Rewilding a park. And how wild the Wild Nephin was.

A BnB owner, Jon Brannen, told me to with deep conviction that to experience a real hike visit the Wild Nephin Park. Leaving Westport, County Mayo, The signage to get there was not easily found. And the road leading to the small parking lot was plagued by beautiful views, houses, and bumpy as hell as I navigated around potholes and the true owners — the sheep. But once there. it was another unforgettable experience…but with an unearthly quality. Inspiring and eerie.

The posted signage declared it a “Rewilding Park”. Rewilding is a fairly new concept for parks (1990’s) and feels true to Nature in response to the bastardization we’ve done to it to make large, green playgrounds. Yes, the Wild Nephin was the wildest park I have ever been to.

Here’s the definition of rewilding from Wikipedia: Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems.

Getting out my poles and day pack, my first meetings was, surprise, surprise, a flock of lambs. Mom’s were nearby. They blocked the fence I had to go through. A little conversation and ‘bah bah’ and I was in the park…

I decided to do the 5K loop.

After that? Not a sign of a human hand…any path was hard to find, having already been somewhat overgrown; once found, the path moved from well springs that soaked your boots to a gravel line in the grass that may have once been a fully trodden path but as now becoming overgrown.

The terrain was uneven, and moved from wide vistas, to amazing forests. The 360 video I have posted was the most stunning part — just standing there, in a wedge between forest and mountains, wind howling, I cannot recall a time when I felt more alone in the world. It was not my world, it had gone back to nature. (Forgive the bad audio, but the view is worth it.)

The main sign of humanity was having to climb over a fence and walk a thin planked boardwalk through a bog.

After a miles, Time became elusive as nature grew wilder, the views and vistas more raw and me, the human, feel a bit unwelcome. Or maybe I was wrong…nature was welcoming me, but it was untamed, windy invite, whereas I was used to the broken-in man made form of a ‘Park’. This was no human playground.

I saw no one for five miles. Found a part of the forest that was…eerie. The whole time I was taking the shot, my feet were telling me to leave. It just felt strange.

I knew I had done the 5K loop when I saw a fire road, river, and some campers.

It was not a park, it was Nature’s house, and I was a guest.

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