Nature Can Offer Help in the Healing Process

Feeling drained and dazed? Has the emotional roller coaster you’ve been riding left you longing for some relief?

There is no changing what has happened this week, of course. But there is something we can do to ease the pain: We can escape to the great outdoors, for a day or even a long weekend.

Be it a drive in the country, an afternoon at the beach or a stroll through the woods, spending a little time beyond city limits, away from the bustle of civilization, might be an ideal way to sooth our souls, to clear our heads.

“We think any time is a good time to come here for rejuvenation and to clear your head, but especially now,” says Scott Gediman, a ranger at Yosemite National Park, which considered closing its gates this week but decided against it. “We determined there was no immediate threat, so the park, which belongs to the people, will remain open and we will continue to welcome visitors.”

Tuesday morning’s attack certainly is not something we can, or should, forget.

But it is something we might wish to put out of their minds for a while.

For much of this week, talk of the outdoors on Internet discussion centers was replaced by talk of Tuesday morning’s events: Chat rooms seemed as good a place as any to vent.

“I just want to say to all fellow North Americans that I am sick to my stomach for what has just happened to our American friends,” wrote someone on a site popular among Baja California aficionados. “I am Mexican but I feel like this happened to my family and I just can’t stop feeling very bad and sad about it. I know that there’s nothing I can do but if there’s anything, anything at all to help in any way possible, I would do it.”

That was typical of most postings, and it echoed the sentiments of millions.

Feeling bad and sad has pretty much been the order of the day, every day, since Tuesday. That’s understandable.

But there remain plenty of things to feel good about. Notable among these: freedom as individuals and a homeland brimming with natural splendor.

Maybe it’s time to enjoy some of that splendor.

Studies have shown that spending time outdoors helps reduce stress. One poll suggests that outdoor recreation can help counter tough social problems such as juvenile crime, underage drinking and illegal drug use.

Those who have grown to appreciate the wonders of nature know only that engaging in outdoor activities is good for both body and mind.

A few days before Terrible Tuesday, I ventured 200 miles south of the border, to the southern edge of San Quintin Bay, where sits a sprawling complex--motel, RV park and campground--called Rancho Cielito Lindo ( www.bajasi.com ). I spent one day fishing, another digging clams, and by night I gazed at a dazzling sky full of stars.

The motel isn’t much. There are no TVs, no phones and no electricity after the switch is thrown on the generator not long after nightfall. By the same token, however, this is a lot. I returned home Sunday afternoon, and by Wednesday afternoon, after seven hours in front of the TV, I was ready to go back.

But you don’t have to cross any borders to find your “little piece of heaven,” which is what Cielito Lindo roughly translates to in English.

Los Angeles is smack in the middle of one of the world’s great recreational hotbeds. To the west is the sparkling Pacific, a playground for boaters and fishermen, surfers and scuba divers.

To the extreme south is a wild frontier in the Baja California peninsula, a paradise for adventurous travelers who relish the simplicity of the land, the friendliness of its people.

To the east and north are vast deserts and our local mountain ranges, cut by streams and sprinkled with lakes.

And then there is the always majestic Sierra Nevada, and truly special places like Yosemite.

“This is a great time of year because a lot of the summer rush is over and the roads are uncrowded,” Gediman says. “And the weather is just spectacular. This is my favorite time of year for hiking and exploring, and things like that.”

Not far from Yosemite, on the eastern slopes of the Sierra, the first signs of fall are evident.

“I don’t want to give the impression that the place is on fire [with fall colors] yet because it’s not,” Karen Schmauss, spokeswoman for the Bishop Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, said Wednesday afternoon. “But the colors in Bishop Creek Canyon, starting at about 8,500 feet, are just starting to change. I’d say that every sixth tree has a little bit of yellow so by this weekend, and definitely by next weekend, it ought to be really nice up there.”

This holds true from Bishop to Bridgeport, where Norman Annett of Annett’s Mono Village talks of a quiet campground with daytime temperatures in the low 70s, and a lake teeming with trout.

