1 B o o t p r i n t s The Bimonthly Newsletter of the Pioneer Valley Hiking Club Does Nature Improve Creativity? by Sandy Sego May, 2017 It is self-evident that we all spend more time in front of a screen (computers, televisions, tablets, and phones) than we ever have in the past. Inside this issue: Psychologists have been studying how spending so much time on these de- Important Renew- 18 vices impacts our thinking and reasoning skills. A study by Atchley, Strayer, al and Member- and Atchley (2012) examined how spending time in nature, away from tech- ship Notices nology would impact our creativity and creative reasoning skills. Upcoming Events 19 And The Usuals Use of electronic devices typically requires high levels of attention. We must 19 be engaged with the screen, respond to prompts, and ignore other things Important Notices (ignore things happening away from the screen). This highly focused atten- tion can make it difficult to engage in other tasks that require focused at- Special points of interest: tention, due to mental fatigue. It may also make it difficult for us to employ creative thinking. With creative thinking we need to make connections Sandy Sego’s article on page 1 across ideas that are not directly related. Creative thinking is used in brain- storming and artistic endeavors, to develop novel or unusual ideas. Lori Tisdell’s See Nature continued on page 5 article on page 1 Cindy Dolgoff’s How April the Giraffe Hijacked a Hike article on page 2 by Lori Tisdell PaPa Smurf’s article on page 2 About the end of February my daughter Jos and I heard about a giraffe in Carol Vanderhei- New York that was “About to give birth!” Turns out she wasn’t, it was a news den’s site reporting about a zoo in NY with a pregnant giraffe, and they jumped article on page 3 the gun. But we were hooked watching April and her growing belly, and her Peakbagger’s article mate, Oliver, and their interactions. Giraffes are beautiful, graceful creatures on page 3 with their long legs and necks and swaying walk. They are not so graceful Shari Cox’s article when they sit on the ground and get back up, but I think that makes them on page 4 rather relatable. Don’t we all have days when it takes all we have to get up and down? See April the Giraffe continued on page 6 2 P a g e 2 A Gusty Hike by Cindy Dolgoff Yawn. It’s the second week of March - time to emerge from my winter hiking hibernation. What better hike to begin the season than one of Harry Allen’s Thursday morning hikes? Our hike today brings us to Poet’s Seat in Greenfield. Gary and I “Then, as we pro- meet our fellow PVHC hikers at Elwell Recreation Center and car- pool to the trail head. It’s a sunny day, and 46 degrees when we ceed up the ridge- leave the parking lot. But we’re bundled up because the wind is line, we’re hit by blowing like mad. blast after blast of At the trail, we descend a path into the woods. After moving along frosty air.“ a bit, it doesn’t feel as cold as it was earlier. Then, as we proceed up ~ Cindy Dolgoff the ridgeline, we’re hit by blast after blast of frosty air. Harry cau- tions us to watch overhead, to make sure we don’t get hit by a fall- ing tree limb. I stop and count the hikers – an unlucky 13. Is it Fri- day the 13th, or the Ides of March? No, not an unlucky day. See A Gusty Hike continued on page 7 Smurfy advice for the trail… Overgrown and Hard-to-Follow Trails by John “PaPa Smurf” Klebes For our second installment of PaPa Smurf’s advice for the trail, let’s tackle some overgrown and hard-to-follow trails. “For our second installment of Many of the hikes we find ourselves on in New England are well- PaPa Smurf’s ad- blazed, have signposts and good maps, and are well-maintained, vice for the trail, but not all. There comes a time where we find ourselves on an let’s tackle some overgrown and overgrown trail, or a storm has damaged the trail making it hard hard-to-follow to follow, or the trail is just poorly marked or easy to mix up with a trails.” newer road, bike path, or an animal trail crisscrosses the original ~ PaPa Smurf path. See Trails continued on page 8 3 B o o t p r i n t s P a g e 3 Book Review: One Hundred Summers: The People of the Appala- chian Mountain Club Professional White Mountain Trail Crew, Their Work and Adventures, by Natalie Beittel and Kyle Peckham. Review by Carol Vanderheiden We often hike in the White Mountains and often, “…researched archives but only briefly, consider the work that’s needed to create a history of to maintain the trails of the White Mountains. one hundred years of The writers of this book, Natalie Beittel and Kyle trail maintenance in the Peckham, are former Trail Crew members, who White Mountains of have assembled interviews with other Trail Crew, New Hampshire.” and researched archives to create a history of one hundred years of trail maintenance in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. See 100 Summers continued on page 12 The Adventures of Peakbagger: Peakbagger Loves to Earn Hiking Award Patches by Peakbagger “Keep on moving, keep climbing/ Keep the faith, baby/ It's all about,/ it's all about the climb” ~ Miley Cyrus Peakbagger, by the very definition of his name, loves to bag peaks. And, of course, there are rewards for bagging peaks, aside from the often magnificent views and the great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in getting See Peakbagger continued on page 13 4 P a g e 4 Camping, Biking and Hiking in VT: August 25-27th by Shari Cox I am leading a trip to Vermont for a weekend where we will camp, bike and hike. There is also available swimming, kayaking and standup paddling! I have reserved one lean-to, which is on the water side of Lake Carmi in Enosburg Falls. This will hold 8 people. First come, first serve. If this fills up and we have enough people for another lean-to, I can reserve another as long as there availability. If there is not enough people, you are welcome to reserve your own campsite. The bike ride will be on the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail. The trail starts in St Albans and ends in Richford. The trail goes through Enosburg Falls between mile 16-17. We will bike from Enosburg Falls area. So we can ride up to Richford and back and it will be about 16 miles. For the people who want to bike more will continue on to St. Albans and back which will end up being 50 miles round trip. From the little I know, the trail is crushed stone. Hybrids will be better suited for this type of trail. The hike I have scheduled is Belvidere Mountain. The mountain is 5.8 miles up and back. If a loop is desired, it is 7.9 miles. After biking or on Friday, you are welcome to kayak or swim in the lake. They have rentals available. Please send a deposit of $20.00 to hold your space. To: 223 Gifford Street, Springfield, MA 01118-2103 Further details will come when it gets closer and I have received your deposit. If you have any questions, please contact me. — Shari Cox 5 P a g e 5 B o o t p r i n t s Nature continued from page 1 In the study, “Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings,” the researchers used the Re- mote Associations Test to measure creativity. For this test, partici- pants are given three cue words and must come up with a fourth word that is related to each of the cues. For example, if you were giv- en the following three words: Falling, Actor, and Dust, what word has a relation with each of those three? The connections across the words may not be obvious at first. Take a moment and attempt to come up with an answer. Did you think of Star? If so, you would get a point on the Remote Associations Test. One of the few ways people escape from using technology is to go “One of the few ways backpacking or camping. The lack of access to screens or electricity people escape from forces people away from technology. So the researchers studied using technology is to groups of backpackers who were not allowed to use any electronic go backpacking or technology during their outings. The backpackers were divided into camping...The back- two groups. One group was given the Remote Associations Test on packers who had been the morning before their backpacking trip. The other group was giv- away from electronic en the Remote Associations Test on the fourth day of their trip. The devices and been out number of associations they were able to find was measured. A sta- in nature performed tistical analysis showed that the backpackers who took the test on significantly better in the fourth day of their trip performed 50% better than backpackers using their creative who took the test on the morning of their trip! The backpackers who thinking skills.” had been away from electronic devices and been out in nature per- formed significantly better in using their creative thinking skills.