A year is coming to an end that was completely different for me in many ways to the previous 20 years. It was the first year in which I didn’t earn any money from my work. It was the first year in my life that I wasn’t in Germany. I answered Matze Hielscher’s questions about the year in review for myself.
I’m more the lush forest type. I love variety. I love walking through a forest, with its scent of needles and leaves. On the open prairie, you are mercilessly exposed to the sun. The forest offers protection. It cools. The ground is softer. The sunlight turns into a play of shadows that penetrate the leaves and needles.
More and more condors circle above us. Large animals with a wingspan of at least one and a half meters. Although we know that the birds are looking for carrion, we can’t help but get the impression that they are just waiting for us to become their prey. Again and again they fly just a few meters above our heads. We start to pack up with a queasy feeling.
The sandstone formations that accompanied us for the first few days on section 12 created an interesting landscape that was not too complicated to hike. As on the previous stages, the landscape changes dramatically from day to day. I find the scale or monkey-tail firs that grow everywhere here particularly amazing.
Nature will remain a big part of my future life. But it can’t just be hiking. I love nature, but I also love civilization, I love contact and interaction with people. I am sociable, nature is not.
