By Carol Godwin, Cycle Mania

We are out early, the dogs and I, and, in the expectant pre-dawn light, or lack thereof, nature is busy preparing for the day. I’ve learned to hike in the crepuscular darkness by attaching small bike lights to my hiking sticks and using that bubble of light to guide my way. I feel safe in my light bubble but most of the time, in the dark, I also use a bear bell to alert whatever predator might be out there to our presence. When I hear an elk bugle or turkeys click, I call the dogs close, silence the bell and become one with the darkened morning, walking step by step, softly and carefully, listening and stalking.

Somewhere tantalizingly nearby, bull elk are bugling to each other across the pastures and from hillside to hillside. They are too far apart to even be in sight of the next bull over, but each one is declaring its territory and trying to outdo the last one’s bugle with one longer and deeper than the previous one. Grunting, bugling and slashing at young trees, the bulls personify fall to me: a glorious end to summer and a promise of new calves to be born next spring.  

Listening to the bulls sing and the cows mew makes me feel alive and draws me out of the house and into the woods in the cool dawn hours each morning. Saying that it’s for the dogs, gets me out, but being out there is my refuge. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the turkeys in a tall pine across the drainage beginning to stir as the sun creeps up over the horizon. High in the tree, they chirp and cluck at each other, perhaps waking each other up to coordinate their descent to the forest floor. Nearly as one, just as the sun creeps over the horizon, they launch from their resting branches, and with slightly less than majestic flaps, they glide to the soft duff below the tree to begin their busy day of foraging and building up fat stores for the winter.  

Tom turkeys begin to gobble and proclaim their dominance while the hens cluck to call the juveniles to the next foraging spot. Coyotes are yipping, jays are squawking, and in general, the early morning is a cacophony of sound as creatures awaken to make the best use of a short day.

Later and later in the morning as the season dips into fall, the sun rises and illuminates the landscape, so my own stick lights go off and the bell is silenced. The sounds of nature begin to still as human noises rise up from the homes and roadways nearby and the day begins; nature’s magic on hold, ‘till I can get out again.

As we drift farther from the fall equinox and into autumn, it seems that just as I come home from work, the sun begins to set in the western sky and the day is over. Then, the next day, I get up in the dark, and just as the day is brightening up and looking good, I have to leave for work. How do we extend the day and continue to use our precious outdoor time? How do we convince our bodies to keep on being active when every cell is telling us to slow down, fatten up and sit out the winter?

Our bodies tempt us to build up fat and slow down in anticipation of a winter torpor period. Waning daylight hours trigger our bodies to prepare for a period of minimal food availability and lighter workload. Our body also ramps up inflammatory immune system responses in anticipation of potential harm in winter conditions, which is why autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and arthritis tend to flare up in winter.

Shorter sunlit days and less time outdoors can cause vitamin D deficiency which in turn triggers muscle weakness, pain sensitivity, mood swings and depression. The hormone melatonin increases as winter approaches, causing us to feel drowsy and feel the need to sleep for longer periods. In short, nature is prompting us to store food, hunker down, be prepared to fight off any diseases we might encounter and wait out the winter period.

This all sounds self-defeating and discouraging, and is a main reason that October is mental health awareness month. As humans, we have the knowledge to realize that in our case, nature is overreacting and our responses to the oncoming fall and winter are completely correctable if we stay aware and active. 

Modern man has no use for a winter torpor as food is readily available year-round and most of us have ways of keeping our homes warm and comfortable all winter. So how can we fight our body’s natural responses to the upcoming winter? One of the best ways to fight off the winter downturn is to be aware of the messages your body is sending you and choose which ones to listen to and which to ignore. Do you really need that fistful of cookies to survive the winter, or will there be food readily available at the next meal? Do you really need to go to bed at 8:00 p.m., or is it the increased melatonin tricking you? Is there something you can do to stay active instead?

Is the crepuscular darkness really what’s keeping you inside, or can you use lights to get out anyway? Should you stay inside and watch the wind blow or is there a way to dress appropriately to stay warm if you go out? Should you refrain from that ride or hike you had planned with friends because your joints and muscles hurt or should you stay active and keep them moving? Do you listen to that discouraging voice in your head that is keeping your mood low, or do you realize that its just the lack of vitamin D speaking to you and increase your outdoor time, use full spectrum lighting and take a supplement. 

Stay active outdoors. Get as much sunlit time outside as possible and keep your oxygen levels high with exercise. Cool fall temperatures are ideal for outdoor activities like hiking, running, biking and when the snow falls, skiing, snowshoeing and snowboarding. If you have limited time outdoors because of a work schedule, use full spectrum light bulbs and an indoor trainer or exercise machine regularly. Make use of whatever daylight hours you can, and do required indoor activities after the sun goes down or before it comes up.  

Encourage kids to be outdoors as much as possible after school and leave homework and video games for after dark, but encourage the use of full spectrum lighting rather than allowing kids to play video games or be on phones in a darkened room. Watch food intake and balance it with calorie expenditure during the day. Make sure to stay hydrated as cool, dry air can dehydrate you as easily as sweating on a warm summer day. With forethought and active rebellion against what nature is tempting us to do, we too can arrive in spring, fresh, fit and renewed from winter.

At the end of the day, the warm afternoon sun fades quickly. With low humidity failing to hold in the heat of the day, temperatures drop frighteningly rapidly, nightfall chasing away the day with increasing aggressiveness. Song birds and hummingbirds have migrated south and soon winter birds will arrive. Summer flowers have turned to fall seed puffs, grasses have seeded out and have turned golden brown by pulling back resources in preparation for winter dormancy. Trees are similarly busy finishing up the summer with a spectacular final blaze of color as they pull back their resources for new growth in the spring. 

If you sit and listen, those dusky evening hours are a busy time for many creatures as they reverse the morning routine and prepare for night. The elk are moving again, and as the heat dissipates, the bulls resume their bugling, declaring their territories and then settling with their herds in bedding areas. The turkeys are finishing their foraging, and are using a clucking gathering call to collect the flock together for their noisy flapping ascent into the roosting trees for the night. Jays are quiet, and the only sounds to be heard are the distant yipping of coyotes and the ghostly rustling of dry leaves shaking and falling in the night breeze. All is well.