Our little excursion down the Delaware has reawakened my sense of nature. In other words kayaking the Delaware left me with a new, redesigned sense of how being in wilderness is vastly different than being in civilization, or areas of high urbanization. After a long period of time where your not in wilderness you sort of lose that sense and in my opinion is good to experience something that is not artificial.

Regarding that idea of wilderness, I felt once we went under that second large highway bridge there was something very different about where we were. The amount of infrastructure on the shores became more spread out and the forest was percievably thicker. Also there was noticeable change in sound, the buzzing of cars could not be heard and were replaced by the wind, rain droplets, our paddling and conversation. I did not know where we were, but the sound’s calmness and serenity made me feel safe.

Staying on this topic of sound and its powerful influence on the human mind and body, this NPR piece I remember listening this past spring is quite interesting and really further illustrates the benefit we get from experiencing the sound’s of wilderness. Never discredit the ability of sound.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/408184979/chui-wan-the-sound-of-wilderness