Tacking in a sea of grass

July 6.

Grass now for a week or more has been seriously in the way of the walker, but already I take advantage of the few fields that are mowed. It requires skillful tacking, a good deal of observation, and experience to get across the country now.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 6, 1859

Tacking . . . to get across the country.... See July 4, 1860 ("We are wading and navigating at present in a sort of sea of grass, which yields and undulates under the wind like water"); July 8, 1851 ("The yellow, waving, rustling rye extends far up and over the hills on either side, leaving only a narrow and dark passage at the bottom of a deep ravine . ... These long grain-fields which you must respect, - must go round, - occupying the ground like an army.")