the Great Outdoors, part 1
Randy hadn't had a weekend off from catering since April. So when I noticed that he had a free weekend coming up in July, I immediately asked him what he wanted to do.
We didn't have to make plans. We could have let the weekend just come up on us and filled our time with whatever we felt like... relaxing, cleaning, going to the movies, studying Spanish, or absolutely nothing.
But if we wanted to be intentional about it, if we wanted to come away from the weekend feeling like we'd made the best use of our time off, it would require some forethought.
A few days later Randy suggested we go backcountry camping. It wouldn't cost anything. We already had all the gear we needed. And we would be without cell service, so we would be forced to completely disengage from work and the world, whether we wanted to or not. It sounded perfect to me!
So, on Thursday after our Spanish class, we stopped at REI and loaded up on dehydrated meals. We filled our backpacks with sleeping bags and sleeping pads, food for us and food for Jovi, a camp stove and fuel, bug spray and sunscreen, toilet paper and ziplock bags for all our trash, water bags and a water purifier, a tent and our walking sticks. And after a couple hours of work on Friday morning, we were on our way.
Our first stop was the ranger station to get a fire permit. This was the last weekend they were allowing fires for the season, and we were glad to get in on the tail end of that. Temperatures were expected to be down in the 30s and 40s overnight.
To get to our trailhead we had to off-road for several miles. In hindsight, Randy's suburban would have been a better choice than my volvo, so we stopped short a couple miles from our trailhead and simply parked the car under a tree, leaving a note that it was not an abandoned vehicle.
Once we hit the trail we immediately felt free. Free from anyone else needing us. Free from buzzing cell phones and computers. Free from traffic and laundry and reality TV.
During the summer months it is easy to go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car to your air conditioned office and back again, all without ever actually going outside. The same can be said of the winter: you go from your heated house to your heated car to your heated office and back again, all without ever getting any real, fresh air.
While I'm a huge proponent of daily walks, all year-round, the intensity of spending 48 straight hours with nothing between you and the fresh air is a completely different reality.
Truly life-giving.
We hiked about 5 miles before setting up camp. Randy made a dog run for Jovi and strung our food up from a tree, safely out of reach of any lions and tigers and bears.
While scouting the area I nearly stepped on a snake. I stuck close to camp after that. We set up our tent and Randy made a fire and our first dehydrated meal: Chicken with Risotto. So good!
Before I could wash our dishes in the lake, Randy brought out a surprise.
Backpacking is awesome, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard. Your back hurts from carrying all your gear, only to have to sleep on the ground, where you know you aren't going to get a good night's sleep. But those woes can be alleviated with a little intentional foresight.
Like the thermos of red wine Randy had secretly packed! We sat drinking our wine, looking out at the lake, and I couldn't imagine why we spend so much time indoors.
We didn't have to make plans. We could have let the weekend just come up on us and filled our time with whatever we felt like... relaxing, cleaning, going to the movies, studying Spanish, or absolutely nothing.
But if we wanted to be intentional about it, if we wanted to come away from the weekend feeling like we'd made the best use of our time off, it would require some forethought.
A few days later Randy suggested we go backcountry camping. It wouldn't cost anything. We already had all the gear we needed. And we would be without cell service, so we would be forced to completely disengage from work and the world, whether we wanted to or not. It sounded perfect to me!
So, on Thursday after our Spanish class, we stopped at REI and loaded up on dehydrated meals. We filled our backpacks with sleeping bags and sleeping pads, food for us and food for Jovi, a camp stove and fuel, bug spray and sunscreen, toilet paper and ziplock bags for all our trash, water bags and a water purifier, a tent and our walking sticks. And after a couple hours of work on Friday morning, we were on our way.
Our first stop was the ranger station to get a fire permit. This was the last weekend they were allowing fires for the season, and we were glad to get in on the tail end of that. Temperatures were expected to be down in the 30s and 40s overnight.
To get to our trailhead we had to off-road for several miles. In hindsight, Randy's suburban would have been a better choice than my volvo, so we stopped short a couple miles from our trailhead and simply parked the car under a tree, leaving a note that it was not an abandoned vehicle.
Once we hit the trail we immediately felt free. Free from anyone else needing us. Free from buzzing cell phones and computers. Free from traffic and laundry and reality TV.
During the summer months it is easy to go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car to your air conditioned office and back again, all without ever actually going outside. The same can be said of the winter: you go from your heated house to your heated car to your heated office and back again, all without ever getting any real, fresh air.
While I'm a huge proponent of daily walks, all year-round, the intensity of spending 48 straight hours with nothing between you and the fresh air is a completely different reality.
Truly life-giving.
We hiked about 5 miles before setting up camp. Randy made a dog run for Jovi and strung our food up from a tree, safely out of reach of any lions and tigers and bears.
While scouting the area I nearly stepped on a snake. I stuck close to camp after that. We set up our tent and Randy made a fire and our first dehydrated meal: Chicken with Risotto. So good!
Before I could wash our dishes in the lake, Randy brought out a surprise.
Backpacking is awesome, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard. Your back hurts from carrying all your gear, only to have to sleep on the ground, where you know you aren't going to get a good night's sleep. But those woes can be alleviated with a little intentional foresight.
Like the thermos of red wine Randy had secretly packed! We sat drinking our wine, looking out at the lake, and I couldn't imagine why we spend so much time indoors.
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