Impact

YOUR SOUL OUTDOORS

Courtesy of Travel & Tour Nepal. Mount Kailash.

A main reason we’re mostly happier in summertime is because being outdoors is not only good for our bodies, it’s good for our souls. It restores our spirits. It grounds us. It heals us. Outdoor trails can mean soulful journeys. “Many see the trail as a spiritual experience,” says of Trail Sherpa, an excellent resource for outdoors bloggers and enthusiasts. “It affords its visitors a perfect venue to commune with nature and to be part of the bigger experience that unfolds outside the comforts of home.”

Here’s a sampling of beautiful outdoor retreats, walks, and adventures that you can enjoy right now.

Embercombe is organization devoted to a socially just, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually fulfilling way of life, celebrating outdoors on our wild and beautiful planet. Located on a mostly wooded 50-acre plot in next to Haldon Forest in Devonshire, UK, with stunning views over Dartmoor National Park. This little paradise even supports two endangered species: the dormouse and the pearl-edged fritillary butterfly.

Founded by Tim McCartney, Embercombe is not only a retreat where adults and children alike come to commune with the majestic outdoors, but it is also a center for leadership training, using nature as both its inspiration and guide. They offer bespoke courses to businesses, charities, organisations, schools, colleges, and universities seeking sustainable change through team building, executive leadership, personal development, hands-on science, crafts, and creative expression.

For more information, check out Ways to Visit Embercombe. And, if you can find it, McCartney’s book, "Finding Earth, Finding Soul: The Invisible Path to Authentic Leadership" now out of print, is a nice read.

(Green Books, 2007)

National Geographic recently published The Top Ten Outdoor Adventures. Their picks include some all-time greats and a few you might discover just now:

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Appalachian Trail, Eastern US
El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska
North Woods, Ossipee River, Maine
Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota
Wind River Range, Wyoming
Hiking the Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah
Tree Climbing in Atlanta, Georgia
Hiking Tahoe Rim Trail, Tahoe National Forest, California

To find more information about what to see, where to stay, and guides who can enhance your journey, click here.

Travel and Escape collected a bucket list of beautiful solo walking excursions to consider in Outdoor Adventures for Solo Travellers.

Their picks also include a Grand Canyon river trip as well as the solo walk El Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, the cliffside trek through the Cinque Terre along the coast of the Italian Riviera, skywalking Auckland’s Sky Tower and extreme spelunking in its glow worm caves, and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Bootprints recently shared 5 HIKES THAT WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL, pilgrimages, with paths worn by hundreds of thousands of footsteps over hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years, often in spiritual quest.

Franciscan Path of Peace, a 32-mile medieval trail running between Italy’s two Umbrian cultural centers of Gubbio and Assisi. A map is available online, and a guided two-day trek is available through the Sierra Club.
Kokoda Track, another sort of soulful path, in Papua New Guinea, marks an embattled history, with wars fought along its way. It’s a tough road, across the rugged the Owen Stanley Mountain Range. Although it is only 60 miles, it usually takes two weeks to conquer. A guide is available free online. For guided trips see Intrepid Travel.
Kunisaki Peninsula trails, in the remote mountainous region of Japan, have been tamped down by monks for millennia as part of their sacred practice of walking prayer. For travel information see Japan’s Tourism Bureau. For guided trips see Walk Japan.
Mount Kailash Trek, another ancient monk trek, is continued today along 32 miles around the base of Mount Kailash in the Tibetan Himalayas, climbing from 15,000 to 18,372 feet. More information is available here online. For guided trips see Myths and Mountains.
Saint Paul Trail, a 500 km path across central Turkey, dates back to early first century, when it began to facilitate the spread of Christianity across Western Europe. More information is available here. For guided treks see Explore Worldwide.

If you want your soul to connect with the outdoors on a more daily, regular basis, you might consider Outside’s list of The 5 Best Places to Raise Outdoor Kids. These five cities were selected because they are ideal places to both make a good living and connect with outdoor beauty. They include:

Amherst, Massachusetts, a college town, close to Vermont and New Hampshire mountains, lakes and rivers.
Brevard, North Carolina, a mini cultural hub bordering the Pisgah National Forest and the famed magnificent Blue Ridge Parkway (blueridgeparkway.org).
Missoula, Montana, a large city, where the Bitterroot, Clark Fork, and Blackfoot rivers and five mountain ranges meet.
Salt Lake City, Utah, one of the best spots for winter outdoors, known for its glorious ski trails, beautifully hikeable in warmer months too.
Eureka, California, full of art, culture, redwoods, and micro-habitats, bordered by high cliffs plunging down to the Pacific Ocean.

If you’d like more options for a guided outdoor soulful experience, here are a few more operators that offer some lovely options:

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Summer in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 08.10.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!