The village, nestled at the bottom of a steep canyon leading to the back country, has another attraction: black bears that lumber down out of the canyon each afternoon to see what’s for dinner.

“Oh, they’re still around,” Annett says. “They come out in the evening hours and roam around, trying to kill the Dumpsters. I’d say about 95% of the people we get come up here because they like to see the bears.”

News and Notes

* Admirable: Jason Pipoly of San Antonio, Texas, on Monday night will try to become the first paraplegic to swim 20 miles across the San Pedro Channel from Santa Catalina Island to the mainland.

Pipoly, 30, will leave the island about 7 p.m. and hopes to make landfall at Point Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula between 7 and 11 a.m. Tuesday.

With only the use of his arms, Pipoly’s legs will be aligned with his body with the use of a pull buoy. The use of a flotation device, not allowed by the Catalina Swimming Federation, will make his swim unofficial but no less noteworthy. Pipoly is using the swim as training for a planned crossing of the English Channel.

* Noteworthy: Pathways to Adventure, an outdoor sports tour designed to introduce camping, hiking, backpacking, orienteering, boating safety and fishing to children and adults, kicks off Saturday at the Orange County Boy Scout Council’s Seabase in Newport Beach. It’s free of charge. Details: (909) 245-8698 or www.pathway2adventure@aol.com.

The Kona Kai Anglers and Southwestern Yacht Club Anglers are holding their annual Make-A-Wish Tuna Challenge in San Diego on Sept. 29-30. Entry fee is $50 per angler, $20 for those 15 or younger. Proceeds go to the Make A Wish Foundation. Top prize is a 15-day trip aboard the Red Rooster III. Last year the event raised $36,000. The goal this year is $50,000. Details: (619) 233-9600 or www.southwesternyc.org.

* Take your marks: The annual Angeles Crest 100-Mile Endurance Race is set for Sept. 29 at 5 a.m. in Wrightwood. The starting line of a course through the San Gabriel Mountains is at 6,000 feet, and one segment takes runners up Mt. Baden-Powell to 9,399 feet. Participants have until 2 p.m. Sept. 30 to finish. The course record, set in 1989, is 17 hours 35 minutes 48 seconds. Details: (626) 355-6911 or www.ac100.com.

* Set your sights: The Department of Fish and Game is accepting applications for a series of special fall hunts. They include a junior quail hunt in October; Success Lake pheasant hunts (Nov. 10-Dec. 9); a pheasant hunt for persons confined to wheelchairs (Nov. 18); family pheasant hunts (Nov. 17-Dec. 8); junior pheasant hunts (Nov. 10-Dec. 2) and women’s pheasant hunts (Dec. 1 and Dec. 8). Details: (559) 243-4005, ext. 132 or 133; or www.dfg.ca.gov.

* Baja beat: Something to consider before driving across the border: Vehicles returning to the U.S. are being examined very carefully by U.S. Customs agents and the wait at San Ysidro has been averaging two-plus hours during the daytime this week. It is not expected to ease any time soon. The waits at Baja’s other points of entry are only slightly shorter.

* Albacore score: San Diego or Morro Bay? The San Diego day boats have been returning to port with Mexican five-fish limits most of the week, and were well on their way to limits again Thursday while fishing 60 to 70 miles southwest.

The Toronado made the long trip south from Pierpoint in Long Beach and returned Thursday morning with 147 longfin tuna. On Wednesday off Morro Bay, 26 anglers aboard the Admiral out of Virg’s decked 329 albacore. There is no bag limit in American waters.

Winding Up

A memorial service for Jon Hardy, scuba diving pioneer and a fixture on the Catalina diving scene, will be held Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. at Pointe Buena Vista, a grove of trees near the old Wrigley Mansion, overlooking Avalon Harbor. Hardy died recently of cancer.

Catalina Express has added boats to make it possible for attendees to make it back to the mainland the same evening. Boat schedules can be obtained by calling (310) 519-1212.