The Art of Nature Awareness

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2

The Value of Reconnecting with the Natural World
9pm

During this brief gathering we’ll learn about the legacy our ancestors gifted to us in the forms of tracking and awareness, survival skills, and complex and effective social structures. We’ll have a nature display to evoke questions and conversation. This will be educational and fun for the entire family.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3

Fox Walk: The Way of our Ancestors
7:30am

Learn how moving efficiently through the natural world helps to pattern our brains for expanded awareness and our bodies for balance, agility, and strength. Shifting from an urban or suburban gait to our ancestral gait makes us instantly quieter in the woods and enables a more intimate perspective into the natural world. By learning to expand all of our senses to their fullest potential, we are able to see more wildlife and discern more subtle patterns. 1 mile, easy pace, all are welcome.

Orienteering
9:45am

We’ll use only one modern technology this week. Participants will learn fundamental map and compass skills and follow a pre-determined bearing approximately 1 mile through dense forest habitat.

Tomahawk Throwing
2:30pm

We’ll learn the fundamentals of safe and effective tomahawk throwing and how to adapt to changing conditions. Don’t be fooled—this skill is an effective tool for enhanced brain wiring and concentration, attributes that help us in all aspects of our lives.

*Note: Ages 13 and up. Closed-toe shoes required. All participants must go through a 15 minute safety protocol at the beginning of the session. This cannot be repeated if missed.

Night Hike to Copes Lookout
9pm

Moving deftly and silently and tapping into our night vision. Be on the lookout for creatures and events of the night owls, insects, coyotes, stars, and satellites. We’ll tap into our deep sensory awareness to take in as much information as possible. Approximately 1 mile, all are welcome.

Wildlife of the Shawangunk Mountains
9pm

Join David Johnson as he shares images and stories of the native wildlife right here on the Shawangunk Ridge. “The Gunks” is a 47-mile long ridge of bedrock that has been designated by The Nature Conservancy as “one of Earth’s last great places.” David’s work has even been preserved by the Smithsonian.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4

Early Hike: Lost Proofing
7:30am

This is the companion to the orienteering program. Here we’ll employ the elements of nature as tools in aidless navigation instead of map and compass. 1 Mile, easy pace, all are welcome.

The Gift of Water: Hike to Mossy Brook Spring
11am

All life on Earth depends on water. Since the dawn of our species and beyond, we drank water from the surface of the earth. This of course has become a much rarer event as our culture has tainted much of this vital resource. Now all of our water comes from municipal or industrial sources. However, there are still plenty of places to find fresh, healthy surface water; all we need to know is how to read the landscape. On this beautiful path we will also learn about waterborne pathogens and how to purify water when necessary. Strenuous 2 miles, all are welcome.

Tool-Making and Camp Skills
2:30pm

Everything we need to live can be found in a decent-sized patch of forest. What we may overlook are the little things that we take for granted that make our lives quite convenient and efficient—spoons, bowls, cordage, clothing, water-boiling methods, survival teas, tools, and more. Here we’ll learn the fundamentals to craft these things from the landscape. 1 mile at an easy pace, all are welcome.

Megan Napoli: A Glimpse Into Bird Migration
9pm

Each year, as our days become shorter and colder, many birds make the seasonal flight southwards, however we still have many birds that choose to stay here throughout the winter. Join Megan Napoli, Research Ecologist at the Daniel Smiley Research Center, as she sheds light on a bird’s decision to migrate and the various birds we can expect to see here both during our chilly months and our springtime revival of warmth and light.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5

Tracking: Reading the Stories in the Earth
7:30am

We have been tracking as long as we’ve been human. Some anthropologists and neuroscientists propose that tracking is what has allowed our brains to develop into the immensely complex logical and creative tools they are today. We’ll begin with some clear print identification and move into tracking of situations, moments in time, and even ourselves. 1 mile, easy pace, all are welcome.

The Art of Primitive Fire-Making: The Science and Alchemy of Fire-by-Friction
11am

Fire is an essential element for our long-term survival. The ability to make fire with only materials found at hand is a skill that our ancestors possessed for thousands of generations. While it is challenging at first, the rewards are many, as it gives us the freedom to know that we can create a fire in most circumstances and apply this vital element for heat, cooking, light, tool-making, preparing medicines, purifying water, and so much more. Participants will learn one method of fire-by-friction and apply their new-found knowledge on their own bow-drill kit. 1 mile and an easy pace, all are welcome.

The Gift of Trees: Our Great Benefactors
2:30pm

Trees provide everything we need to live—oxygen, food, shelter, fire, tools, and more. They fix nutrients in and cool the soil, prevent erosion, bank carbon dioxide, and so much more. In every indigenous tradition, the trees are metaphors, a template, for how humans should live—close to the earth, rooted in our homeland, growing straight and tall, always reaching higher, adapting to the changing seasons, supporting each other, and living in balance with other species. On this casual walk through the forest we’ll cover approximately 20-25 species of tree, learn how they grow and where, and learn their uses and their teaching role in native lore. 2 miles, easy pace, all are welcome.

Elizabeth Long: Hibernation
9pm

Short days and cold temperatures can make survival difficult, but animals have adapted in some complex and fascinating ways. Join Elizabeth Long, Director of Research Science at the Daniel Smiley Research Center, as she sheds light on topics from hibernation to migration to camouflage, and explores the different strategies that animals have not only for surviving, but even for thriving during the winter months.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6

The Five Voices of the Birds
7:30am

Do birds really talk? Consider that birds have been on the planet for approximately eighty million years and that they possess enhanced vocal and auditory apparatus. Surely these adaptations have allowed them to remain a viable life form, and their complex vocabularies have been instrumental in this success. Here we will learn not only who is vocalizing but reach into the question of why, and, just as important, what this can teach us about ourselves and our relations with the natural world. 1 mile at an easy pace, all are welcome.

PROGRAM LEADERS

Michael Ridolfo
Michael Ridolfo is the Naturalist at Mohonk Mountain House. After 20 years of rock climbing, ice climbing, mountain biking, skiing, winter mountaineering, nature photography, writing, and music, he began practicing the art of tracking, wilderness survival, and the native mentoring model. This journey has evolved into teaching children and adults how to deepen their relationship with the natural world. In 1999, he founded Wilderness Mind (now The Earthtime Project), a school dedicated to preserving the ancient arts of tracking and nature awareness.