Thoughts on Hiking

An integral part of the Oxbow curriculum is what we call "co-curriculars." Twice a week, students spend two to three hours outdoors engaging in physical activities, led by Oxbow faculty. This semester the offerings include Boot Camp, Biking, Gardening, and more. Student Ali reflects on her time in the Extreme Hiking group:

Ryan, Anna, Angie, and Ali

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning our group of four ventures off into the woodsy outskirts of Napa guided by our fearless leader, Jennifer, in the co-curricular known as Extreme Hiking. On our first hike together she took us to what I consider to be my favorite spot in Napa, Westwood Hills. It’s a place I’ve made an effort to visit twice since, and plan to visit many more times in the future. To all those unsure of whether to take the trip over, let me just say it is certainly worth the two-mile walk from campus. True, the littered sidewalk trip down Second Street is not the most scenic, however the view from the plateau makes even the worst travel experience forgettable. This view, which to me can only be described as infinite, overlooks all of Napa. My favorite part is being able to see the hustle and bustle of cars moving through the city in a place that feels so removed from it, creating the feeling of a true escape. 

Here's Ali, looking an awful lot like she is inside of a Thomas Cole painting

It becomes a harmonious joining of the man-made aspects of life, and nature in its rawest form. The hike we took this past Tuesday had a similar feeling. As we trudged up Skyline, we overlooked, as Anna noted to me, “not only the industrial parts of Napa but the rolling hills as well.” It only seems fitting that we are talking about Sublime American Landscape in Connections this week. We hear of the Hudson River School Painters who were entranced by Niagara Falls and the Hudson River, but I find myself wanting to interject about the sublime landscapes that are just a matter of minutes away.