In this course, students will participate in outdoor excursions that prompt them to contemplate their relationship to the natural world. Drawing on an array of classical and contemporary environmental writers, including Edward Abbey, Gretchen Legler, Henry David Thoreau, Rebecca Solnit, Annie Dillard and Aldo Leopold, we will examine models of terrain becoming text. Our discussions will be far-reaching, and students will emerge with a clearer sense of environmental literature's aesthetic and ideological contours. Written work will afford students the chance to practice the close observation and precise attention to detail required in writing effectively about the natural world. In order to foster a deeper connection to local landscape and to better understand human interaction with it, a portion of our field time may be dedicated to a local environmental service project chosen by the class. This course meets during a reserve format in order to create a double-format meeting time for field work.