Here are a few images from the recent Zombie Apocalypse at The Human Path. To see larger images, just click on one of them to start the slideshow. There will also be video that captures more of the action released shortly. Not every human and zombie are shown in the following slideshows.

There will be a series of slideshows. Here are the first three, documenting the initial daylight hours of the zombie apocalypse.  Please remember that these images are not for reproduction. If you want an image, just follow up with us and we’ll put you in touch with the photographer. 

**A special thanks to Jessica Qualls and Amanda Nicole Villarreal for lending their photography skills to the Human Path.

Slideshow 1: In The Beginning…

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Slideshow 2: On The Way To El Salvador …

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Slideshow 3: I was a Teenaged Zombie…

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So. I’m standing there on a narrow wood platform about 4 feet off the ground, eyeing the rope hanging in front of me, and trying to muster my courage to jump out there, grab the rope with my hands and swing from it. Looked easy enough when the other scout students were doing it, gracefully jumping into the air and dangling from the ropes. 

weeee. gonna fly through the air. or not.

I stood up there for a couple of minutes, pondering the possible outcomes.  A moment later, I jumped out and grabbed the rope (yay!), but an instant later my grip vanished and with an impressive ‘oomph’ that could only belong to me, I did a knee-plant in the dirt.  While I am grateful it wasn’t a face-plant, I was still flush with embarassment around what I was now certain was a tribe of wood elves. 

Relegating myself to balance practice while the other scout students swung from beams 15 feet off the ground, vaulting tree limbs, climbing ropes and scrambling up telephone poles into the trees; I vowed that this time I would be practicing in between these scout classes. 

Clearly the most clumsy of the bunch, my feet crunch-crunched on the run as they silently glided past me in their Vibram 5 Toe shoes.  They hoisted themselves up and down ropes as though they could do it all day.  In turn, I felt like I’d suddenly grown a second left foot and was sworn to use that and only that.  When did that happen?  I have a lot of work to do. 

Feeling embarassed and ox-like in the class, I blushed and tried to fade out of sight.  Once on my way home though, I thought about it and decided I like it enough to learn how to do it better.  Who doesn’t want to be light on their feet, flexible, strong and agile?  I do! I do! 

Being a good scout involves not only being in shape, but also developing flexibile limbs that are strong and lithe.  Fingers that can grip branches and hold the body’s weight, legs that possess the strength to pull the torso up the ropes and feet that are nimble enough to fit in and twist through the crooks in trees, obstacle courses and footholds. Quadrapedal crawling and plyometrics help develop this.

here you've got good old fashioned quadrapedal crawling. try it.

A good scout must also be in control of their breathing and thoughts, to develop better awareness and also to be more difficult to detect.  We stood on rocks in the 6pm yawning sun to work on chi kung, working on proper breath, directing energy and building focus.

Good scouts are comfortable outdoors, in the trees, on the rocks, the brush, the water….  Blending into whatever their surroundings are, scouts simply seem to be part of the terrain.

natural born scouts

Scouts are the eyes and ears of a group, often working alone in the woods, which I like.  There’s a certain romantic notion to the idea of moving through the woods unseen that is appealing.  But first, balance, strength and endurance.

My reasons for running are uncertain even to myself.  I just know that it gives me a certain feeling that is freeing and for a moment, i feel as though I can connect with the skies.

I run in the disappearing pink light of twilight, just as the neighbor’s dinner tables are being set and curtains drawn for the night.  I run in the morning before the sun rises, when the moon, in whatever state she’s attending, follows me up and down the hills to keep me company.  My company is only the skittering rabbit along the road, the watchful eyes of what I think is a racoon from behind the juniper bushes and my constant companion, Orion, who watches me from the winter skies and leaves me lonely in the summertime.

I run to improve myself.  I run to beat the clicking and barely audible sigh of life getting older with me in it.  I run to chase away the gnawing and piercing pain from that summer spider bite that sometimes still lingers.  I run to clear my mind to a blissful zen-like place where all I feel is peace and pure joy. And I run for inspiration. 

Ideas come to me that evade me when I have on my thinking cap inside.  Beautiful progressions of projects and visions of brazen artwork come together in my mind. I laugh and wonder how I could have missed such an obvious/clear/brilliant idea until that moment, feet flying down the hill, chasing the moonrise or spooking that tree down there with a dozen vultures roosting…

I have a week to build the creation from tonight’s run, outfit it in fabric that is appropriate for Dia De Los Muertos and launch it with other floating altars for the Noche De Recuerdos down in town.  The images above are from my first floating altar last year, and I can hardly wait to manifest a new vision, care of the skies of fall.