Parks and the Art of Paying Attention

Sep 30, 2025

Nicolas Brulliard, an award-winning journalist and senior editor at National Parks Magazine, shares his reflections on four seasonal camping trips taken on the same trail. He discusses the mental and physical benefits of spending time in nature and how repetition deepened his connection to the trail's subtle changes. Nicolas emphasizes the importance of attentiveness, recommending that we embrace pauses and sit still to fully appreciate our surroundings. He also highlights how these experiences have enriched his everyday life and inspired family adventures in nature.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Intentional, Repeated Visits Reveal Change

Nicolas Brulliard replicated a month-in-the-woods idea by camping the same trail once each season to build intentional nature time.
The experiment prioritized routine and repetition over novelty to notice seasonal changes.

ADVICE

Prepare Using Park Resources

Use park websites to learn wilderness camping rules and reserve designated backcountry sites before you go.
Follow regulations to protect your safety and park resources when camping away from developed campgrounds.

ANECDOTE

Choosing Camp Creek Near Sand Beach Lake

Nicolas booked a less-competitive Wilderness Basin site called Camp Creek about two miles from the trailhead.
The chosen campsite sat roughly halfway on a four-and-a-half-mile trail to Sand Beach Lake.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Study after study has shown that time in nature enriches us mentally and physically. Just a couple of hours outdoors each week can improve our mood, reduce our stress, boost our immune systems and deepen our sleep, among many other benefits. But life has a way of distracting us from simple pleasures like hiking and camping. The demands of work, school and family can overtake our best intentions and our waking hours.

Award-winning journalist Nicolas Brulliard devised a plan to get himself into nature on four camping trips on the same trail, all taken on work nights over the course of a year — one in each season. He wrote about his experiences in a National Parks magazine article, then returned to the trail and reflected on his adventures with host Jennifer Errick. He shares some of his main takeaways, including the value of attention, the significance of sitting instead of walking, and how to hike like a kid instead of an adult.

The Secret Lives of Parks is a production of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Episode 47, Parks and the Art of Paying Attention, was produced by Jennifer Errick, with help from Todd Christopher, Bev Stanton and Linda Coutant.

Original theme music by Chad Fischer. Sound effects from Rocky Mountain National Park by Nicolas Brulliard.

Read Nicolas’ award-winning National Parks magazine story, “Four Walks in the Park,” at npca.org/fourwalks

Learn about the book that inspired the journey, “A Year in the Woods: Twelve Small Journeys into Nature” by Torbjørn Ekelund, at goodreads.com/book/show/57731687-a-year-in-the-woods

Learn more about this podcast and listen to the rest of our stories at thesecretlivesofparks.org

For more than a century, the National Parks Conservation Association has been protecting and enhancing America’s national parks for present and future generations. With more than 1.6 million members and supporters, NPCA is the nation’s only independent, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting national parks.

You can join the fight to preserve our national parks. Learn more and join us at npca.org