There are benefits to hiking with a group of people, as opposed to just going out solo or with one companion. With many sets of eyes and ears you can collectively see and hear exponentially more of nature. It never fails that even when I’m first in file on the trail, there’s something that escapes my notice. It's always exciting to hear the gasp or exclamations from behind: "Look!" or "What is that?". In such a way the teaching and the learning is cooperative. 

It is fascinating how many different perspectives can be showcased within a group of hikers of varied backgrounds and upbringings. To one person, a sourwood leaf tastes like a green apple. To another, a lemon. A rock formation looks like a piece of cheese, or a sponge. A crushed paw-paw leaf might smell like black pepper, or medicine, as well as like freshly paved asphalt. 

Once while leading a hike in the Smokies, a group of teenagers asked me “Do you have the T-shirt tree?" For the next several minutes I racked my brain... T-shirt tree, T-shirt tree...??? Then a "Here it is!", and I was triumphantly handed the leaf of a tulip poplar. This leaf I have typically described as the shape of a tulip, or even the cartoon face of Sylvester the cat... but when it was handed to me upside down, I realized that it was the exact outline of a T-shirt! Leave it to teenagers to come up with that analogy! Upon further reflection I made another connection – that the flowers of the tulip poplar, which bloom in early summer and occasionally drop to the ground, have a distinctive variation of colors that looks very much like a tie-dye pattern! Therefore, I credit that group of teenagers for subsequent presentations of “the tie-dyed T-shirt tree". I was grateful for the example of “meeting people where they are". That is to say, that I don’t always introduce the tulip poplar tree as the “tie-dye T-shirt tree" - it depends on the audience. Having just moved from Tennessee to Kentucky, I am simply happy that I can still say “here is our state tree!" Incidentally, the larger leaves make great face wipes on these hot and humid summer days. Who knows what other uses or descriptions I have yet to learn about this wonderful tree, or any number of things in nature. I’m counting on some other perspectives to help teach me!