From travel to transcendence

By George Stone, TRAVEL Executive Editor

Wherever I go, I find Thoreau. That was certainly the case a year ago, when I made a sojourn to Walden Pond (pictured above), near Concord, Massachusetts. I hiked around the pond twice, and dropped into its crystal waters at numerous spots, searching for a transcendent soak.

“A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Long after the book’s publication, this study of nature—within us and around us— continues to inspire.

How do we measure the depth of our natures? Where can we go to cultivate our souls?

For me, this summer, it has been by exploring the outdoors. This week I’ve been adventuring in spectacular Colorado. Cycling 10,000-foot-high mountain passes and hiking trails that reveal the grandeur of the Rockies—as well as the ecological challenges they face as they recover from a mountain pine beetle epidemic.
While biking near Breckenridge today, I saw on a sign posted within the White River National Forest a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau’s mentor (and neighbor): “At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish. The knapsack of custom falls off his back.” More transcendence for me, I thought, as I pedaled away.

So many of our stories aim to push travelers beyond the limits of ordinary experience, with the goal of recalibrating our sense of the world around us—and our awareness of what we can do to help nature out.

Our article about an effort to turn California’s Sierra National Forest (pictured above) into a 2.5-million-acre national monument overseen by the National Park Service points to the challenges conservationists face.

“You get to do this wonderful thing called saving the planet, so we should do it, right?” says Deanna Lynn Wulff, a former National Park ranger whose Unite the Parks campaign is behind the proposed Range of Light National Monument. “It makes sense in terms of the environment, it makes sense in terms of the economy, and I also think it makes sense in terms of spiritual rejuvenation for the nation.”
Thoreau could hardly have said it better. 

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TODAY IN A MINUTE

Beyond Steinbeck: Tour the marine delights of California’s Monterey Bay like a Nat Geo Explorer. The area, depicted by Steinbeck novels such as Cannery Row, is a hotspot for ocean lovers, scientists, and Nat Geo Explorer Tierney Thys reports. (Pictured above, guests at Monterey Bay Aquarium watch an ocean sunfish.)

Robert DeNiro calling: The actor is among developers seeking to revitalize (detractors say exploit) the Caribbean island of Barbuda, still recovering from a 2017 hurricane. Many of the island's 1,500 residents say the big-money changes will hurt the shared values of the tight-knit community, Mikki K. Harris writes for Nat Geo.

Olympics on the cheap? The Games are going on a budget, starting with Paris in 2024. This means Olympic Park will be scrapped for events held across the city and the suburbs. Instead of 12 brand-new stadiums, Paris will build just a few, relying on older structures. The opening ceremony will be on the Seine, making the cost for the city cheaper than London, Sochi, Rio, or Tokyo, Salon reports. 

New travel advisories: The CDC has advised Americans to avoid travel to France, Israel, and Thailand, among other locations, regardless of vaccination status. The U.S. health agency recently moved several destinations into its Level 4, or “very high” level of COVID-19 rates. See the full list here.

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

That’s a cuppa: Photographer Emily Polar journeyed to the preeminent spiritual center for the Sikh faith—and found a volunteer stirring “the biggest batch of milk tea I've ever seen.” The tea was for the thousands of visitors and pilgrims who come to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. On a normal day the community kitchen, or langar, offers free meals to more than 50,000 people—and during religious gatherings, up to 100,000. If you’re a tea lover, we have a list of the world’s best destinations for you.

TEA TIME?

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

Stay cool at the pool: If you want to get a feel for a city or town’s character, culture, and history, visit a public pool. Some are delightfully diverse while others reflect struggles of some who don’t look, speak, or act exactly like themselves, Gregg Segal writes. (Above, the Astoria Pool in Queens, New York, a public facility, offers dazzling views of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.)

READ MORE 

IN A FEW WORDS

LAST GLIMPSE

Like licorice, but potent: Ouzo, raki, sambuca. Versions of the mixed drink vary by nation. In France, pastis is on a rebound. Artisanal distillers are redefining the Provençal aperktif with a wide range of botanicals that add more flavor, Carolyn Boyd writes. (Above left, star anise and licorice are the main ingredients on Maison Ferroni’s pastis; above right, a Mauresque cocktail, made from pastis, water, and Orgeat, a sweet almond syrup).

CHEERS