How to turn walking into a city adventure – 07/07/2023 – Equilíbrio

Hiking doesn’t have to be a boring activity, it can turn into a micro-adventure, as an exercise in curiosity and exploration.

I turned to some experts for inspiration and learned that you don’t have to look far to find a little novelty. It all depends on your perspective.

Take a ‘fragrant walk’

Tejal Rao, California restaurant critic for The New York Times, has built a “personal smell museum” of Los Angeles, where she lives.

As she walked through the city, she wrote down the scents in a notebook. Her discoveries included the smell of fried onions from her neighbor’s kitchen and the “sticky aroma of sage bushes and rosemary”, reminiscent of pine.

I decided to go on a “scent walk” with my best friend, Julie, who lives in Morningside Heights, New York City. As we walked with her Boston Terrier dog, we detected hints of butter and vanilla emanating from a bakery, compost from a community garden, and the smell of sewage in a puddle. (That last one was off-putting to us, but Julie reminded me that “it’s like Chanel No. 5 perfume” for her dog.)

look for wild animals

Each environment has a variety of living creatures, says Sgt. Rob Mastrianni, a park ranger in New York, who recommended a hike with the express purpose of spotting wildlife. He suggested turning over cut logs to see insects and salamanders, and also remembering to look up.

embrace the weather

If there’s a safe way to walk in the rain, wind or fog, “lean into the elements,” says Rob Walker, author of “The Art of Noticing,” which shows you how to find opportunities to be surprised in everyday life.

Revel in landscapes that change suddenly – the drama of wind whipping trees or the way rain can make vegetation come alive.

“I don’t want to encourage anyone to play football during a hurricane,” says Walker. “But all of us could probably get 10% braver about climate.”

Explore the nearby unknown

There are things you probably never noticed within a few miles of your home, says Walker. I followed his advice and discovered a park I had never visited before. I also found the cemeteries –a mix of nature, architecture and history– to be a guaranteed micro-adventure. I wandered among the tombstones and wondered if the names Ebenezer or Euphronia would ever be popular again.

Many communities, Walker adds, have an “informal neighborhood historian who loves to tell the legend of a house or the secret history of a park.” Use them as a resource, he suggests. I have a chatty neighbor who always stops me and tells me local stories (or gossip). So I proposed a walk and he took me to a house that was part of the Underground Railroad, a secret network used by enslaved African Americans to escape to free states.

If you live in a city, try organizing a walking food walk, says Pattie Gonia. Grab a friend, walk around a bit, stop and grab a bite to eat. Then walk some more. Who will refuse a gourmet tour?

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves