By the campfire, beneath the stars, a peculiar thing happens to the tone of conversation you have with others. Be mindful that these “others” are the same people you barely spoke to throughout the preceding car ride. Without noise and distraction, people open up. They share their existential questions, admit their failings and fears, give […]
Human beings are clever. What’s more, we delight in demonstrating our cleverness, seeking credit for the rare facts or special skills we presume to hold. The problem with our eagerness to impress is that it necessarily robs us of opportunities to discover new ways to do things or unique ideas that can inform our own […]
One can never know who one really is before escaping the lenses of culture, society, and the those around us. External influences create pressures, skewing the way we think, the way we feel, the values we hold, and even how we look. It is not until we remove ourselves from our social and institutional contexts […]
The true wonder of the wild is the chance it provides to distance oneself from what modern life deems necessary and to instead commune with what we discover to be important. What we know on a primal level is real and authentic. On the trail, however, the rich sounds, sweet smells, and lingering glimpses into […]
Stand quietly in any wooded place, fingers on your pulse. Now, listen to the squirrels noisily scurrying through the leaves. Observe the yawning sway of the treetops. And if you are so lucky, study the lumbering nonchalance of the moose or bear. The wild has no central beat. Nature is a confusion of tempos, its […]
Their is a heightened awareness to the realities of one’s surroundings in the outdoors. Far from help, the consequences of each step, handhold, or change in direction can bring catastrophe. This creates in the mind of the outdoor traveler an inherent astuteness, a hyper-awareness of the environment and one’s own place in it. The hiker, […]
The Boy Scout goes missing. Days later, he is found by rescuers and volunteers miles from where he was last seen. Miles more from the campsite at which he started. We see this story, sadly, replayed again and again in the news as the lost scout, camper, hiker, or mountaineer loses their bearing and decides […]
Your inner voice is suspect. If a stranger with no prior experience of the situation before you suggests a course of action, you would be quick to deflect their advice as baseless. You would consider this stranger to be meddling, even arrogant, for suggesting that they know what is right for you without ever having […]
Perhaps the single greatest draw of the wild is the chance to reconnect with the self in a more accurate evolutionary context. Technology, invention, and the shortcuts they bring have far outpaced the rate of evolution of the human animal. The human experience for much of the world is one of comfort, minimal exertion, and […]