What a year of hiking taught me about nature

Its a new day, the first day of the year 2016 and I decided I was going to come up with a new goal. The goal was simple. My goal was to conquer the Wasatch front and spend more time in the great outdoors. Before this, I was like every other boring person and spent most of my time indoors or in the city. The Wasatch front is the back drop of Salt Lake City and its a beautiful mountain range that towers 4000 feet over the Salt Lake valley. As 2016 started and the days got longer I started hiking some of the easier trails that were close to the city so I could get used to being outside with out leaving the comfort of civilization. The valley is completely filled with houses and roads and as time passed I wanted to get away from that. I wanted to be far away from the city and discover the untouched part of nature. As time passed and the snow melted I started going deeper into the canyons away from civilization. My goal of going higher and deeper into the mountains was starting to give me a new perspective to life. The higher, deeper, and longer I hiked the smaller I felt. 

By the time summer started I was moving up the highest and longest hikes I could do. I was now spending a significant amount of time in nature and with every new hike I accomplished, I became more aware of the importance of being out side and caring for nature. By late summer, I was hiking 10 miles and climbing mountains that I didn't think i could even hike when I began. 

The more time I spent outside in nature, the more I learned to love nature. Like most people, I thought of nature as something separate from, if not opposite to civilization. The more time I spent outside, deep in the mountains, the more I started to appreciate the nature and that we take it for granted. When I started my goal, I would have never imagined that it would change me as a person. All I wanted to do was conquer nature but by interacting with the nature around me I learned to love nature and realized that it was not something that can be conquered. I no longer though of myself as separate from nature but as a part of it. If people could just spend more time in nature they would understand how fragile the world is. I thought of nature as something that we humans have not yet conquered. Nature is not something that can be conquered but should not be untouched by human hands. By spending time outside, being in nature, touching nature, people will begin to realize that we are nature. What is untouched, is not loved and if people start exploring nature, they will begin to care for it.