Ooooooooooooooh, NOW you’re talking. If it’s beaches that we’re talking about, I could even be talked into perhaps camping on one (as long as there is a big sun umbrella.
And as long as there is zero fishing, or cooking of said fish going on. I could swim and eat mangoes for at least a weekend.
Give me your broad expanses of plasma screens, your mountainous highrises (with elevators of course), your swiftly flowing beer taps, the crisp tang of cheese fries in the microwave… your early morning weather bunnies, your late night soft porn…
Yes, I revel in Nature’s Full Glory!
My first reaction was similar to what others posted: Bugs. That will break anyone’s will at a given point.
Someone in tight blue jeans who requires a 2 liter bottle of acid to wash down a hoagie is probably not aware of the official nature lover’s dress code. The same would apply to commentary. The event in question was certainly a rare attempt at nature appreciation. The lack of a deli-Sherpa probably made the experience a living hell.
While the view of Snoring-Guy Mountain is always a solemn occasion it is perplexing to city-folk. They get confused if you tell them to use their indoor voice because they are trained to speak louder than the surrounding traffic.
I fall into the category of nature lover as long as it isn’t too hot or too cold and I’m not attacked by bugs. But as a general rule I usually back into an Osage Orange Tree while waving my arms frantically at the spider web I’ve just walked into. This is followed by the traditional dance-of-the-poison-ivy-plants which entails a precise series of wild hops that always end in a patch of nettles…… And that’s when the yelling begins.
You post is wonderful! I just loved reading it and then reading Beaucarnea’s! Both of you are absorbed in the beauty of the moment and illustrate that you are also part of nature yourselves. You are fine specimens of human beings fulfilling your natures – each a little different.
I like nature, but I can’t stand to be out in hot and humid weather when every bug in Pennsylvania and half of Maryland is screaming “I want to get laid!” I also hate getting a sunburn and having to dress accordingly, making me even hotter. And since I know I tend to become the Foghorn of Cape Asshole when I’m forced to deal with nature, I just prefer to stay home and not ruin it for everyone else.
OTOH, if the weather is good, like in the fall or spring, I can be outside all day long, and I’ll enjoy looking at the foliage and such. I just can’t deal with it in the summer.
Robin
Part of enjoying nature is knowing when and how to enjoy it. If you are intimidated by it and/or are ill-prepared for it, it’s not going to be fun. Even a nature lover like myself doesn’t enjoy hiking in summer.
I am actually glad that nature haters are prevalent, as long as it doesn’t translate into thinking it’s OK to destroy it. That means when I go hike a few miles up a mountain and through the woods to an old growth forest or remote waterfall, I will be undisturbed by folks who are more concerned with their own comfort than the utterly awe-inspiring grandeur that lay before them. To each his own, indeed.
I enjoy big cities AND remote wilderness. It’s the stuff in between that I despise.
Well, a nature thread wouldn’t be a nature thread with out a little Beaucarnea to go around. So eloquent. 
I am so happy that people chimed in about their experiences with nature [or lack there of]. I find a lot of people I know have a fear of anture because they are afriad of the unexpected. They get startled when a green inch worm stops on their shoulder for a lift to the next stand of trees, or when a Katydid jumps on their loafers for a lift to the next milkweed plant. That’s ok to have the general dislike of creepy crawlies.
I could explain the allure of a rushing brook, a stand of old growths or a vast thriving meadow to you, but if you have no reference to it’s meaning from your own past you will not see it as I do. That is not a challenge for those of you to see the things I see, but a mere observation.
I love my technology as well, I like sitting in our new sun room with my wireless laptop posting to the dope, or ticking away at a novel…I am equally as happy resting in my hammock that is tied to a large White Swamp Oak reading Tolkien.
I’m into the experiences that run through me not against me. It’s as natural for me to sit on the roots of a large Beech tree and write in my journal as it is natural for a city-goer to check his email from the his black berry whilst in the back of a cab headed up town.
Natural is as Natural does.
Apparently, even in the woods, nobody is safe from The Fashion Police. So–why not just stay in the city?
Nature is so friggin’ messy.
I love nature. But I also love civilization.
I feel so conflicted!
Well, I’m alright with nature. Until it bites me.
As is sex (when it is done right). So?
I am kinda surprised by how many people want to avoid time spent in the wild. On the bright side, it leaves things a little less crowded for those of us who like to spend time outdoors.
We’ve had record-breaking temperatures for the last week, into the triple digits with heat indices above 110F. We live near lovely walking and biking trails and I haven’t been able to use them for weeks. I had an episode of heat stress last Saturday just trying to get through my volunteer shift at the dog shelter. (I got sick and faint, and had to rest and drink a bottle of water before I could continue.)
I kinda like Nature, but it’s trying to kill me right now.
I would say it’s all personal preference.
I don’t like baseball and I absolutely loathe going to the ballpark. Why? Personal comfort. It’s always too hot and buggy, you have to sit there for hours and hours doing nothing but squinting down at the world’s most boring game. The whole thing smells like beer and deep fried stuff, it’s loud, etc. etc.
But then I go and strap on a pair of crazy shoes that are really very pretty torture devices, dance around on my toes while they bleed and get all misshapen, stay on my feet in those crazy shoes for a few hours, stretch my body in totally unnatural ways. I hang out in a hot, stuffy, sweat-smelling room in front of a wall of mirrors so I can see just how gnarly I look the whole time. I do stunts that, if I do them wrong, could seriously injure me. And I love every second of it, from the stretching-til-it-hurts at the beginning to the unwrapping my nasty toes at the end.
