I was so impressed when I saw that pile of purple flowers blossoming brightly. So I couldn’t hold my strong impulse to smelling them, feeling them. I felt full of happiness.

By Sean
I love being engulfed in nature, to be surrounded by trees and rolling green hills without any evidence of human interference is my idea of a nature experience. For a few years now I have been rock climbing. Climbing is a great way to “play” with the natural environment. Mother Earth provides me with a fun-filled day and i make sure that she stays clean and healthy (Leave no trace). One of my most memorable climbing experiences was when I was in Joshua Tree. I woke up before the rest of my group and climbed up to the top of a nearby face, and…

By Luke
Every morning when I’m riding my bicycle to work I enjoy a meanful relationship with the natural world. I feel the warmth of the sun and the cool dampness of the rain. The wind brings the smell of flowers, soil, grass, trees, animal manure and many more. I hear the birds singing, the chickens crowing, the dogs barking and children playing. I see my neighbors, I watch squirrels, I see the changing season in the trees. My senses are alive and active. I feel joy and a connection to the world around me that I cannot get while in a car.

All my life, my experiences in nature have been defined by an intense need to interact. If there is a stream nearby, I need to get closer to it, to touch it, or to be in it. I like to climb trees, and when I visit bogs, I need to lay down on the soft peat. Being outside isn’t like being in a museum where you appreciate with your eyes and ears only… I don’t really understand it, but I definitely need to experience it with all my senses.

By Bill
Hello,
Please view this slow motion video. http://vimeo.com/6746847″
Here is my story:
I am a roofer and help homeowners solve their attic squirrel problems. They hire me to close holes chewed in fascia by squirrels. Occasionally the squirrels are aware that I am closing their attic access holes and become agitated. When the squirrels are in this agitated state, I witness them making spectacular jumps. I wondered how they got so much distance from their jumps.
I may have found the answer.
One day as I stepped out my backdoor, a squirrel crossed a few feet in front of me. Out of habit I stomped…

By Carol
Before dusk on a warm April evening I made the steep, short climb to the top of Mosquito Mountain, in Frankfort, Maine. There is an old quarry there, almost completely surrounded by steep granite ledge, rising 50 feet and more. The basin is full of water, and the ledges lined with small poplar and other softwoods, still bare in April. As I approached the quarry, I heard a shrill echo. Cresting the granite rise, I could hear uncountable numbers of peepers. Their calls echoed off the water and granite walls of the quarry, warm from the day’s sun and undisturbed by the faint breeze….

By Jean
When I was in sub Saharan Africa for the first time I was in Camaroon in the true wild.  The vast majority of places that Americans go to in Africa are not really wild; the animals are used to humans and the interactions that humans are allowed to have with animals are strictly limited, so they aren’t threatened by humans.  They are used to cars and the sound of them, to the smell of humans and the fact that humans have never hurt or threatened them.  But where I was in Camaroon was really wild, and many of the animals had never seen or…

By Tom
Consistently breaching natural limits is something of a hobby for most nature-oriented individuals.  With each excursion ‘into’ nature and back, I never fail to be impressed with my own willingness to push the envelope and my effort always yields the same result: a humbling.  Whether it’s the same trail faster, or a few more miles on a two-day camp trip, there is that moment of thought that enters the mind: what am I trying to do out here, exactly?  And just following that is the deepest appreciation for nature and the wonders currently decreasing in this world one can feel. Those instances of clarity…

By Mark
When I was a toddler in 1950 my parents moved from a cramped New Jersey apartment to a new suburb on Long Island, NY. The house was on the site of a farm and had a large (from my perspective) apple and a maple tree right behind the house. One day when I was in the range of 4-6 years old, my mother was walking with me in the backyard and pointed at a nest high in the apple tree. Suddenly an American Robin flew out. It was almost as if her parental power had summoned the bird forth. For the rest of my…

By Matias
In 2009 I spent 3 months sailing the south Asian seas with a group of 24 other people. It was incredible and put me in direct connection with the marine ecosystem. About 1 month into our journey we docked in the Maldives and spent a couple days around Male before exploring the other islands nearby. On one of the other islands is where this experience I’m about to share happened. Sound is a fascinating entity of our existence. We’re all connected to it one way or another, through hearing with ears or feeling/sensing the vibrations that sound creates. That night on this island 2…

by Jim
I was backpacking with my family in Yellowstone.  It was cold and rainy most of the hike into our campsite and we got to the site just as it was getting dark.  We were all cold, wet and totally exhausted.  Before we fell asleep, we could hear the howl of wolves in the distance.  Early in the morning I woke up to a very unusual sound. Not having a clue as to what this noise was or what  animals frequented this part of the park,  I sat up and slowly unzipped the tent fly.  Not more than 5 feet from the tent door was…

By Liz
I moved to Seattle in the summer of 1979.  My roommate took me hiking in the Cascades with her and a friend, who was an avid birder.  As we were hiking along, he suddenly grabbed our arms to stop us, signaled to be quiet, and pointed to a branch extending across the trail perhaps 8’ over our heads.  Perched there, staring at us, not moving, was a tiny owl.  Although I don’t remember what kind of owl it was, I will always remember that seeing that tiny owl took my breath away.  I recall that experience every time I hike, and it always makes…

By Jeff
I was on the water taxi between towns in Cinque Terre, Italy.  I love boats.  I love the sea.  I love rain.  I love dolphins.  It all came together on that magical afternoon.  My boys and I went up to the top deck, and snuggled very close together in the light rain, and watched the horizon.  An exquisite rainbow emerged through the clouds just as a pod of dolphins began to leap. A perfect and unforgettable moment of family, beauty, nature and synchronicity.

By Amy
During a camping trip in Utah, I went on a day hike with my fellow campers and the goats who helped us pack our stuff into the campsite. We were hiking through canyons, walking through a little river and navigating our own path. I suddenly felt the wind, and it quickly started pouring. At first I put my hood up in an attempt to stay dry, but it was warm out and pouring so hard that I just let myself be showered with the warm rain. The goats ran under a rock ledge to find shelter, and we ran over to them to catch…

As I walk into the woods,
the concert has already begun -
the wind lifts its baton
to conduct the dance of leaves

I sense the movement,
the sway and sigh,
as the fingertips of the trees
stretch to sing of life…