Tag archives for walking
Inspired by the words and actions of the many explorers who came to NG headquarters last week for the 2012 Explorers Symposium, we pass on these words of wisdom with a photo of mega-walker and NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay.
Experience a journey to some of Earth’s most remote and storied islands in Mike Fay’s daily journal entries from his recent month-long expedition in the South Pacific.
Oh his last day on Pitcairn Island, Mike Fay tackles one more nerve-wracking muddy climb, and reflects on what living outside on this remote island has shown him.
As the expedition draws to a close, all of Pitcairn gathers for a celebratory day of fishing, frying, and hearing the initial results of Enric’s marine survey.
By Mike Fay, NG Explorer-in-Residence 9 April 2012 Rained all night and Highest Point was completely soaked again this morning. I just kind of hacked around in the morning; Bren had school today. Went over to Gannet’s Ridge just to see how cool it is to walk on a razor-backed ridge in the fog. Takes…
Brenda Christian finds an artifact from Pitcairn’s prehistoric inhabitants as she and Mike tackle the biggest landslide he’s ever seen.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Fishing in a Homemade Boat
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on May 13, 2012 
News arrives that the expedition is being cut short for bad weather, so Mike Fay and others head out in a homemade boat for a day of fishing.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Slopes, Goats, and Roads
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on May 7, 2012 
After several days of walking and climbing all around Pitcairn, Mike Fay’s familiarity with the island is growing, but he’s still constantly being surprised.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: School Field Trip & Meeting the Bees
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on May 2, 2012 
NG Explorer-in-Residence leads the kids of Pitcairn Island on a crash-course in GPS navigation. “Of course what the kids were interested in was a romp in the woods,” he says, adding “if you are truthful about it, no different from me for the past 50 years.”
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: The Island’s Magic Gardens
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 29, 2012 
This is also where some have proposed to put in an airstrip for the island. Pitcairn would just feel like one more place you go to if that happened I think. It would take a lot of the magic away.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Disaster at St. Paul’s
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 29, 2012 
Trying to take video down at St. Paul’s, Bren shouted to me from above, “Watch out, that wave is going to take you.” There was urgency in her voice and that’s not usually the case.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Return to Pitcairn
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 29, 2012 
NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay could hardly believe it: the ship headed back to Polynesia and he got left behind on Pitcairn for 10 days. And he couldn’t have been happier.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Why Are Birds So Beautiful?
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 28, 2012 
NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay says we know Charles Darwin would say the colors are from sexual selection, or are for camouflage or distraction. But he still wonders why is the result so beautiful to the human eye?
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: “Down Rope”–With a Rope
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 28, 2012 
After days of obsessing over birds and rats, NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay heads out to explore more of Henderson Island, including a cave in a cliff holding skeletons of ancient Polynesians.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Rat Patrol
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 28, 2012 
After unexpectedly sighting a rat on an island everyone hoped was free of them, NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay goes on the hunt to get a better sense of how many rodents may be there.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Tragic Sighting
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 28, 2012 
In the early evening of March 27, NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay made an unfortunate discovery on the remote Henderson Island. Read his account of the day.
Another successful day kayaking and counting birds at Ducie atoll, with a UFO lost at sea, and visits from shipmates and sharks.
I started back. We needed to be on the boat by 17:00 and there would be hell to pay if I wasn’t there. While I was only here for a few days I feel like it got into my blood. Who knows where life will lead you.
I reached a fall in the debris mass and to my right, there it was—this beautiful, giant fern that only grows right here. The leaf stipes were over an inch in diameter and the fiddleheads as big as just that.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: PhDs and Rose Apples
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on March 17, 2012 
I met Brenda at the top of the ridge, back-pack on. I was in transect mode finally, released once again from the human world that lay only ½ mile down the hill. I cherish that distance and transecting disconnects you from the mortal world.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Mrs. T and Tedside
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on March 16, 2012 
Once the storm broke Brenda asked, “Want to go to Tedside?” Barely able to absorb and remember even the most notable of the countless named landmarks, I just said “sure” having a vague notion that it was up and over the central ridge of the island.
Mike Fay’s Pitcairn Journal: Arrival on Pitcairn
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on March 15, 2012 
The island came into view in the early hours of the 15th. It was almost black in the morning sky, looming jagged and almost vertical. If only I could have come with the Bounty.
Thoreau’s essay “Walking” has inspired many a saunterer over the past 150 years, including NG Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay, who has made transects by foot recording plants and animals across Africa, the range of the Redwoods, and Saguaro National Park in Arizona.
