This weekend I'll be escaping to the first camping trip of the year. My friend, Jeremy, and I are shooting for the Adirondacks but it is early in the season and weather and trail conditions are having us keep our options open. I won't be too crushed if we don't end up in the Adirondacks, most important thing is to get out there.
What the Outdoors Mean
Think back to a favorite place of yours. A place that you love to go. A place you are connected to. Maybe it's coming home to your parents after a long time away, or staying with your grandparents or your favorite aunt and uncle. Maybe you look forward to curling up on your own couch with a warm blanket especially when there is a chill in the outside air. Perhaps you have friends you can reconnect with in 30 seconds after years apart. Maybe for you it's getting on your motorcycle, jeep, or bicycle for that all day ride. Or what takes place when a band gets together to practice and the comradery joins you together. We can become immersed in these things and they can renew us. What happens internally is hard to replace or substitute. Skype is amazing, but it can't bring you home. That is this it to me.
I grew up in the hill of Pennsylvania. It was farm country, it was hill country. The Horseshoe Trail ran through this region. As mentioned before, our troop made camping a priority. From February to as late into November as we dared (not so much due to weather rather deer season). Weather rarely altered our plans, and we took a few modern amenities. We almost always camped in tents. We always cooked on fires. Maybe a stove would help boil water, but we could function without it. We learned where to place our tents, not from a text book or lecture, but from observing, watching, and evaluating our mistakes. We learned where to find dry firewood in the pouring rain because we needed it and we knew how frustrating wet wood could be. 1 out of every 4 weekends we were living outdoors; 3 out of every 30 days. We became experts. I became an expert.
But something else happened. It's not just developing skills that make these trips important. Like the metaphors in the first paragraph, when you are in your favorite place you de-clench. All the thoughts and things you preoccupy yourself with, the dozens of buzzing thoughts; you put those things away and tune in to what is around you. For me, I hear the air pushing over the land. When the wind picks up the leaves, or there is a sudden rushing in the distance, or rain begins to pound the ground over the next hill, I listen to those messages. I'm tuned in to what is going on around me, not the buzzing of thoughts I've accumulated over the months.
I relax. I chase away the buzzing. I challenge myself to become better at my skills and learn new ones. I spend time with a side of me that rarely gets to come out and play.
The Adirondacks
Last time I was in the Adirondacks was 1995 for the BSA High Adventure Camp. It was a mix of backpacking and canoe backpacking. This is where I earned the 50 miles afoot or afloat award. A hurricane decimated the park a week or so before our trip and many of the trails were still destroyed. A 2 hour trek took 8 hours. We were supposed to rondevu with the staff to pickup food and were so late to the checkpoint they were beginning to plan search parties. As a result, most of that 50 miles was afloat; and that was fine with me.
Trip Preparations
This trip looks like it will be just Jeremy and I. Which is fine, we can move faster and there are fewer people to be concerned about. The drama of large group camping does not relax me. We've been discussing trails, locations, menus, travel plans, and the weather. We are 5 days out so that means I need to go do food shopping this week and we need to finalize our location and trails.
One major factor at this stage is the weather. For most folks, it is early in the season. Weather in Connecticut is ranging from high 50s during the day to close to freezing at night. My folks, in western New York got 6 inches of snow last weekend during a nor'easter and other areas got hit worse. The forecast for the area we are planning to go shows highs in the upper 20s for a few days, but they are expecting things to warm up. Additionally, there is rain in the forecast as we head into the weekend. It is too soon to make a firm call, but by watching the patterns and trends in the forecast we can better decide what we will most likely encounter. I don't mind the cold. The main thing is the wet. I can survive the wet, but hiking becomes dangerous and miserable.
As the date gets closer, I'll update with how preparations are progressing. Share about the shopping, packing, the trip, and everything else.
