BookBurner
12-25-2006, 09:38
Merry Christmas Everyone! I was reading a book this quiet morning before the day's events began to unfold and enjoyed an inspired moment that I feel compelled to share. It concerns lightweight backpacking.
We go the woods to experience spirit, a god, our inner-selves, something we can't touch but nonetheless feel very surely inside our hearts. "It" is there when we reach the top of a mountain, when we happen upon an overlook, when we cross paths with a deer, or when we share a campfire with fellow hikers. We all like hiking for a lot of different reasons. But I believe we all love hiking because it touches our souls in some profound way at these precious moments.
When we carry too much equipment into the woods though, we create barriers to this spiritual enlightenment. The moments of personal fullfilment simply become fewer and farther apart in direct proportion to the size of the gear monkey we're carrying on your back. It's impossible to feel the full depths of peace and serenity and gratefulness and wonder when your heart is screaming away at 200 beats a minute after a short climb. It's impossible to feel connected to the ground you're sleeping on when you've zipped yourself inside layers and layers of nylon and mosquito netting. It's impossible to discover the kindness of strangers when they don't heed your thumb because your pack is too big for their trunk. It's impossible to notice god's creatures closing in on you to investigate the odd sight of a man stirring noodles when jet-fueled stoves are flaming away. Our choice to carry heavy, cumbersome, overly-engineered gear begins to keep us, figuratively and literally, from the very things that we went to the woods in search of in the first place.
In 2007, carry enough equipment to be safe. Carry enough equipment to be comfortable. But experiment on each new trip and discover for yourself where that threshold ends. Lightweight hiking is not about carrying less gear just for the sake of hiking more miles. It's not about carrying less gear so you can tell more tales about the ounces you've shed and all the toothbrush handles you've chopped to get there. Lightweight hiking is about reducing weight and "things" in order to reduce the burden on your body and thus needless barriers to your soul and your god. I've experienced the paring down process that I now preach. As I continue to make my way through that journey, I'm constantly amazed at how much richer my trips into the woods have become. Trust me. If you'll carry less, you'll discover more.
Happy Holidays to all of you, my hiking soulmates.
- BookBurner
We go the woods to experience spirit, a god, our inner-selves, something we can't touch but nonetheless feel very surely inside our hearts. "It" is there when we reach the top of a mountain, when we happen upon an overlook, when we cross paths with a deer, or when we share a campfire with fellow hikers. We all like hiking for a lot of different reasons. But I believe we all love hiking because it touches our souls in some profound way at these precious moments.
When we carry too much equipment into the woods though, we create barriers to this spiritual enlightenment. The moments of personal fullfilment simply become fewer and farther apart in direct proportion to the size of the gear monkey we're carrying on your back. It's impossible to feel the full depths of peace and serenity and gratefulness and wonder when your heart is screaming away at 200 beats a minute after a short climb. It's impossible to feel connected to the ground you're sleeping on when you've zipped yourself inside layers and layers of nylon and mosquito netting. It's impossible to discover the kindness of strangers when they don't heed your thumb because your pack is too big for their trunk. It's impossible to notice god's creatures closing in on you to investigate the odd sight of a man stirring noodles when jet-fueled stoves are flaming away. Our choice to carry heavy, cumbersome, overly-engineered gear begins to keep us, figuratively and literally, from the very things that we went to the woods in search of in the first place.
In 2007, carry enough equipment to be safe. Carry enough equipment to be comfortable. But experiment on each new trip and discover for yourself where that threshold ends. Lightweight hiking is not about carrying less gear just for the sake of hiking more miles. It's not about carrying less gear so you can tell more tales about the ounces you've shed and all the toothbrush handles you've chopped to get there. Lightweight hiking is about reducing weight and "things" in order to reduce the burden on your body and thus needless barriers to your soul and your god. I've experienced the paring down process that I now preach. As I continue to make my way through that journey, I'm constantly amazed at how much richer my trips into the woods have become. Trust me. If you'll carry less, you'll discover more.
Happy Holidays to all of you, my hiking soulmates.
- BookBurner