Today it seems that we are all trying to navigate digital landscapes, whether embracing just the right presentation on a home page or ensuring that the links to our affiliates and friends’ websites lead a reader to the preferred goal, more clicks, more money, more likes, etc.

But there is, and always has been, a different time and place where the textures are presented in tangible relief, colors in contrast that always coalesce into picture perfect landscapes revealing a world that is larger and, perhaps, beyond ourselves.

These are the landscapes IRL, in real life, to borrow a term from the digital world. And this is the one that

stands out and beckons us to leave behind the virtual world, to walk among giants unafraid, to breath deep, and to take in spectacular experiences that the world of trees, woodlands, and forests offer.

Navigating the real forests requires nothing more than an appreciation for the world around us, perhaps a good pair of hiking shoes or boots, and a desire to explore. This world inspires us with what we can see with our own eyes, hear what lives in and around the trees, get a sense of the aromas of nature, taste the air, and touch the textures – WATCH OUT FOR POISON IVY!

These experiences provide a perspective we can internalize. That engenders feelings and states of mind that the digital world cannot begin to express.

The world of trees is magnificent and on a grand scale. There is something sublime about taking in the majesty of a forest from ground level, or better yet, stand high above looking down on a vast landscape of woods dressing the land in the greens, golds, reds, of autumn. Revealed are bits of rocky outcrops, lakes, and rivers shimmering as light glints in the late afternoon sunset.

In one view there is a precision and astute strategy that formed the foundation for a world and we can only glimpse a bit at a time. But it opens the imagination and causes a yearning to move on to the next vista of nature’s most providential presences.