My Dad

Backcountry Exploration and Natural Beauty – a tribute to my dad

My dad was an explorer, back-country adventurer, and he loved the wilderness, wildlife, and nature. He was also a highly skilled doctor who cared very much about all of his patients, a family physician, MD, general practitioner.

My Dad passed away in April, and last weekend we held a memorial in his honor.

I miss him very much, and we were very close.

Exploring the wilderness, mountains, streams, wild rivers, mountain lakes, and back country was very different back in the 50’s and 60’s.

We would usually go out into the back country for about a week. We traveled fast, and very light, much lighter than hikers and backpackers today. We did not have a tent, or stove.  We did sometimes put up a lean-to. We drank water from streams and snow melt.

We often hiked about 10 to 13 miles per day, sometimes more, and climbed the highest mountains in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Sometimes, we traveled cross-country without any trail, fording rivers, and climbing up and down steep ridges that were a couple thousand feet high. And we did traverses of steep glaciers, scree, and climbed steep faces of rock, snow-capped mountains, whatever was necessary to travel to our destination. All this was done without any GPS or cell phone.

We used our natural sense to read the terrain, and we had map and compass. Often, the maps were inaccurate. So we used compass and line of sight to landmarks, followed streams, used celestial navigation if available, and if not, just used our natural sense of direction.

What I learned then has stayed with me, evolved and refined over the years, and it has influenced how I view health, healing, vitality, fitness, and life. I have much to say, but I will let these photos and music tell this story for now.

I produced a film from images – mostly transparencies –  that were mostly shot by him, with some by me, and set it to three of my original songs as a tribute to my dad. It runs just under nine minutes. It should open up without any problem on your computer, tablet, or phone.

A tribute to my Dad – James Elijah Davis, M.D.

It may give a sense of the beauty that we experienced. My hope is that this natural beauty and wildlife must be preserved so that others can experience it, and nature can remain strong, including all of us and wildlife.

Steve