Hey everyone. Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast. I'm your host John Harris. This is a Trail Talk edition. Some of you enjoy those, but you like seeing the scenery. So I wanted to do one because I haven't done one in a while. And I haven't actually been out walking by myself in a while. But today is a nice day, meaning it's above 35 degrees, I suppose. Probably like 36. That's a nice day this week. This is going to be

the warmest day. And it's obviously January in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.

And this is what it looks like. It was actually snowing a little bit earlier. And it's wonderful.

It's just my body's acclimated. I don't even have

gloves on right now. I mean, uh, it is. It just feels almost balmy for me. Um, but the reason I do this

is because not only is it pretty and it's nice to keep in shape, but I am pursuing securing for myself a patch.

It's not really the patch I'm after. It's just the, maybe the bragging rights. I don't know.

It's a goal. It's a recognition that you get when you climb or bushwhack or walk, hike the 35 peaks, over 3,500 peak in the Catskill Mountain Range.

And then when you do that, you enter a club.

Now, I'm part of the club because I did this years ago and you go to a dinner and they call your name and you get a little patch or I don't think they give me a patch. They give me like a piece of paper and then I can buy a patch myself if I want one. I don't think I ever actually bought one. But if you do all of those peaks again in the winter, which is what I'm doing right now, you get another patch and you get to go to the dinner again and say, hey, I did all of those peaks again in the winter. And I think it's important

for men to have goals. Obviously, I have other aspirations that are maybe more important in some

ways, but I think this is a fun one, and it's just physically, it's good for me it's mentally good some of the best times

I've ever had in prayer or thinking about life issues like big life issues have been in the woods

hiking like this and it's one of the reasons I actually wrote a whole

chapter in my forthcoming book, which the working title is Against the Waves, Restoring

Christian Order in a Liberal Age. It's because I have so much appreciation for the outdoors.

And I think that we need to learn to appreciate nature again.

Too many of us are sedentary.

We're on our devices sitting there.

And obviously, I don't have any problem with people using podcasts and watching videos.

I wouldn't be making this if I thought that,

but I think that we consume way too much media and we need to produce more and we need to be in solitude more and being in nature helps that. So anyway, all that to say, go take a walk somewhere or a hike or get out there.

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