Lane, Lane, What Do you See?

A version of this article previously appeared in the Winter 2018 Long Trail News.

My daughter Lane has always loved the children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, written and illustrated by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. After the first snowfall this past winter we hiked the Burrows Trail on Camel’s Hump, and decided to ask each other what we were seeing on the trail. Here are the conversations we had:

Lane, Lane, what do you see? 
Lane: The moss on this tree over here. It’s icy. Sometimes I use moss to make frosting for my mud cupcakes. Icy moss would be even better.
Mommy: I see the hill in front of us and there are SO many people on it.

Lane, Lane, what do you see?
L: I see this one little tiny leave that is so cute. I found it on the side and it has brown and yellow and red. I can see the rest of the mountains better.
M: I see all of the trees where the leaves have fallen off and now I can see the rest of the mountains better.

Lane, Lane, what do you see? 
L: Whoa! Look, at that rock! It looks like pizza. But not pizza with pepperoni. Just cheese pizza. I’m going to jump on it.
M: I see the same rock, and I think that someone that works for the Green Mountain Club probably put that rock there so that you can use it to get over the water without getting your feet wet.
L: Which person did it? What is their name? How did they get there? Did they do it by themselves?
M: I don’t know who did it. I think they probably worked together as a team to move the rock over with rock bars, which are like big heave sticks that help you move big objects.

Lane, Lane, what do you see?
L: Well, I don’t see anything because I’m closing my eyes because ice is falling on my face! Does that mean it’s winter?
M: Almost! Winter comes to the mountains before it comes to our house. As you get higher up it gets colder and instead of rain, the mountain will get snow or ice.
L: Why is it colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom?
M: Well, the mountain is taller on top than it is on the bottom, and as we climb higher the air gets thinner and it can’t hold on to the heat the way it can at the bottom of the mountain. The warm air goes up the mountain and spreads out wider and gets colder, and that’s why our cheeks are red and we need to wear mittens.
L: Oh. I wish it were warm at the top.

Lane, Lane, what do you see?
L: Snow! I see snow! It’s the first snow I saw all year. And the green trees aren’t green anymore.
M: That’s right, they’re green AND white.

Mommy, Mommy, what do you see?
M: I see the trees too, but I am looking at a rock and trying to figure out the safest way to get both of us up there.
L: You mean the rock that looks like a great big chicken?
M: Yes, that one.

Mommy, Mommy, what do you see?
M: Oh wow, I can see an opening in the trees where you can see the top of Camel’s Hump.
L: Now I see the view! Look at the view. Mommy, we’re here! (We were not there.) The snow is all over the mountains and I think I see someone climbing up it.

Lane, Lane, what do you see? 
L: I see another big rock! I’m going to jump over the rocks.
M: That rock is part of a waterbar that the trail crew put it.
L: What’s a waterbar?
M: It’s a row of rocks that helps keep the water off the trail.
L: Like the water off the path? Oops, I stepped in it. But that’s OK. The rocks are my walking path to my castle.

Lane and I saw different things that day, and I know that was partly because she is shorter and we literally have different points of view. But I think it was mostly because at four years old she is trying to navigate the world and understand how it works. She pays attention to the details, and is fully present in each moment. She doesn’t worry about the hill or climb in front of her, but notices how the environment changes and ask questions along the way, inserting her imagination whenever she can.

In all my years building waterbars and hiking over them, never could I have imagined one of them as a walking path to a castle. But I’m so happy that it can be.

Update since Winter: I brought our two year old, Hugh, up the Burrows Trail on Wednesday and while we did not play the game of “What Do You See,” we did have fun stepping on every single rock and noticing the many streams and sources of water that flow through the forest. Hugh kept telling the black flies, “bugs, go the other way!” The flies didn’t listen, but we had a great time talking about waterfalls and spotting the birds along the way.