Canyoning and Rivers walking

We travel to know and understand, but if we follow the current we arrive at the sea at the end, and there we get lost in the immensity! The real journey, to know and to understand, is a journey backwards, against the current, towards the sources, where we can find the origins, and ourselves. Sometimes when we walk against the tide for a long time, we are almost seized by a sense of fear, anguish, we realize that we are moving away from the comfortable place of what we think we are, to venture into something deeper and deeper. unknown, of what perhaps we really are, but that we do not know at all. Exploration always runs on a double track, internal and external. More than in any other place, when you walk inside a torrent carved into a narrow valley, you are alone with yourself, never so isolated, never so close to Water and Earth, so close to the origins.

Walking along a river, against the current, looking for its sources (but not necessarily), is a small adventure inside and outside ourselves. It is no coincidence that perhaps the most ancient and great civilizations were born around great rivers, and have always loved, feared, respected and venerated them as gods.

The springs are sometimes just a mirage, a need of man who does not go beyond appearances, and having himself a beginning and an end (birth and death), he does not know how to go beyond himself and does not understand that not necessarily everything must have a beginning and an end. If you follow a river, you will see that sooner or later the main branch splits in two, and each branch splits into other smaller branches, and so on, until it gets lost in an infinitesimal cobweb: sometimes the source, as such , it does not exist, at other times it does, every river, like every God, has its own character.

I really like walking along rivers, streams and creeks, they are natural places full of life and symbolic suggestions, like many other particular natural places (such as caves, mountains or woods), are places where the conformation and characteristics of the landscape they have affinity with our spirit and our soul, they are places that, in addition to expressing sublime and intimate beauty, have a particular power, that of influencing our soul, that of inviting meditation and reflection, not only rational. There are energies in these places that vibrate in tune that our depths, that put us in contact with other dimensions, or at least invite us to explore them. They are magical places, but magic, like many other things, needs trust and love to "work", ongly then the spell will come true !

Every now and then it is worthwhile to undress (in all senses) and go for a walk along a river, in a wood, sit in front of a waterfall, on the banks of a lake, or enter a cave! Every now and then you have to change dimensions, know, experiment.

Closed the animistic parenthesis, let's return now to the material world, canyoning is a preferably, but not necessarily, summer branch of hiking and consists of walking along the waterways, following their meanders and pilgrimage in narrow and often dark places, a bit the complementary opposite of mountaineering or hiking: instead of climbing in search of high peaks and vast and bright spaces, here we go down to look for narrow, dark and deep places, such as canyons or ravines, instead of climbing towards heaven, here we descend towards hell: they are worlds different, but both very fascinated ! You do not follow paths or roads, but you walk on steep, often slippery terrain, you climb boulders and rocks, to overcome obstacles or fallen trees that get in your way, often even waterfalls that form sometimes insurmountable barriers, it also happens that you feel you are not a guest. welcome, and the mountain makes you understand this in many ways, even throwing stones at you !

Water is life, and from an early age my best memories are often linked to water, the water of a river in particular. Going up the waterways is one of my favorite activities, in summer it is even more pleasant, since you can find refreshment by walking directly in the fresh water, climbing up the rocks and discovering truly suggestive, solitary corners of the world. wild and regenerating, in body and in spirit. Generally when I go to the mountains or in any case for a walk, I possibly look for places where there is water, in any form: a river, a lake, a waterfall, a spring, or the sea itself as a symbolic final destination of the eternal cycles of life: the vast , deep, tumultuous and unfathomable destiny towards which all waters flow, and we are seventy percent water !

Mountain rivers and streams are places where we can observe the primal forces of Nature in action, places where these forces constantly shape and forge the landscape, and places where our spirit can tune into these forces and somehow reconcile ours relationship with the Earth and the planet. To move forward you have to overcome small or large obstacles at every step, you have to confront and interact with the elements, it is not like walking a path, where it is often enough to walk: here you get wet, get muddy, climb, sometimes you have to swim, jump , and then you slip, you scratch yourself, you prick yourself, and sometimes you have to stop and go back. It is not a challenge, it is curiosity, exploration, research. Sometimes you see paradisiacal places, other times infernal, you see a wild beauty, sometimes brutal, that intimidates, but tamed Nature has never been very attractive to me, I prefer the "rough" but true landscape.

Going down to these places, yes because the streams dig and furrow the ground, and entering their bed is like going under the skin, under the surface of the planet, it is like going down to a place where the primordial creative and destructive forces reveal themselves and act, in a continuous and tumultuous motion, to create the landscape, to chisel in detail that magnificent work of art called Planet Earth !

