Are You Ready to Go For A Walk With Phil?
From April 10-June 19, 2021 artists Lisa Figueroa and Phil McIntyre-Paul were featured at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery in an exhibition called Walking at 6000’.
Phil’s artistic process began on Shuswap Trails, and his art making materials included 2 years worth of recordings gathered during walks on nearby alpine and sub-alpine trails. Art Gallery visitors were offered headphones attached to iPods, and were encouraged to create their own adventure while viewing Lisa’s naturescape paintings, paired with one or more of Phil’s audiowalks.
We are always floored by Phil’s generosity, and are ecstatic to be able to share those audios with you to stream/download below. As you scroll we hope that you become curious about the art of walking, local trails and the natural World outside your door.
Rocks & Roots & Balance
“Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility.” (Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild, 1990)
An early spring walk brings thoughts about balance and mindfulness, and a collage of sound textures along the trail. My thoughts often wander off with my boot steps when I am out. I am reminded of a story my friend and Neskonlith Knowledge Keeper, Louis Thomas, once told at a Shuswap Trail Alliance gathering. I was deep into the story about a man getting lost high on Fly Hills when I realized the man Louis was speaking of was me. In that telling, I was lead home by the Little People of Secwépemcúĺecw, but I continue to think there was a hint the story could go quite differently. Respect, responsibility, care for the land – these are the values that will write the story of our future together.
Gayle Creek – A perfect early morning or late afternoon walk. The trail forms a neat loop with just enough wilderness to remind us of where we are without ever being more than 20 minutes from a road. The short rocky side spur to Syphon Falls adds impressive geology to the story.
Water Walk
“What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in a forest. . .cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows! Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants this rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen.” (Thomas Merton)
Merton’s quote is one of my trail essentials stuffed in pack ready to pull out as soon as the clouds open – a reminder to pay attention and listen. Secwépemc leadership remind us no matter where we walk, water is central. Listen.
Syphon Falls – This spur off the Gayle Creek Trail is a hidden gem. Be ready for a more rustic, rocky clamber over uneven trail to remind you how to walk in the wild. Perfect practice.
It Must Be Spring
The rhythms and textures of a town walk are so different. Smooth sidewalks and constant noise tease us to forget the wild, but it is always there beckoning, if we choose to pay attention. Look for trails with transitions and edges. We are attracted to transitions and edges in the landscape when walking – the edge of the river, shore of the lake, transition between field and forest, viewpoint from a cliff, mountain ridge. And we are not alone. These places interest all the legged creatures, and the swimmers, the squirmers, the flyers, the diggers. They are some of the most diverse and productive habitats going – even in our urban environments. When you walk in or near these edges, remember, it is only ever a privilege at best. Walk light and pay attention.
Turner Creek Trail – This audio walk comes from the upper section of the Turner Creek Trail in Salmon Arm. How grateful I am for the leadership of the Rotary Club and all the volunteers who created what is now the spine of Salmon Arm’s amazing greenway trail system. Gratitude!
Remembering John (Hey Bear)
It was a favourite place for John – the old growth forest high up along the western edge of Larch Hills. It became part of his route plotting for the Larch Hills Traverse trail. Five years after his death, the path through the old growth became a reality, and its western entrance crosses a creek into the stately quiet of older growth forest. I found myself there on a late fall walk last year and took pause at the little bridge – my walks are constantly visited by memories of my friend. I am thankful for this quiet place in the forest he loved so well. And so too, it would seem, are the four legged ones who live there. Listen carefully.
Around-the-Hill Trail – This section of the Larch Hills Traverse trail is a fine wilderness loop unto itself. Completed two years ago, it awaits the final connection to South Canoe scheduled to be completed this year following much of John’s original route plotting. Quite a legacy.
Wind Walk
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out until sundown; for going out, I found, was really going in.” (John Muir)
Winter storm gusts sighing through the fir trees this February coaxed me outside with the recorder. I had only intended to catch the sounds of wind in the trees in our back yard. But the audio is so detailed and the wind so enticing it called me out onto the trails until early evening. I take solace knowing the great American naturalist, John Muir, used to disappear into the landscape in a similar way.
Little Mountain Trail System – The original Salmon Arm Greenway committee created a legacy of park trails within Salmon Arm. They are a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to me. It should come as no surprise that our family lives right next to Little Mountain, and that the trails have saved and healed me many times. Thank you to all the Shuswap Trail stewards!
Wonder and Gratitude
Another rainy day, this time walking out at the wonderful North Fork Wild Conservation Park along the Perry River. This was one of my earlier extended experiments at recording a walk. I was trying a system with the microphone on a boom and shock absorber secured to my pack. It did not work so well, unfortunately. (In the end, I discovered the best way to record a walk was holding the microphone in my hand out in front of me. A bit of a challenge when walking all day in wilderness terrain.) Despite the rough audio, however, the content from this walk was so textured, varied, and expressive that it had to make the cut. A day at North Fork Wild is always one full of wonder and gratitude.
North Fork Wild – Please make time in your busy schedule to walk North Fork Wild. It is a very special place within the Shuswap. A legacy from Peter Jennings who gifted the land as a conservation park to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. He called it a minor marvel. We used a minimal impact approach designing the trail system that included a complete natural inventory, assessments with Splatsin te Secwépemc plant specialists, and wildlife monitoring.
Measuring Ourselves Against the Earth
“Walking. . .is how the body measures itself against the earth” (Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust, 2000)
Recorded live at 6000 feet (1800 metres) – a snowshoe trek with my friend, Brian Sansom, in the East Shuswap alpine. Each of these audio walks tries to share something of the story of a complete walk in a condensed frame of time. For this walk, the story is a 7-hour day in the alpine expressed in 6 minutes and 14 seconds. The textures and rhythm of walking with snowshoes in the mountains atop several metres of snow is slow and steady. Along with the audible layers of wind, the snow pack, raven and stellar jay, is the dialogue of two friends navigating this moving winter landscape of cold air and avalanche. There is a humility to hiking the alpine in winter.
Queest Mountain/The Gorge/Anstey Range – This is true alpine wilderness travel. The one hiking access noted in the Shuswap Trail guide is Queest Mountain via Forest Service Roads. It is remote wilderness requiring navigation knowledge in grizzly habitat and avalanche terrain.
A Day in the Alpine Starts Early (Featuring Hush by Jake McIntyre-Paul)
“When I rise up, let me rise up joyful like a bird. When I fall, let me fall without regret like a leaf.” (Wendell Berry)
This piece is a spoken word prose poem from seasons of walking with my dear friend John Coffey in the East Shuswap alpine. For eight years, John was our guide, mentor, and companion on the way. He was one of the Shuswap Trail Alliance originals. My trails alter ego. The other half. Fallen too soon – but no regrets – in 2012.
The bonus composition at the end comes as a birthday gift from my son, Jake. Little did he know Hush would become the perfect musical expression of my meditations on walking at 6000 feet.
East Shuswap Alpine – Three alpine trails in the Shuswap Trail Guide will help you experience something of the East Shuswap alpine – Eagle Pass Mountain, Joss Mountain Pass, and Mara Mountain (Owlhead) Lookout. They are fragile treasures. Tread lightly.
Find your trail at shuswaptrails.com
All Shuswap Trails are in the unceded territory of the Secwépemc Nation.
We walk them with gratitude, respect, and care for the land.