for all of us to experience the grandeur of nature.  That distant lake with its variety of birds, the forest with its singing songbirds, the flowers, the animals, the smell!  The trail takes you to a destination of unique cultural heritage.

Count the flowers, watch the birds, try geocaching, participate in an event.  How you get there is up to you.  You can walk, mountain bike or ride a horse, paddle a river or a lake.  The enjoyment of the trails is a national pastime.

Step off the busy sidewalk and venture into the parklands. Meet the specialists with events from hiking organizations as listed below.  Nature and its beauty are the pride of our land.  This national heritage is for all of us.

http://www.canadatrails.ca/hiking/hk_evca.html

http://www.americanhiking.org/national-trails-day/

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 1, 2013