re: What's your favorite thing about being an outdoorsman?

We know that watching the sunrise in the woods, on a mountain, on the lake, etc is one of the most awesome things in this world.

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watching the sunrise in the woods, on a mountain, on the lake, etc is one of the most awesome things in this world.

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And sunsets.....love to watch them both.

Who doesn't like shooting shite?

Watching and listening to the woods "wake up." Or the sun coming up fishing or headed to your spot.

Call of the Wild. First time I read this it blew me away. Lots of the emotional reasons I connect with "the wild" are in this poem.

LINK

Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there's nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon,
Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?
Have you swept the visioned valley with the green stream streaking through it,
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?
Have you strung your soul to silence? Then for God's sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

Have you wandered in the wilderness, the sagebrush desolation,
The bunch-grass levels where the cattle graze?
Have you whistled bits of rag-time at the end of all creation,
And learned to know the desert's little ways?
Have you camped upon the foothills, have you galloped o'er the ranges,
Have you roamed the arid sun-lands through and through?
Have you chummed up with the mesa? Do you know its moods and changes?
Then listen to the Wild -- it's calling you.

Have you known the Great White Silence, not a snow-gemmed twig aquiver?
(Eternal truths that shame our soothing lies.)
Have you broken trail on snowshoes? mushed your huskies up the river,
Dared the unknown, led the way, and clutched the prize?
Have you marked the map's void spaces, mingled with the mongrel races,
Felt the savage strength of brute in every thew?
And though grim as hell the worst is, can you round it off with curses?
Then hearken to the Wild -- it's wanting you.

Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
"Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell the story,
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul?
Have you seen God in His splendors, heard the text that nature renders?
(You'll never hear it in the family pew.)
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things --
Then listen to the Wild -- it's calling you.

They have cradled you in custom, they have primed you with their preaching,
They have soaked you in convention through and through;
They have put you in a showcase; you're a credit to their teaching --
But can't you hear the Wild? -- it's calling you.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling . . . let us go.

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Posted by Salmon We know that watching the sunrise in the woods, on a mountain, on the lake, etc is one of the most awesome things in this world.

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my favorite time of day

Era: nothing like the smell of an old two stroke burning oil right at daylight

The outdoors was a peaceful sanctuary where I could escape my abusive mother. The sounds of the outdoors are soothing -- the birds singing, the wind through the trees, a frog croaking in a pond, squirrels barking. I love the feel of the sun on my skin, the breeze in my face, and the calm stillness. The beauty of everything is miraculous!

Hard to explain. A lot of it has to do with the relationship with my Dad and Grandpaw's, and friends and other family, but ever since I was a kid I loved being outdoors.

Nature is better than anything on TV or the internet, so I'd much rather be out there enjoying it.

Lots of the gay in this thread.

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I think you meant to post this on the OT

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Is there a sunset watching thread there?