remember, remember that which is priceless...

How often have you thought to yourself, 'I wish I would have taken less pictures'? Maybe never.


Cool Story...
     I went to Sundance Ski resort last week with my younger brother just to show him around (he recently moved to Utah) and I wanted to take a few pictures with him. I decided we should walk up the slope past the lift a ways to get a good view of the mountains. As we were walking up the slope - in our regular shoes - a gentleman from ski patrol came over and told us we shouldn't be walking around, it's dangerous, needed a pass, etc. I was enjoying myself and in a pretty good mood. I essentially replied, "Hey, would you mind taking our picture?" He was a little surprised by my response but agreed. He took the picture below.

     Has anyone ever turned you down when you asked them to take a picture?

     The ski patrolman did want us to leave but was a pretty nice guy. I was respectful and so was he in return. And he took a really good picture of me and my bro. It was clear that I surprised him a little when I asked him to take our picture but he did it. I explained that I snowboarded there and hadn't realized it wouldn't be okay to walk up the hill a little. I graciously left with a good picture and both we and the patrolman left satisfied.

     I was pretty proud of the picture I took above. But two, five, and fifty years from now, I'll probably be much happier I took the one below - even though the view's not as good.

     Blaine, my brother, took the picture below from the middle of a tree, creating an outer border. He thought that was pretty cool. So do I.

"Remember playing outside until your mom called you in for dinner?"

     I've been exploring this type of information for weeks now and have posted information that I think is most prominent, relevant, and interesting. Feel free to post any comments you may have or what you think is interesting.

Health Benefits
National Wildlife Federation

"Remember playing outside until mom called you in for dinner? Today's kids probably won't." 

"Our kids are out of shape, tuned out and stressed out, because they're missing something essential to their health and development: connection to the natural world."

"In the last two decades, childhood has moved indoors. The average American boy or girl spends just four to seven minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day, and more than seven hours each day in front of an electronic screen."

• "Childhood obesity rates have more than doubled the last 20 years"

• "The United States has become the largest consumer of ADHD medications in the world"

• "Pediatric Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen precipitously"

"Health Benefits." National Wildlife Federation, 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Healthy nature healthy people:
'contact with nature' as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations
Cecily Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Peter Brown and Lawrence St Leger

• "Research has shown that too much artificial stimulation and an existence spent in purely human environments may cause exhaustion and produce a loss of vitality and health"

• "The psychological response to nature involves feelings of pleasure, sustained attention or interest, 'relaxed wakefulness', and diminution of negative emotions such as anger and anxiety"

• "Empirical, theoretical, and anecdoral evidence demonstrates contact with nature positively impacts outlook on life and stress-reduction"

Cecily Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Peter Brown and Lawrence St Leger. "Healthy nature healthy people: 'contact with nature' as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations." Oxford Journals 21.1 (2005): 45-54. Health Promotion International. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Spending time in nature, a natural remedy for ADHD 
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reported in Scienceblog


Studies suggest that some children may even be able to substitute ADHD medications with spending time in nature.

"Spending time in nature, a natural remedy for ADHD." eartheasy, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.


     If you want to learn more about these claims, the first two of the three articles will provide you with dozens of sources and links to the research that support them. The title of the articles are links.

Rock Canyon: Hiking in the Snow

     Sometimes I hear people say they dislike or hate the cold. I often reply with the question, "Do you really hate the cold weather, or do you just hate being cold?" I don't like the cold either when my toes, fingers, or ears are frozen. Just put on a couple extra layers. What I'm getting at is we shouldn't let the cold stop us from enjoying the outdoors - most of the time. This afternoon, while it was 25 degrees, I hiked Rock Canyon with my cousin and really enjoyed it a lot (I wasn't cold). As you can see, I enjoyed taking pictures along the way too.

Click to enlarge photos.

 

      It's hard to tell from these pictures but I was surprised to see the amount of foot traffic there was on the trail. A lot of people have gone on this hike since the last snow.

 

      The rock on the picture above looks pretty cool, but it's even more awesome when you're there.

