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Hamilton to Dundas, Ontario Walking with a friend alters pace, conversation, thought, directional and destinational choices, what you notice or don't notice along the way. It makes me think about walking-with: walking-with another person, walking-with a non-human being (dog-walking, for example), walking with the more-than-human other, a term I've come across in my reading lately.* We are always walking-with, whether it's with spirits or histories of a place, animals, birds, trees and rocks, water, the earth itself. Speaking very locally of this area where we walked today: "I've heard Hodinöhsö:ni' elders say that the land we walk upon is made up of the faces not only of those who preceded us but those who are yet to come. We should therefore place our feet reverently on such a peopling earth" (Coleman, Daniel. Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place, 2017, p. 89). * Springgay, Stephanie, & Sarah Truman. Walking Methodologies in a More-than-human World (Routledge, 2018).
Location: West-end Hamilton to Dundas, Ontario, and back Length: 5 km Companions: Laura Date: 27 July, 2019
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Aldershot to Westdale, Ontario It's mid-summer, and hot, and my feet hurt on the pavement. There are a lot of old cemeteries around the western tip of Lake Ontario, and big trees. The cicadas hum, and the traffic mumbles, and the wildflowers bloom, and the lake is as high as it's ever been. Crossing under the highway at the Desjardins canal, past the flooded fishway, I take the trail along Coote's Paradise to Princess Point, and up into the neighbourhoods, ending with an iced latte at the Bean Bar. Location: Aldershot, Burlington to Westdale, Hamilton, Ontario
Length: 8 km Companions: None Date: 25 July, 2019 University to College, Lethbridge, Alberta From the west side to the south side of town. New institutional design barriers caused false starts and extra hills and stairs at the beginning of the walk, but once I was on the trail down to the Old Man River it was easy going. I was lost in thought much of the way, not paying much attention to my surroundings except when I purposely stopped to look, and take a photo. I'm always surprised by how dramatic and beautiful the landscape is right here in the middle of the town where I live. Location: University of Lethbridge to Lethbridge College, Lethbridge, Alberta
Length: 9 km Companions: None Date: 17 July, 2019 Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana A walk around a lake in the mountains with an old friend is fine way to spend the morning. It was a slow walk, with lots of pauses and conversation, and not much for wildlife except a big hare who was still half white - winter colours stay late up here near the glaciers. We did see a grazing grizzly bear in the middle distance from the car on the way home. Location: Swiftcurrent Lake trail, Many Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana
Length: 4 km Companions: Ani Samten Date: 5 July, 2019 |
Author Sandra Cowan likes to walk on trails, paths, and city streets. She is based in southern Alberta, Canada, a visitor in the land of the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy). Collaborations with Lethbridge Walking arts collective here: lethbridgewalking.weebly.com Archives
August 2024
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