The Taro River, some personal notes.

I was lucky enough to be born, grow up and live near a beautiful river, my first adventures as a child took place right on its banks, I learned to love and photograph nature right along its stony banks and in the small woods that adorn the course (photography in this sense, at an amateur level, is an act of love).

A river with a fickle character, at times sweet and calm, at other times angry and restless, it knows how to be open and serene, but also inscrutable and dramatic, but always fascinating and full of beauty. A character very similar to mine, perhaps for this reason a beautiful relationship was born between myself and the river, which has been with me for a lifetime: the river is probably my soul mate.

I thank the River Taro for all the emotions it has given me, and that it continues to give me, or perhaps it is better to say that it has been able to bring out of myself, and I have no other way to reciprocate the gifts than the one most suited to me, by portraying them, capturing its beauty through my photographs, a way to remember, to keep memory of a landscape in continuous and rapid transformation, to make it known, discovered, and respected.

Little adventures

Going by streams, especially when you do it on your own, without following anyone's directions and without necessarily visiting well-known places, is a bit like living a little adventure, indeed sometimes a real and great adventure.

Adventure is a bit like the spice of life, that spark that ignites an inner fire, that of passion, an inexplicable energy that moves you and pushes you to discover new and never seen things. These small valleys, which I love to explore since I was a boy, often hide small treasures, and one of the advantages is that only I know these treasures, or very few others, because these places are often snubbed, ignored and not considered by most people, even the naturalistic or hiking lovers. It is a hidden beauty, which does not impose itself, does not make the news, is not spectacularized, a beauty that must be sought with care, and jealously guarded, so that it can remain so.

Nowadays to live an adventure you think you have to do spectacular things or exploits at the limit of the possible, perhaps to be able to then put the photo on social media: I personally find nothing exciting even in climbing Everest today, which for getting on is already organized and you also have to queue up for the large number of tourists that clog the paths.

I have always had an adventurous and romantic vision of the great feats of history, of the great discoveries and of the great explorations, but lately I am reading some books on the conquest of the poles, on the great archaeological discoveries, on the conquest of the moon, which frankly have very disappointed me. Discovering the background of these enterprises leaves a bitter aftertaste in the soul, because in the end, beyond the fictionalized, distorted and idealized stories, reality is always the same, since the beginning of time, and man never betrays his nature and his smallness: the engine of everything is always money, power, conflict, rivalry and a competitive spirit.

Since none of these "values" are part of my being, I prefer to live my personal explorations, my adventures in intimacy, along some small and unknown mountain stream, to search for beauty and meanings on my own, away from the noise and evaluations of the civilized world, often even in complete solitude (to tell the truth, when I am in the midst of nature I never feel alone), and if I should unfortunately get hurt, as someone reproaches me, I do not expect no one wastes time in coming to save me, that's okay too, and amen !

I conclude with these beautiful words written by the great Oriana Fallaci, which may apparently have nothing to do with canyoning, but have to do with how to approach adventure, discovery and the world:

"The men who went to the Moon were foolish men. They had silly faces of stone and theyarent' able too laugh, they aren't able to cry. The Moon for them was a scientific feat and that was it, a conquest of technology. During the journey they never said anything nice, only numbers and formulas and boring information, if flashes of humanity alternated it was to ask for news of a football team. Once they landed on the moon they knew even less. At most they uttered two or three clichés. Then they planted a tin flag , with the movements of an automaton, they indulged in a ceremonial of obvious gestures, and left again after having dirtied the Moon with their excrements, which thus remained to witness the passage of Man. The excrements were closed in cans, the cans were left there with the flag, and if you knew, you couldn't look at the moon without thinking "Up there is their excrement too"! They were foolish men, because they were men without soul. "

Oriana Fallaci (Italian journalist and writer), taken from the book "Letter to an unborn child"

About safety

My photographs and my descriptions are only the story of my personal experiences, I do not want to invite anyone to face these paths, and if you do so it is only at your own risk, we decline all responsibility here. These places are not safe, they hide many dangers, they are not crossed by paths or other forms of accessibility, they are isolated and lonely, often not even the telephone works, they are not suitable for families. The pitfalls are many: from pools of deep and swirling water, to the mud that swallows you, to the stones that suddenly fall from above, and then snakes, insects, ticks and so on, here even a small problem can easily turn into a big one. problem. I do not recommend visiting it to an audience that is not adequately prepared.

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