Nature Connection: Walking The Winter Blues Away

If you’re like me, walking is the best medicine for almost anything that ails you. Walking has always helped me clear my mind, settle my mood, and encourage me to get to know the place I am in in ways just looking out a window can never do.

When I was very young, I walked all over our Hyannis neighborhood, exploring streets and empty lots as well as the woods and nearby ponds. I knew where the raccoons lived, where the peepers peeped the loudest, and where the red-tailed hawks liked to nest. I found the earliest mayflowers and the latest purple asters, the nests of robins and the favorite hideouts of bobwhites. 

Going to college in western Massachusetts gave me a new place to walk. Campus was huge so there was a lot of walking there, but there was a river close by and mountain trails to discover, and I often walked miles at daybreak before my studio classes began to settle myself before another long day.

I moved to New York City after college to begin my life as a “real” artist, and although I can’t swear that I walked every inch of Manhattan, I sure tried. I walked from the upper west side to Soho, from the west side to the east side, and today I could probably still draw a decent map of Central Park as well as Riverside Park. 

Here on the Cape, I have walked almost every day out in nature since returning to my hometown in the late ‘70s, in the woods, marshes, fields and beaches. I still discover new places to walk in every town, and I never get tired of the places I’ve come to know well. 

Walking serves me well. Not only is it good exercise but I think it is good for my mental health. If the news is making me mumble and curse, I take myself outdoors and get moving, and it always helps me. It’s hard to stay angry or upset while walking. Perhaps one begins the walk in an agitated way and perhaps a bit of brisk stomping ahead at full speed is called for to help clear the head, but it doesn’t take long to get distracted by the nature around me.

March is always wonderful because walking lets me find spring up close and personal. One must be prepared for March walks with different layers of clothing, for the temperature can vary a lot from morning to night. It can also be muddy, so good walking shoes with soles that won’t slide on trails are a good investment.

Recent walks at the beach have been sobering. There has been a lot of erosion, a lot of rearranging of shoals and sand bars. Huge piles of seaweed are amassed in some areas while others have had sand stripped away to the rocks beneath the former surface. In some places large expanses of peat have been exposed, telling a tale of former salt marshes. The Cape isn’t technically a giant sand bar, but its outer edges have always been in flux. Look at historic maps to see changes along our coastline over the years. Whole villages are now underwater in some spots.

The woods are still challenging for walkers due to the number of broken branches and leaning trees hanging above many trails, so please be aware and avoid places that appear menacing. Some areas have been cleaned up by a small army of volunteers, but don’t assume every area has been maintained after the blizzard.

I’ve been walking in a few wooded areas, especially one that hosts a few vernal pools, and there’s more activity in these areas every day. Watch for eastern phoebes, newly arrived. Often heard before they’re seen, they sound a bit like old men hoarsely saying, “Feebeeeee.”

Black-capped chickadees also may sound off with a “Fee-bee” call during mating season but theirs is at a higher pitch. 

The smell of the woods as winter transitions to spring is intoxicating, at least for me. It smells fresh and earthy, clean and pungent, all at the same time. It is the smell of things waking up, I think, and what could be lovelier than that?

Even though winter has barely loosened its grip, there is plenty of green to be found already. Mosses are bright, benefitting from the melting snow. Green or cat brier is true to its name as well, its vines and thorns showing off some of the earliest woodland greens. 

On one recent walk on a sunny afternoon, I saw both flies and bees out and about, a sure sign that spring is beginning to spring. I watched a pair of titmice gathering nesting materials and a pair of cardinals feeding one another while a red squirrel chowed down on a pinecone. 

At the beach my walks have been quiet, though some gulls seem to be pairing up. My winter flock of snow buntings seems to have left my local beach area, but the horned larks are already warbling their sweet songs in the dunes. Yellow-rumped warblers are feeding in small flocks in many dune areas as well, especially ones with areas full of cedars or pitch pines as well as scrub oaks. 

Daily walks help keep us in tune with the changing seasons, and over the last few days I’ve already noticed buds fattening and turning pink or red as well as new growth of twigs and grasses. This time of year is so magical. If the news is getting you down, put down your phone, stop scrolling the socials, and get outside. Take a walk if you can. Even a short walk in your neighborhood can be invigorating and mind-clearing. It may even boost or change your mood. If nothing else, it will help you see that spring is really on its way.