“Not till we are completely lost, or turned round, do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature.”
Henry David Thoreau

Lately, I have been obsessed with the idea of nature’ vastness.  I am lucky because as I meander about the Eastern Sierra, I have gotten to personally witness the vastness of undisturbed nature.  It truly stops me in my tracks. Staring into wide open spaces I start to ponder my existence.   A scene so epic, yet perfectly orchestrated, shouts to you; “you are only a small spec in the universe and that is perfectly OK.”

The moment I started to understand how I really felt about open spaces came when I was hiking the Little Lakes trail. I had started out early and was the first and only one on the trail.  The sun was just coming up and its golden light was kissing the landscape. I crested a ridge and the view in front of me was stunning.  I stopped and started to set up my tripod and camera to capture the scene.  Then I realized there was no sound at all.  No wind, no birds, no sound of running water.  Just total and complete silence even though I could see miles in almost every direction around me.  While other memories I have tend to blur together, I can still see that scene and my feelings like I am still standing there right now.  It impacted me that much. I have been told that God speaks to you in silence; after that morning I now believe it.

It was in that moment, just staring into the vastness, that I truly began to understand the need for all humans to experience the vastness of nature because you realize that not only that you are just a small part of the universe, but your problems are even smaller, almost irrelevant. It is a feeling you cannot truly understand from looking at a two-dimensional image or even a video. You have to be there.

Which brings me to the point of this post.  While the vastness of nature is massive and overpowering, at the same time it is extremely fragile.  A few buildings here, a commercial mine there and the positive impact of nature’s vastness on your soul is gone.

I believe it is critical to humankind’s well being to save as much of the remaining open spaces as we can.  Once they are gone, they are gone forever.  We should embrace the philosophy of visiting these vast wildernesses but then leaving, allowing the vastness to stay intact for others to enjoy.  The following images are my attempt to win you over to this belief.   Hopefully, if you feel the feeling I do, you too will stand up to protect the remaining wild open spaces.

FYI, there are several organizations that are doing great work to preserve open spaces in our patch of the woods.  They include: The Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Tejon Ranch Conservancy, and the Friends of the Inyo.  You should look them up and hopefully support them.