Headwaters of the Hulahula River

Wilderness is a quality that offers urban dwellers the opportunity to gauge the degree to which city life is disconnected from blood and breath. That is not to say that cities are safe places. However, when visiting the refuge the decisions you make are largely your own. The natural environment challenges visitors to engage the issues of survival and comfort at a level that taps into the collective memory. Sympathy with ancient peoples and the flux of natural processes find a fertile response in most visitors. The refuge invigorates the imagination to possibilities while confirming the notion that the works of man may not offer improvements to the natural world.

Image © 1988 by Douglas Yates