As we traveled up the final creek of our trip I saw the carcass of a deer underneath the water. When other students started to shout out about the dead deer I thought that I would freak out when I floated over it but a strange calmness and intrigue washed over me. I wanted to know what its story was and how it ended up at the bottom of the creek.

As I floated over the deer I thought of Eiseley and how he touched upon the interconnectedness of us all. I thought about death and how we need to face death like the deer I saw in the creek, we will all die one day. And when that day comes we will eventually become part of the Earth again. The water in our blood will become part of the rivers and our bones will become a part of the soil.

The water floating over the carcass has been floating this Earth for millions of years and the rocks beneath its bones has been there just as long. This Earth is older than all of us and we forget that everything has been there for much longer than we all have. Our own problems are so small compared to the lifetime of the Earth but we get wrapped up in the troubles of our life and forget to look at the big picture. I personally do this and forget to look around and as Walden would say I am asleep.

On this kayaking trip I was able to take a step back from my thoughts and think spiritually like Walden wants us to. I thought about the bigger ideas in life rather than the minuscule issues in my own life. I strangely became okay with the idea of death and accepted it. Seeing the dead deer in the Delaware was a wake up call- death is okay and it is a part of life just as the Earth is a part of our life.