What to Talk About While Hiking or Camping

What to Talk About While Hiking or Camping

by Kathleen Lisson

I visited Adirondack Day in Albany on May 5th. I grabbed a bunch of great maps and hiking brochures and got to meet a representative of the Adirondack Mountain Club. 

I also picked up a Nature Circles game. Nature Circles are circular cards with conversation starters printed on circular pieces of paper and held together with a carabiner. Questions include "If you were a rock, where would you want to be? Near the water? On a cliff?" and "If you were a bird, where would you fly to first?"

I have been thinking about what types of plants, animals and rocks I will see while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and taking a safari in the Serengeti. While these questions seem simple, they may open up insightful conversations. My husband is from India and our guides will be from Tanzania, so there may be interesting cultural differences in our answers.

I will use the attitude of exploration and introspection that these cards inspire to think more deeply about my time in Africa this July. 

NatureCircles.org has some tips on creating an outdoor book club here: http://naturecircles.org/TipsForCreatingNatCir_jul13.pdf