A story of Nature Connection

We’ve been out in the dunes for a few hours together, sharing stories as we wander this way and that, letting ourselves be guided not by a trail or predetermined destination but by asking the simple question “where to now?” Sometimes the answer comes as a light tug in the belly, other times it comes as we follow those deer tracks to figure out “what’s that deer up to way out here in the dunes?” We’ve both taken our shoes off. The sand is still warm from the day, but the air is cooling as the sun makes its way down towards the horizon behind a glass-like ocean.?

We agree to split up for our own sit spots in the fading daylight. A sunset is a wonderful time for a sit spot, as nature transitions from daytime to dusk. I meander for a few minutes uphill and inland. The wind quiets down to a whisper, and the rush of distant waves crashing dulls. I sit cross-legged next to a sagebrush and decide to face away from the ocean. I close my eyes, take a few deep breaths, and begin to quiet my mind.?

Twenty minutes later we regroup to make a scout fire in a dip in the dunes where we’re protected from the light breeze but still have a view of the setting sun (just touching the horizon now). We remain silent as I take out my hand drill kit and start setting it up. You head out to gather a tinder bundle of dried mugwort and some kindling. I’m still fairly novice at fire by friction, so I don’t yet have a coal ready when you come back to our spot. We take turns on the hand drill and soon enough we see that wisp of smoke, and we know fire is coming soon. I transfer the coal from the baseboard onto the wide blade of my knife, and then gather the tinder bundle around the coal. With a twist of the wrist I dump the coal into the tinder bundle and start gently blowing. The tinder bundle ignites - always a thrilling part of making a fire by hand. I gently place it into the depression dug out in the sand. We start strategically placing the kindling (just the small stuff) and continue to blow into the growing flame. The kindling catches and the small fire takes shape. We have our scout fire.?

Scout fires may be small but they have large spirits. Made by hand with materials gathered from the land, there is a unique magic to these kinds of fires.?

It became quite dark sometime during the process of making the fire. We settle into comfortable seats in the sand and share stories from our sit spots as the small flames flicker. You tell me about how the waves grew louder as you walked closer to the ocean, and you witnessed some puzzling bird migration activity that you could not quite figure out. I share with you about how I struggled to quiet my mind, and I spent most of the sit spot distracted, first by thoughts of an ailing family member, then by the sand flies. We grow quiet, and for a while we sit in the pleasant silence.?

We extinguish the fire and walk briskly back to our cars, navigating by the natural light of the night. Our time out on the land has come to an end for now, but soon we will meet out here again for a wander at dusk.???

Note: It is critical to be aware of and adhere to all fire restrictions that may be in place where you are wandering!