 

 

Go straight at the turn in the road:

     I took the picture below while standing in the intersection on the Northeast corner of the LDS Provo Temple. The street you can see is E 2300 North, or North Temple Dr. The trail head is just a few hundred yards from where I'm standing. Just keep going straight and you'll be on the path.

 

     Please feel free to comment or ask any questions you may have.

The Nature Effect

I was thinking about how much I really like doing things outdoors the other day and I wondered if there were studies on the way nature affects us. It turns out that there's actually a lot out there, some of it being very interesting. Here are some quotes from just a couple of articles that I found. I'll probably post again about this as there seemed to be a lot about nature actually improving health, which really intrigues me. Anyway, I've always felt that being outdoors and in nature has lifted my mood and given me energy. It's neat to see that it's actually pretty universal...

The Moral Call of the Wild

A study suggests that spending time in nature changes our values

P. Wesley Schultz, Scientific American

“In a series of studies, Netta Weinstein, Andrew Przybylski, and Richard Ryan, University of Rochester, show that exposure to nature can affect our priorities and alter what we think is important in life. In short, we become less self-focused and more other-focused. Our value priorities shift from personal gain, to a broader focus on community and connection with others.”

“Psychological research has shown that natural experiences help to reduce stress, improve mood, and promote an overall increase in physical and psychological well-being”

P. Wesley Schultz (2009, December 1). The Moral Call of the Wild. Scientific American

Spending Time in Nature Makes People Feel More Alive, Study Shows

Science Daily, June 2010. Journal of Environmental Psychology

"Often when we feel depleted we reach for a cup of coffee, but research suggests a better way to get energized is to connect with nature" – Richard Ryan, lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester

“Studies suggest that the very presence of nature helps to ward off feelings of exhaustion and that 90 percent of people report increased energy when placed in outdoor activities”


University of Rochester (2010, June 4). Spending time in nature makes people feel more alive, study shows. ScienceDaily. 

Best of BYU Part 2

      This trail is not only a beautiful place to go for a walk but also to have a picnic. There are multiple picnic tables along the path as well as some grassy areas.

     Coming from the East end of the trail, below is the first of five waterfalls.

     Below are the second, third, and fourth waterfalls along the trail.

 (Click to enlarge pictures)

Below is the fifth and last waterfall.

      I never thought I would see a place like 300 North as intriguing. This angle of the street, however, turns something ordinary, the same, and maybe even boring, into a really great view. I'm not sure that these pictures really do this path justice. You would really need to go there to fully appreciate it. As you can see, it's not far from the road. Parallel to the path below is 800 North, perpendicular is 300 East...

The Best of BYU

     This is actually new so most people haven't been to this path yet. This trail is on the South/ South-East Corner of campus, just north of 800 North in Provo. It is 0.9 miles long and has six picnic tables and ten benches AND it is awesome! Tomorrow I'll post more pictures and more information about it. I took these pictures just a few weeks ago...

     This project was just completed. It took about eight months to complete and was started around March of this year. Before this stream, there was an old irrigation ditch and an existing path - nothing like this though.

(Remember: Click on pictures to enlarge)

 

     If I honestly had to pick a favorite spot in Provo to go for a walk or a picnic, this would be it.

 

     The picture below is one of my favorites of the pictures that I took. It is the fourth of five waterfalls.

Just drive occasionally - it's nice.

     These pictures were taken earlier this year. I was going through my pictures and realized it's been too long since I've gone on a nice, long ride. The first three of these pictures are about 30 minutes from Provo. They are up on the Alpine Scenic Hwy also called the Alpine Loop or Hwy 92. I am on the right on all of these pictures.

     There's something really nice about going for a drive that is relaxing - even if you're not on a motorcycle. The picture below is a photo at the bottom of the mountain at Sundance Resort. If you enlarge the photo or take a close look you can see the lift at the top center of the picture. This is probably less than a 20 minute drive from Provo.

     In honor of the snow yesterday and today I had to add a snowboarding picture. It only snowed a little and didn't stick. In fact, I didn't even see any of it; I was too caught up studying or it didn't snow right where I was. But either way, the snow is coming! This picture was taken the last day of the season earlier this year on Powder Mountain.

 I received permission from those in these pictures to post them on this site. Please do not copy these pictures.