As the North American tectonic plate and the Pacific tectonic plate continue to shift 1.5 inches per year, Pinnacles National Park moves farther away from the Neenach formations in Lancaster, Calif., informally known as “the other part of Pinnacles”. Hayat Abuza had been working near Lancaster at the California Poppy Reserve State Park last year, without knowing that it had a connection to the rock formations at Pinnacles National Park. She now serves as a ranger at Pinnacles National Park leading walks for the public. Her poetry hikes were some of her favorites events while at Pinnacles.
Hayat made the trip from Massachusetts to California after she retired, a dream she started when she first visited Pinnacles National Park six years ago. Hayat is affiliated with a group called Women Outdoors, a community of women who love the outdoors and respect the Earth. She enjoys sharing this love and respect for the outdoors with others through her programs at Pinnacles National Park.
“The theme of wilderness and the enjoyment of nature is a universal language,” said Hayat.
Her poetry hikes, night programs and snake talks have been the talk of the town.
“The seam behind the poetry programs is that all human beings respond to the environment, from an urban environment to wilderness, we’re all impacted by the environment,” she added.
People respond to nature in many ways: with art, music and writing. Poetry is one way that all humans of all cultures have responded to the environment, and that is why nature is a theme that runs through a lot of poetry. Hayat wanted to give visitors a taste of that she called “Read One, Write One, and Recite One.” This is a chance for visitors to experience poetry while on the trail.
She considered this opportunity to be quite special, as national parks have become treasures to find peace and quiet. As other parts of the world are increasingly populated, nature is becoming more of a spiritual luxury for some, and Pinnacles is quite the sanctuary located between two of the biggest cities in the United States, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
From the words of Pablo Neruda to the exploration of danger and fear, Hayat brought smiles and chills to the heart of the amphitheater where all the interpretive programs are presented weekly. Every visitor enjoyed the carefully crafted words that delivered the surrealistic sensory stimulation of nature in a very unique and creative way.
Hayat smiled as she told me that she didn’t know exactly where she was going next after her time at Pinnacles, but her smile revealed something deeper, the fact that her destination didn’t have a specific title. It had universal meaning: Nature.
