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Jun 01
2016

The optimism of spring

Lizzy Hawker

Today is the 1st June already but everything is still possible. Registrations are open until July 1st – sign up now!

 

Words by Sarah Barker

All things seem possible in May.“

I might have said that, after a few beers, but naturalist, photographer and writer Edwin Way Teale said it first.

On the face of it, Teale’s quote speaks to the general optimism of spring. But upon further research, I’m startled to discover Teale is actually entreating trail runners to carpe the diem and sign up for the ultimate in communes with nature—Ultra Tour Monte Rosa. This is esoteric stuff—let me explain.

Teale, born in 1899 in Illinois, found his passion early on, at age nine, and shortly after, discovered you can’t just be a naturalist (see also: undergraduate degree in psychology), you have to be a writer, photographer and a naturalist. Very much a fan of Thoreau, Teale also built a log cabin out back of his real house which provided the necessary rustic atmosphere for his writing. But unlike Thoreau, he made his mark via an epic road trip through the US, described in four books—North With The Spring, Journey Into Summer, Autumn Across America, and Wandering Through Winter. This series won him a Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction in 1966.

Teale loved a journey, quietly observing the small and the grand, and though his death in 1980 prevented him from experiencing the wonders of nature in an ultra race format, one feels his quote about May possibilities is brilliantly prescient.

Experiencing the wonders of nature in ultra race format!

Experiencing the wonders of nature in ultra race format!

 

So yes, all things seem possible in May, but don’t sit around meditating in your log cabin. Sign up and hit the trails, oh children of nature.