Community, nature and connection: remembering past hikes

I rarely missed our Thursday hikes.

There’s a reason the Peripatetic school founded by Aristotle, did their best philosophical work while walking. This article “How Walking Fosters Creativity: Stanford Researchers Confirm What Philosophers & Writers Have Always Known” reminds us of the benefits.

Despite being one of the hardest times in my life, I look back fondly at those days thanks to rejuvenating, mindful walks and a wonderful community.

Now, I’m in a WhatApp group chat with former parents from my kids’ old school in Switzerland. After many years they are still hiking together every Thursday and posting pictures. Whenever I see their cheerful messages and Swiss Alpine nature-filled photographs of healthy, smiling faces, I feel a pang of sadness missing such a wonderful community and weekly ritual.

Juliane, our group leader, usually sent a text by Wednesday with the location, time and hike details. She picked trails and routes based on weather and conditions. On Thursdays, we’d drive 45 to 90 minutes after school drop off— some carpooling, some bringing dogs—and meet at a trailhead around 9:30am. We’d hike two to three hours and stop for lunch at a mountain restaurant before heading home in time to greet our kids from school.

Aristotle, Nietzsche, Gros, Rimbaud, Kant, Rousseau, Thoreau, Wordsworth, Austen, and others were on to something.