Lindsey Johnson American Camino: Flow and Memory

 While reading the section of Chapter 6 of American Camino titled "Flow and Memory" I found the concept of flow to be very helpful in my understanding of my experiences in nature. Flow is when a hiker is walking along a trail and taking in their surrounds without having thoughts about what is happening in the moment. My interpretation of this is that the hiker is communicating with the environment through their senses and then undergoing certain emotions and feelings. Later on, when the hiker recalls the memory they will then use language to describe what they saw and what they felt in the moment. I believe that it is impossible to fully capture what the hiker was experiencing in that moment through language. What was happening to the hiker during flow was beyond what language can explain. However, the word choices used to describe the memory can create different interpretations of the same moment. The word choice of an individual is unique to that individual's experience as well as their culture and identity.

Over the summer, I believe I felt the state of flow. My friends and I planned a trip earlier in the summer to drive to the Blacksburg area and hike the Cascades National Recreation Trail. When we got there, we had the choice of either taking the longer scenic hike along the mountain creek to get to the waterfall or the shorter trail where you can not see the creek at all. We decided on the longer route and then we began our 2 mile hike. Most of the hike was spent in silence just taking in the surrounds. We passed several rock formations and areas where the creek would widen into small pools. I remember hearing the water flowing on the rocks and the leaves on the trees above us rustling in the wind. The air smelled earthy, and I felt it become more humid as we neared the waterfall. I could begin to hear the crashing of the waterfall against the rocks the closer we got to the end of the hike. I felt the exhaustion within me wear off as the hike went on and I noticed I was more energized and in tune with my surroundings. I was aware of my connection to the environment. When we arrived at the waterfall, and my friends and I started talking again, I felt myself exit the state of flow. Thinking back on the experience, all of what I just described does not truly capture what I felt in that moment because I was not thinking about the sounds, the smells, and the sights in a conceptual way. I had no thoughts at all, just feelings that I later revisited and interpreted.

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