Hiking: The Origin of Exploration
According to Conservation International, the United States is one of only 17 nations on earth with biology and geography classified as "Megadiverse". Given the US' abundant concentration of natural resources, it fair to argue that we call home to the single most wonderous swath of land on earth. The land around us is beautifully scerene yet teeming with life. Anywhere you go, you are almsot garunteed to find some evidence of survival. Even in the scorching landscape of the Southwest, shrubs and cacti pepper the landscape with variety.
With so many natural wonders, it's incredbile to think that most of the world knew nothing about these lands just 300 years ago. At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, countless Bristlecone Pine trees in the White Mountains of California had already been alive for over 4,500 years. Upon the Western United States' ultimate colonial settlement, preservation efforts by the likes of George Bird Grinnell and Josiah Whitney largely consolidated this natural wonder, and today, just under 1/3 of all land in the United States is federally owned and legally uninhabited. Much of our state-owned land has also been put to use in conserving our enviornment.
With so much land beyond the realm of development, we can still have Lewis and Clark expeditions of our own in the 21st century. Despite being the third most populous nation on earth, the United States is only the 185th most densely populated territory, putting it below the world's average. No amount of exploration could ever hope to document every crevasse of land in this nation, and as such, the ability to stand somewhere in which only a handful of people in the history of the world have ever stood is extremely feasible.
In Hays, we are in the privleged position of living in a sparcely populated, flat region with a network of dirt roads begging to be travelled. As such, seeing an extremely rare sight in the grand scheme of life can be done on a whim within minutes. Furthermore, the high plains we call home are the host to a wide variety of vistas uninhibited by jagged ridges or bushy trees. We live in a region with incredible continuity, and as such, hiking to explore every last minute anomaly can be intensely rewarding. If your afternoon is free, you're only a few miles away from going somewhere which almost nobody has ever gone before.
Of course, Kansas only represents 1/50th of the story. Every segment of land in the United States is unique in its own way, and exploring the other 49 states is a gratifying acheivement to say the least. I'm still far from reaching that goal myself, but the prospect of this tantilizing challenge is reason enough motivation on its own. I know that the journey awaits me, not to mention everyone else who's up to the task. This land is your land, and this land is my land. Until death drives that mission apart, I hope you enjoy some pictures from the adventures I've had thus far.