Personal Narrative: The State Of Montana

Forests, lakes, and rivers are the places I love to spend my time. No matter what I am doing outside I will always be happy. My favorite part about being an outdoorsman has to be dressing for the weather. Living in Minnesota I learned the weather can change overnight, and I am always prepared. My eagerness to be outside was influenced by my family at a young age. I enjoy hiking through beautiful forests and cross country skiing over frozen snow covered lakes. I spend so much time in nature I learn to appreciate things on a whole different level. Nature has so much beauty and mystery it cannot be

In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless and Jack London both appreciated the beauty of nature. London said in a biography once, “ ‘When I first came here, tired of cities and people, I settled down on a little farm…130 acres of the most beautiful, primitive land to be found in California.’ ” Just like London, Chris had a great appreciation for the beauty of nature, and wanted to experience it himself. In Chris’s letter to Wayne he said, “If this adventure proves fatal, and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know that you’re a great man. I know walk into the wild.” London and Chris both left their normal lives and escaped reality to go live among the wild. They both had a great appreciation for nature and wanted to experience it themselves. Chris decides to go into the wild to escape reality. In the authors note in Into the Wild Jon tells Chris’s reason for leaving, “And then he invented a new life for himself, taking up residence at the ragged margin of our society,

Wilderness in its true state is lush, sleek, and channels water. It is because of its true natural state that is has the ability to generate billions of dollars into America’s recreational economy. One provident example, is the San Gabriel Wilderness in California. Now of course protecting this land has natural benefits,

Roderick Frazier Nash’s book, Wilderness and the American Mind, compiled contemporary debates about wilderness by outlining the changing positions concerning wilderness throughout history. In chapter 11, “Aldo Leopold: Prophet,” Nash discuses Aldo Leopold’s house metaphor. Here, Leopold refers to six vacant lots and what it would mean to build houses on all six lots. He describes how the first few houses might make sense; however once you build upon all six lots you no longer remember the meaning of the homes. He argues that they somehow the sixth house would become “stupidity.” Conversely, I disagree with this theory. I feel each house, so to speak, is built differently and suits different needs and wants. Just as in the wilderness,

According to William Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wilderness”, the main concerns with the wilderness term being humanly constructed and lack of concern with the local environments. Cronon emphasize much of the historical and philological meanings of wilderness as a human construct via spiritual and religious perspectives. He desired for people stop putting so much emphasis on the above and beyond that is out of our reach and focus on the present. He pushed this into the idea of one should start putting emphasis and care into one’s own environment rather than just focusing on environments beyond the local one. He believes change should start locally.

The wilderness is a place where you are free of the bad people in society, you can live by your own rules, and you are completely free. The wilderness attracts people because you are free. Chris McCandless leaves his home and family so can explores the wild. He does this because he wants to get away from all the bad things in society and conflicts in his family. In the movie,Bridge to Terabithia, Jesse and Leslie go into the woods to imagine magical creatures.

Yet Americans in this period also revered nature and admired its beauty; the spirit of nationalism fed the growing appreciation of the uniqueness of the American wilderness

The outdoors is hidden to many people around the world. All many see is the huge skyscrapers and whitewash walls of the cities. These people don’t tend to be as happy because there isn’t a stress reliever, or a place to get away to. They need this place so that they can have some time to just relax, learn, and develop true happiness. The outdoors is an escape for those who know it and are available to experience it on a regular basis. These places can be the Great Redwood Forests and Lake Almanor in California, to Canada’s vast river and lake systems, to the fields of Kansas, and the mountains of New Zealand. All of these places have one thing in common, the freedom to live. So many city dwellers don’t get to experience these things, which rural people hold to so dearly. The constant hustle and bustle of the city tends to keep people from their happiness. The stress of city life has a way to go “out the window” when you spend time outside with yourself and nature. The ones who can experience the life in the

Roosevelt saw the wilderness as a place that grows character, valor and vigor — a place worthy of preservation for future generations. Future generations like me. And because of this, most of my childhood was spent at national parks.

The scenes journey along the Appalachian Trail captures the true magnificence and greatness of the eastern U.S. of wilderness. Starting in the Deep South at the foothills of the smoky mountains, this journey overwhelms one with southern beauty while also making one experience the South’s legendary simplicity and retreat from the urban gridlock of modern society. The Appalachian Trail’s scenery attracts many people from all over the world to witness it for them. Causing many people to come with their families and possibly volunteer.

A toast to a place above all the rest, this place though odd has captured my heart. I know this isn’t a conventional Burns supper toast, or even a real toast at all. But as I was thinking about which toast I wanted to give; I realized that there was only one place that I wanted to talk about. So firstly, I would like to ask you guys have you ever been to a place that makes you feel happy. A place that even at the mention of its name, you can’t help but think of happy memories you had there. The place that does that for me is the Black Hills of South Dakota. I spent my summer working at a campground in the heart of the Black Hills. So here’s a toast to the Black Hills and all of its natural beauty.

Modern views in regards to wild nature are different from early Westerner’s views, but they are correct for modern people. Unlike modern views to protect and sustain wilderness areas, early Westerners felt wilderness should be conquered. To say that early Westerners were fundamentally mistaken in their views and use of nature isn’t exactly correct. Early Westerner’s understood and appreciated what supplied their basic needs of survival. “One man’s wilderness may be another’s roadside picnic ground” (Nash 1967). This alone shows gratitude as they knew they could not survive without all the resources afforded to them by wilderness.

Nature and wilderness were very important ideas to some extant for St. John de Crevecoeur and Ralph Waldo Emerson, each had their own opinions and ideas that contrasted against each other and were somewhat similar to each other. Emerson who valued it and looked at the nature as something to proud of had used it many times in his works as examples and that we are part of nature as well and make whatever choices from it as it can from us. While Crevecoeur believes that in every land it has its own form of culture as it does its own kind of nature, and describes how the land and nature was then and how it will be giving details of it in his pieces of work. How they use and see nature is described equally important in both their works “the American Scholar” and “What is an American” but shows how different their views really are in them.

Secondly, regarding the wild and the wilderness, universally there's a misunderstanding between those that are behaving natural and those that are naturally behaving. Understand this, the hidden harmony is better than the visible. Cultivate close association with wilderness, and she will passionately produce serenity. Violent shakes, smoke billowing hundreds of feet into the air, and red mud with a black crust, ask yourself, how can something so beautiful can be created by something so ugly and violent…..

In North America, the classic voice of the colonizing person’s connectedness to nature and a has been the romantic individualist writing of wilderness.