Get Out There

And Happy Holidays

Editor’s note: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. This is our last “Advent of Resistance” post. We want to leave you with a hopeful note and something to do on New Year’s Day. We’ll be sending out posts twice a week going forward, with occasional series like this, including some ideas for New Year’s Resistance Resolutions. So, be on the look out! Happy Holidays!

Dear Activists,

Yes, Virginia, there is hope.

We live in a world far more skeptical than Virginia faced in 1897, or so it seems to me. Still, “love and generosity and devotion exist.” As Frances Parcellus Church wrote in the Sun, “faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance” can push aside the veil between us and better things.

I’d add “nature” to Church’s list of what can help us see through the ugliness and cruelty we’ve witnessed this year. Beyond that, there is beauty, if we can get to it.

For that reason, I look forward to the First Day Hikes of New York State. After the excesses of Thanksgiving and shopping and whatever December holiday you honor, we all face the quiet morning of January 1.

All over the state, people begin the fresh year by putting on winter coats, boots, hats, and mittens and venturing to a gathering spot. From there, a guide or two will lead them on a planned hike.

Two dear friends and I have done this for years, and I love it. There is something hopeful about beginning the year with others, of all ages, by walking together. Our adventures have included a very ordinary walk on a path I’d never noticed, along a river and through the woods in Chenango County. One year it was so bitterly cold that the guides at Taughannock built campfires along the path so people could keep frostbite at bay. Another January first was on the warm side, and I nearly lost a boot in the marshy area of a state park. Last year we decided, for a variety of reasons, to create our own First Day, and we did a self-guided architectural tour of Norwich, which made me see familiar buildings in a new way.

Always afterward we find a restaurant to share hot drinks and a good meal.

As a whole, these adventures have become something we look back on with laughter and appreciation. Part of it is enjoying the time with each other, but it’s larger.

When people are gathering on a winter morning, I see connections and honorable intentions. Families have come, and couples, and solo hikers, and groups of friends. Everyone has chosen to be there (except a rare tweenager, perhaps). Everybody is noticing something in the natural world, from new trees springing out of unlikely rocks to the trickle of water behind a frozen waterfall. We’re all getting a bit of healthy exercise. Each of us runs into acquaintances or has pleasant small talk with strangers. We are a temporary group yet we look out for one another—keeping everyone safe, losing no stragglers. Isn’t this exactly what we want to do in the coming year?

I’ve already started looking at the list of First Day Hikes on the website of NYS’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Most hikes ask for registration—but we’re not ready to choose yet, knowing more hikes will be posted later. Do we want a familiar hike or an adventure? What kind of physical shape are we in this winter?

Once we decide and register (it’s free!), we look in advance for restaurants that will be open on January 1, since many are not. Depending on the weather, it’s good to know we’re headed for a warm spot afterward.

You’re invited. You won’t find Virginia or Santa on the trail, but you’re very likely to find enjoyment and hope.