Winter and Summer Solstice Adventures
The Winter and Summer Solstice’s are two great days to celebrate the beauty of adventures on Earth! In this article I share some recent Winter and Summer Solstice Adventures in hopes to inspire you to enjoy the longest and shortest days of the year!
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, they are two of my favorite days of the year and there are many ways to celebrate in the outdoors on them!
Winter Solstice Hiking in Clear Creek Metro Park.
As I began to tromp my feet down the frozen ground on mile six of my ten mile winter solstice hike at Clear Creek Metro Park in Central Ohio I hadn’t passed but two winter hikers.
Out of nowhere I turned the corner and to my amazement there was a group of fifty hikers (turned out they were on a ranger led backcountry hike through the local county tourism bureau) and as we passed each other we wished each other a “Happy Solstice.” For me wishing someone a Happy Solstice is like a Christian wishing a Merry Christmas to someone or someone in India wishing a Happy Diwali to someone else.
The solstice’s mark a special day to me and I enjoy both the moments of solace in nature by myself and the times when I run into a large group of people. It’s the beginning of shorter days or the beginning of longer days and the days with the most light and the most darkness. The solstice’s are rising tides and a change of the seasons (which is a miracle that they occur in and of itself.)
The solstice’s to me are “holidays” and I would love to add them to the paid day off calendar so more people had the chance to celebrate them! These are not just days, but rather “Planet Earth’s Holidays”.
Getting ready to paddle the Platte River in Sleeping Bear Dunes.
I celebrated the Winter Solstice this year, as I mentioned above, with a 10 mile hike at Clear Creek Metro Park in Central Ohio. The sun was out for about 8 hours that day and I hiked in layers on a beautiful (and chilly) day for about 5 of them.
In June of 2022 I celebrated the Summer Solstice by participating in a Platte River Kayak Paddle and Cleanup in Sleeping Bear Dunes followed by my own organized Trash Cleanup in Grand Rapids Michigan.
Both days I took advantage of all the light that I could possibly have. I remember driving back to Interlochen from Grand Rapids and it was close to 10pm on the Summer Solstice (I had been outside since about 7am that day). The sun was setting and it was a hot and beautiful evening that was bringing the solstice to a close, for that year at least. I felt calm and complete by making the most of celebrating the Summer Solstice as the sun went below the horizon.
One of the trash piles at our Grand Rapids Michigan Summer Trash Cleanup.
The solstice’s occur twice a year and in North America; the Summer one occurs in June and the Winter one in December.
It’s become a goal and tradition to do something special on the Solstice’s and whether it’s a hike, a paddle, cleanup work, watching the sunrise, or just having a picnic there are many ways to celebrate the Solstice.
To me the Winter Solstice and the Summer Solstice are two of the most special days in the calendar year and taking the time to set aside time to honor and enjoy them is something worth considering!
Until they are International Holidays just put in those PTO days or block the day to enjoy a Winter or Summer Solstice Adventure.
Leave a comment with your favorite Solstice Adventure!
Because Adventure Feeds the Soul,
Mike R