{"id":11525,"date":"2017-03-08T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=11525"},"modified":"2017-03-29T07:01:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T14:01:04","slug":"commune-nature-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/commune-nature-city","title":{"rendered":"Commune With Nature\u2014In The City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Was he staring at me? I locked my car door and looked back across the street at the man standing motionless on the sidewalk\u2014and realized the object of his attention was a gray rabbit sniffing and hopping along the curb in front of my apartment building. In the middle of Denver. A metro area of around 3 million people. If you\u2019re a nature lover, you might think you have to leave the city to get your fix, but I\u2019ve begun to realize there\u2019s more than meets the eye in most cities. You just have to be aware and shift your perspective. And since research is increasingly showing the benefits of time spent in nature, why not get a little dose whenever you can? Here are a few ways I\u2019ve lately become more aware of the nature around me in the city.<\/p>\n

Ditch your car for a minute.<\/strong> If you don\u2019t have the time to drive out to a wilderness area, don\u2019t worry. There are probably patches of nature closer than you realize. The key is to get out on your own two feet. Even better: Find an unpaved trail. Lots of city parks have dirt paths that go deeper into the park\u2014read: farther away from vehicle noise. Strap on your hiking shoes and break free from the pavement. You might not find total solitude\u2014and bring a friend if you\u2019d feel more comfortable\u2014but you\u2019re guaranteed to feel closer to nature and breathe fresher air than you could in your car or on the street.<\/p>\n

Take a break from the headphones.<\/strong> I\u2019m a music lover and podcast addict, so it\u2019s tempting to live with constant input\u2014either with speakers at home or earbuds in public. But I realize I\u2019ll never hear just how many birds are singing around me if I never turn down the noise that I\u2019m actually in control of. Some days the birds in Denver are practically performing an opera\u2014and they might be in your city, too. You just have to really listen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Person<\/p>\n

Seek out waterways. <\/strong>One of the quickest ways to get a nature dose in the city is to think like a duck. Migratory birds and other animals congregate around the waterways flowing between neighborhoods and developments. They\u2019re places left just a little bit wild in the margins of civilization. Maybe it\u2019s just a drainage ditch or canal, or a tiny creek. My go-to spot is Cherry Creek, which flows through the heart of Denver into the South Platte River downtown. Aside from the animals I\u2019ve seen there\u2014only a few feet removed from busy streets\u2014it\u2019s also a place to simply watch the water flow, a soothing meditation in the middle of the urban chaos.<\/p>\n

Look up. <\/strong>This might sound obvious, but in a city it\u2019s easy to forget. Moving cars, people and signs at eye level constantly vie for our attention. But just taking a moment to turn your eyes upward can make a big difference\u2014especially if you also sit on a bench or lie on the grass in a park. A soothing sea of green leaves might be swelling in the breeze above you\u2014just out of your normal line of sight. In the winter, when trees are bare, bird nests reveal themselves. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to spot a bald eagle above Denver\u2019s City Park. Those same brilliant sunsets and sunrises you love watching on your vacation still happen when you\u2019re at home\u2014you just have to remember to take a minute to look up at them. And, while you may not see many stars in the city, catching the moon in its various phases can be a breathtaking connection to the grander universe of nature.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid of the dark. <\/strong>Just as in the wild, the animals of the city are active around dusk, and some of them after dark. Take raccoons, for example, which are nocturnal. I\u2019ve seen huge raccoons on the street in Denver, late in the evening when the neighborhood was quiet. Even coyotes have been known to show up within city limits. Of course, it\u2019s important to remain aware of your surroundings if you don\u2019t feel safe after dark. But a quiet stroll at night, with a friend perhaps, with your senses opened, might yield a deeper awareness of the nature around you than you experience during the day.<\/p>\n

Aside from enjoying the soothing effects of being near trees, I\u2019ve been lucky to spot foxes, raccoons, deer, rabbits and raptors\u2014as well as the more common squirrels and geese\u2014all within Denver\u2019s urban core. Even though I live in a high-density neighborhood, I\u2019ve begun to see how the trees, waterways and greenbelts are highways for animals the way streets are for humans. Sure, I still love to escape to the mountains, but I\u2019m starting to embrace the little bits of nature I can enjoy here, too. It\u2019s totally worth the effort.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Was he staring at me? I locked my car door and looked back across the street at the man standing motionless on the sidewalk\u2014and realized the object of his attention was a gray rabbit sniffing and hopping along the curb in front of my apartment building. In the middle of Denver. A metro area of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":11529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387],"tags":[668,520,651],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-11525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hike","tag-nature","tag-urban-hiking","tag-women"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/hike\/commune-nature-city","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Commune With Nature\u2014In The City","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/commune-nature-city","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/hike\/commune-nature-city"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/03\/Nature-in-the-City.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/03\/Nature-in-the-City.jpg?fit=1500%2C960"},"articleSection":"Hike","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aer Parris-Hoshour"}],"creator":["Aer Parris-Hoshour"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["nature","urban hiking","women"],"dateCreated":"2017-03-08T15:00:03Z","datePublished":"2017-03-08T15:00:03Z","dateModified":"2017-03-29T14:01:04Z"},"rendered":"