So I hate ballgames because of the discomfort, but that’s not because I’m some shrinking violet pussy who can’t stand to be anywhere I might break a nail. It’s because enduring discomfort for the sake of doing something you don’t enjoy is just pointless.
I love nature, btw. I just hate baseball.
I’m an outdoorsman at heart, living and growing up in rural Maine tends to do that to me…
I’m the polar opposite of the city-lovers, I can’t STAND cities, dirty, stinky, polluted and packed with <shudder>…PEOPLE!, I’m also quite antisocial and prefer to be left alone
sitting in my kayak, on a still pond/lake and tossing lures to fish, which may or may not bite, sleeping outdoors, under the stars, cooking camp-food (food always tastes better when cooked outdoors), playing with the campfire and a nice dry “poky-stick™”, and having “lightsaber battles” with flashlights in the smoke of the campfire, ahh, heaven
you can keep your dirty, stinky, polluted, overpopulated metropolii far away from me, thanks
I love the outdoors even though I must be part Vampire (I burst into flames if I’m out in the sun, the only sunblock that has a possibility of working starts at SPF 30) and my blood must be “Mosquito-Candy” (Bens 100 100% deet is the only stuff that works on me) and I hate hiking, I’d still rather be out camping than forced to exist in a city
Besides, once the inevitable Zombie uprising happens, those of us who know how to “rough it” will fare better than the “Purina Zombie Chow” in the cities 
I think that’s as good of an explanation as any…if you love doing something, discomfort is no big deal. If you’re not into it, the discomfort is much more noticeable. And different strokes and all that…
Very timely thread for me today… This was my day to attend ( and help teach) a biweekly daylong class on medicinal and edible plants. We hike in the woods, and ID flora & fauna, and it’s a great group of people in the class. I had a bad night with cramps (a part of nature I’m not fond of), and was feeling too poorly to get there early. Called the teacher and said I’d try to make it if I felt better. I still felt bad, at midday, but relish this class, and headed out to the day’s site.
Shortly after heading down the trail, and the immediate coolness of the woods compared to the hot highway, I relaxed and felt immensely better. There were the Christmas Ferns, looking pretty perky considering the drought here. On down the trail, noting the flora, listening to the birds, watching a turtle sunbathe on a log, the Rocky River flowing idly in the heat. Sigh. This is the Real world to me, the quality of green light in the woods is da balm, and soothing. Found the class, sitting down in a cool spot, all busy making cordage from various plant material. It’s a tactile teaching exercise to see how plants can be used in basic ways, and a survival skill. I was so glad I had made the trip, and pain was gone. The cool and green world, and folks who appreciated that, ebbed it all away. Tension dissipates in the scope of natural time, for me.
Perhaps the key is in learning the course of natural time, and recognizing the inhabitants of that world. We zip by our lives quickly, flying here and there, always something on our minds, the next thing, and the next, yammer yammer, speeding way past what our bodies are designed to do. I do that everday, too, and get overwhelmed by it. More so as my body ages. I was taught at a young age about
the natural world, taught to recognize and appreciate it in a coherent way. Never developed a fear of snakes, spiders, etc, rather, was encouraged and rewarded by learning their names and habits, and was out in the field a lot with my parents. When I’m out in the woods, I see a vibrant world, and discern what’s going on from sight and sound, lay of the land , what plants are found on a certain slope, direction of light. All that is as beautiful to me as any symphony, especially because it is happening in a timeframe apart from human beings. To relax and observe that rich, cacophonous buzzing world is to let go of one’s self, to realize that there is a thriving system of life beyond human beings. That might be scary, you could lose your bearings. I’ve never felt that way, instead, it’s a sigh of relief. It’s a place I’m comfortable in.
I just thought this was a normal way to be. Lately, I am starting to teach more, and have found people eager to learn how to observe and discern Nature. It’s a delight to see that passing it on matters. As I’m starting to do that more actively, this was a good thread to read. So, I’ll ask, what would help y’all appreciate Nature more?
I adore you, my sister. 
…If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
David Wagoner
And, that is wonderfully apt, apropos, and beautiful, Beau, thanks.
Today, in the woods, feeling rather crappy and somewhat lost, I had many real paths to choose from, to find that bunch of people. At one point, I just felt right Lost, how the hell would I find them? Thought it out loud, too. But, every fork in the trail was echoed as the right one, so found em pretty quick. Cannot explain it, but that was the case.
To those wondering what the Hell we’re talking about: observerance about Nature is easily discerned, and learned. And, simple.
Someone could make the local mite infestation go away so that I can go in my own backyard without getting big, itchy, swollen bites all over. Apparently the bites can irritate for up to two weeks, and the mites float everywhere (including through window screens) on air currents, so people in my area have a lot of misery ahead, possibly until fall temperatures arrive.
Someone could fix my feet to repair the damage from two severe cases of frostbite that prevent me from going outside in the cold for very long. And while they’re at it, fix my skin so that I’m not susceptible to skin cancer from the sun and stop having to have bits removed. I respected the sun’s power by staying indoors a lot, wearing SPF 24-48 sunscreen when I was out for any decent length of time, and this is how it rewards my efforts.
Nature hates me. I’m just trying to not return the favor.