A easy skill to learn!

Circumspect- To be watchful and aware of your surroundings.
This was a word that was described to me as a young man in church actually. It was used in reference to always walking with your head on a swivel, always turning your body to be able to see all that was around you. As i got older and started venturing into the outdoors more and more I found that this concept of walking circumspectly was one that i could also apply to my backpacking life! I began learning to trust my feet and bringing my gaze up from the ground to the scenic views around me. I also began noticing more safety hazards and potentially dangerous scenarios before they could materialize. I credit this new mindset for keeping me in the outdoors, when there were so many distractions and things that tempted my friends and I to not venture out, I was drawn back again and again because i had learned how to truly see the outdoors in its stunning entirety.
So for years i had the opportunity to sort of develope this viewing habit, knowing what sounds in the woods meant animal or human, noticing cloud patterns and the weather that tended to accompany them and how to analize campsites for potential hazzards and so on. These skills began to develope more and more and then one day i had the opportunity to begin to share them with others. At Philmont Scout Ranch, heaven on earth to many, you have thousands upon thousands of young men and women traveling through this beautiful landscape every summer. Yet when they get home and their moms would ask them what all they saw many would reply "well i saw timmys buff and joeys kelty, and dads keens". going through a whole week of trekking and only seeing the back of the person in front of them. It was here that i realized that so many of our youth don't know how to be aware of their surroundings. They don't know how to trust their feet and raise their gaze. I can t tell you how many times i have gone out and set up my broght colored hammock on the side of a popular trail on the weekend and sat there and watched as kid after kid walks right by without seeing me. how does this happen?  They don't know how to walk quietly to be able to catch that elk crossing the trail or the bear eating berries. They arn't aware that in many regions the woods that they are hiking through could burn down within the next year or weeks and to enjoy the view, to soak it in cause they could be the last to see it in such splendor. They don't walk circumspectly.
So how do you make someone more aware? Do you stop them everytime you see something that they should have seen? Do you tell them to walk slower or to spread out more? Well as with so many things in the outdoors i let the woods and the mountains do most of the talking. My favorite plan of action is to keep my eyes out for a really great vista through the woods something you really only can catch just a glimpse of and i call everyone back to look at this view. Now i tell them that these little glimpses are the real gems of a hike, these are the views and moments that you'll truely remember. A moment you might not share with anyone else. A moment just for you. And then I encourage them to seek out these moments that the wild has many things to offer each and every person they just have to be looking for it!
So these are the things that I try and teach, this act of viewing deliberatly, on purpose if you will. I try an teach it to as many of the younger generation as i can and am writing this to hopefully encourage those of you with that indefatigable spirit of adventure that undying love for the outdoors to pass this simple lesson on when you get the chance. Lets teach the next generation how to  be aware of their surroundings, how to look for the little things that make each and every hike unique and great! Lets teach them how to trust their feet and raise their gaze!
Thanks for reading
Seek the Wild
Luke