As Balzac famously said of cities, "to walk is to vegetate, to stroll is to live." For David Brendan Hopes, day hikes provide the perfect occasion for both refuge and contemplation. Encounters with wild animals, rare plants, or simply the perfect moment of weather and view are opportunities to reflect on the sublime synchronicity of human and natural life. The ferns of early spring transport him through time, to wonder whether dinosaurs had song. The emergence of cicadas calls to mind men and women "gorgeous in impractical ways." A glorious display -- one of "exuberant defiance" -- of late fall roses suggests that plants might have moods. Touching on themes as diverse as hunting, deep ecology, wicca, and sci-fi literature, Hopes' hikes and thoughts are part of a sifting of experience that unites the everyday world with a larger personal and eternal story.