Forest Walk Posts Randy's Creating his Digital Nature Journals

 Forest Walk Posts

Randy's Creating his Digital Nature Journals

2020 to October 2022

I found this Smokies photo of one of the best scenics on a trail in the Park that I have ever seen.

On theTurkey Pen Ridge trail in February 2022 and Judy saw and snapped this gorgeous scene. The trail actually goes right where the rainbow is on the left. The pot of gold is this beautiful photograph!

This photograph is from my "GO-TO"
Forest walk that is up Middle Prong Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park above the Tremont Institute

For the best viewing left click on each page section to see in gallery view and use arrow keys to scroll. To return to this post hit escape or the X box in upper right corner.

This Nature Journal was written, sketched, and photographed in the Smokies also near Tremont after a longer hike up Middle Prong trail.

I took a break on my way home and found a place to sit in a folding chair on the bank above the rushing stream below.

I focused on a fallen tree trunk just down the edge of the bank and sketched in a notebook on drawing paper using ink pens, charcoal pencils, and wax pencils to try and represent the downed tree and the life around it with the stream in the background. 

I wrote a narrative of my day and observations as I was sitting here listening to the sounds of the water flowing swiftly down from above. I also added some free verse poetic text to my sketch on page three.

I write for myself but others have encouraged me to share these Nature Journals and I hope you enjoy. I hope they might even prompt you to get outside and get away for walks in the forests and woods and even reflect and write about how you feel. 

Take some pictures or even sketch and draw some of the wonders of Nature you see and use your visuals as writing prompts.

Remember for the best viewing left click on each page section to see in gallery view and use arrow keys to scroll. To return to this post hit escape of the X box in upper right corner.

The next Nature Journal is from the 
William Blount  Woods in the Fall of 2020 after a long day teaching during Covid times.

After some rains the unique colors and shapes of fungi species seem to burst forth from downed fallen tree trunks.

This final NJ for this forest walking post, was from another "GO TO" woods place across the mountains into western North Carolina next to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville. 

The Bent Creek Experimental Forest and the North Carolina Arboretum have many walking and bicycling trails and gravel roads that I enjoy visiting. I usually stay several days in area Forest Service or Blue Ridge Parkway Campgrounds nearby. 

During a meandering hike on October 6, 2020,  I just got the idea that seeing "Threes" (not trees) was unusual in Nature. Three and tree also rhymed so my inner poet took over and the following is my playful result. I made a text draft of this "Threes" on my iPad when I got back to my campsite that afternoon. When I got home with internet a few days later I created this Nature Journal. 

Enjoy my "Threes inspired by the Trees"

I originally was creating all my Digital Nature Journals in page formats on my iPad in Pages and saving them as pdf files. This Blogger platform I am using for Closer to Nature.... Blog only allows me to insert picture files and the viewing of the full page screenshots do not view as well. 

To improve viewing I changed my Pages formats so that I could take section screenshots to post.  Bear with me as I continue to develop this Blog and I welcome critique and comments to improve it. 

Go get out into the woods and even write about your day in a Nature Journal using images as writing prompts.

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