August Gathering Details
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Location: Swinging Bridge Picnic Area
Demo/Journaling Tip: A hard-to-replicate approach to laying out nature journaling pages, or A Morning with Akshay (presented by Theresa)
This will be our first time meeting at Swinging Bridge Picnic Area. This popular roadside spot has excelent river access and a post-card perfect view of Upper Yosemite Fall. Hopefully it will hang on and still be running for us at the beginning of August, but even if not, there is plenty to enjoy from this spot. The river bank is lined with alders, and willows, and keep your eyes open for wildlife – including the human variety.
What to Expect:
Bring:
- Something to write with and on. I’ll try to have some extra stuff if you forget, but a bit of printer paper and a pen or pencil is just fine! The goal here is to slow down and observe, wonder, and record our insights and questions on paper.
- Clothing layers to be ready for whatever the weather is going to throw at us.
- Something to sit on (optional) – note that this location has picnic tables and benches, so this may be even less of a desire than some other locations, but if you want to move around, it could still come in handy, though finding a spot on a rock, log, or on the ground is also certainly an option.
- Insect repellent? (also optional) I am much calmer when not being swarmed or bitten by the winged vampires, so I’ll try to have some to share.
- Your Curiosity and Wonder.
Meet Up Outline & Journaling Tip/Show and Tell
At a Sierra Nevada nature journaling retreat last year, I had a chance to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Akshay Mahajan to see how he puts together his amazingly well-layed-out journal pages. I learned a lot from that experience, and thought I could share some of the insights from that day.
As usual, our plan will be to catch up, take care of a bit of housekeeping and announcements, and then I’ll take a few minutes to share what I learned (and have a hard time executing) from Akshay that morning.
After that, we’ll all have a chance to do some of our own nature journaling. This will give us an opportunity to try out an Akshay-ian approach to page layout, if so desired. Then at the end, we’ll have a chance to share what we noticed, and any questions or connections that came up, before choosing a location for the next month’s gathering.
Top photo of the view from Swinging Bridge by: Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0
