i want to be a person that backpacks, a person that camps in a tent in the woods surrounded by nature. but i can't exist more than 24 hours without a hot shower. my anxiety tells me that a situation where my only responsibility is to stay alive is...too high stakes. and i hate bugs. so i live vicariously through the photos and stories of people like you! and jump on any chance to be in nature where at the end of the day i get that hot shower and a proper bed :-)
Beautiful post, beautiful flowers! The “why” of the backpacking trip - I feel your explanation in my bones! Whenever I return , it’s frankly a shock to look around at all “the stuff”. It’s also calming in the same breath, like what else do we really need?
Fellow Oregonian with similar feelings of guilt about living a lavish life of consumer convenience and wanting to throw it all away to live in the woods but taking few steps to achieve it, reporting for solidarity duty!
There has actually been research done on the shift in brainwaves that happens after several days of backpacking. I don’t remember the specifics at all except that i feel “normal” once those brainwaves have settled in, and i never feel “normal” otherwise. Also the simple satisfaction of a destination, an agenda only of feeding ones body and soul and time to feel big and small, strong and feeble, human and ethereal. It’s my primary answer to how to be a happy person and I’m so grateful to have that answer in my pocket.
Those flowers! Wow! Backpacking is always worth it. 😊 Is that a baguette strapped to your pack? Love that - we always take wine and olives, but definitely grabbing a baguette next time!
This one really got me. It's so hard here (earth). You have to work so hard to make some space for peace and once you do and you get to be really present, with other women, it's the most healing. We also live in PNW on some land, we have been building stuff with cob (an oven, a little shed, soon a little cottage). It has really helped combat consumerism/climate dread. I think: We make pizza in an oven we build for zero dollars made from earth from this land. I can teach people and I can do more stuff like this. Love to you and thank for you for your work.
I used to hike and camp with my friends every summer in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. Now, as I prepare for my 60th birthday, it's been a decade since I camped in the wilderness. Your travelogue made me pine for those days.
Thank you for a beautiful, wonderful essay! I loved every bit of it. As a former backpacker, I think I get it when you talk about how difficult it is to prepare for a trip. It's DIFFICULT. I used to think it was an obsessive-compulsive's dream. The lists! The laying everything out! The fitting everything in! It just doesn't hold the same charm anymore, and the up, up, up is really hard. Now, as a day-hiker, I truly dread it, sometimes. But it's all unbelievably worth it, for so many reasons. Thank you, again.
I like that gorped-out green cap
i want to be a person that backpacks, a person that camps in a tent in the woods surrounded by nature. but i can't exist more than 24 hours without a hot shower. my anxiety tells me that a situation where my only responsibility is to stay alive is...too high stakes. and i hate bugs. so i live vicariously through the photos and stories of people like you! and jump on any chance to be in nature where at the end of the day i get that hot shower and a proper bed :-)
This is the kind of post i love knowing my money goes towards. Thank you Carson!
Beautiful post, beautiful flowers! The “why” of the backpacking trip - I feel your explanation in my bones! Whenever I return , it’s frankly a shock to look around at all “the stuff”. It’s also calming in the same breath, like what else do we really need?
How wonderful to live vicariously through your trip. Loved all the natural flowers. Just lovely. ❤️
Is that mystery plant Solomon’s Seal? Thank you for the beautiful travelogue!
Fellow Oregonian with similar feelings of guilt about living a lavish life of consumer convenience and wanting to throw it all away to live in the woods but taking few steps to achieve it, reporting for solidarity duty!
There has actually been research done on the shift in brainwaves that happens after several days of backpacking. I don’t remember the specifics at all except that i feel “normal” once those brainwaves have settled in, and i never feel “normal” otherwise. Also the simple satisfaction of a destination, an agenda only of feeding ones body and soul and time to feel big and small, strong and feeble, human and ethereal. It’s my primary answer to how to be a happy person and I’m so grateful to have that answer in my pocket.
Those flowers! Wow! Backpacking is always worth it. 😊 Is that a baguette strapped to your pack? Love that - we always take wine and olives, but definitely grabbing a baguette next time!
This one really got me. It's so hard here (earth). You have to work so hard to make some space for peace and once you do and you get to be really present, with other women, it's the most healing. We also live in PNW on some land, we have been building stuff with cob (an oven, a little shed, soon a little cottage). It has really helped combat consumerism/climate dread. I think: We make pizza in an oven we build for zero dollars made from earth from this land. I can teach people and I can do more stuff like this. Love to you and thank for you for your work.
I used to hike and camp with my friends every summer in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. Now, as I prepare for my 60th birthday, it's been a decade since I camped in the wilderness. Your travelogue made me pine for those days.
That looks heavenly. You're a genius. Don't bail next year. Do you need some asters or Douglas Spirea or goldenrod?
Try the Seek app for identifying flowers! It’s like Shazam for nature🌼
Thank you for a beautiful, wonderful essay! I loved every bit of it. As a former backpacker, I think I get it when you talk about how difficult it is to prepare for a trip. It's DIFFICULT. I used to think it was an obsessive-compulsive's dream. The lists! The laying everything out! The fitting everything in! It just doesn't hold the same charm anymore, and the up, up, up is really hard. Now, as a day-hiker, I truly dread it, sometimes. But it's all unbelievably worth it, for so many reasons. Thank you, again.
I was glad to wake up and read this today. I will spend some quality time outside and experience it fully.
Wow I've never seen anything so beautiful