Quotes from a call-in show, NPR:
‘Hiking is one of those things people
either love or don’t get at all...what do you find, out there, on the
trail? That really gets to you...?’
‘John, I found a life. After strenuous walk was rewarded by the most
incredible sunset of my life. You have
to do the work, to get the view. It was
an epiphany for me. I thought, if I can
see this now, I want to see this all the time.
And I hit the trail. And my life
has been one of travel – given me the most amazing sights’.
Boy this guy’s really hitting the ‘day of
hard packing.’ (ie, carrying 25 lbs of necessities on your back for 15-20
miles).
Why? Wonder I. Why not just a bag of nuts & water?
Caller:
‘I get back to primitive me.’
(Speaking of how it changes your perspective). I go to the woods for smoothing – I get it
rough in the city.’
‘...what back-packing is all about – make a
distinction between the few-day trip and the one-day one’
(this guy is really about ranking! Weight lifted – whaddaya bench, man?
Join the fucking army, dude).
(this guy is really about ranking! Weight lifted – whaddaya bench, man?
Join the fucking army, dude).
Caller:
I don’t consider it work, I consider it life. How do I make my water drinkable? How do I prepare my food? That’s not work. It’s life.
(Myself:
Amen, dude).
‘It feels healthy. It feels good when you do it. Put on that pack and climb up that mountain.’
OKAY, MISTER, HOW BOUT WE DON’T KEEP
GLORIFYING THE FUCKING PACK? And why we always gotta go UP? (Note:
first time I heard term PUDs – pointless ups and downs. Ha!
That, apparently – as my girl told me – is what the Appalachian trail,
no matter how you say it, is all about; or, as she put it, ‘what the Appalachian
trail is.’ Tell it like it is, Strayed!)
I
don’t think I could stand to play at survival.
To have it made in town, but deliberately wade out into rough terrain
(or jump out of planes), just to ‘see’ if you get back/don’t die – isn’t that
just playing Russian roulette with nature?
And,
sadly, I don’t mean animals – I wish I did.
Now THAT would be a noble way to die!
Just please make it fast. Reminds
me of that idea Shirl MacL told about in her Over It book – how the
Masai think (or was it the white hunters, who had heard?) that when the
predatory animal strikes, the prey’s soul separates, and never feels the pain
of its body’s death. A beautiful thought. And why might it not be possible? Pain is pointless if death is
inevitable. It literally makes no sense
– and apparently, pain seems to have been created to make deep sense. To point to the places you need to fix: THIS IS WHERE IT HURTS. But there is no point to pain if the body is
definitively going to die anyway. And I
do believe in my body’s – in the body’s, in matter’s -- innate
intelligence. After all, that’s where we
reside, right?
I
wonder what people would be like if we weren’t self-conscious. There’s an avenue that might be fun to
write...so difficult to imagine. I guess
for me, it’s the complications that entrance.
(‘I only like it when it rains/I only like it when it’s
com-pli-ca-ted’) Also quote ‘Are you
strong enough/to be my man’...and ‘Come a-way with me...’ Whatever evokes those
women’s voices. Their soul, how intimate
they allow themselves, are brave enough, for me.
But back to caller!
‘I try to inspire them with my stories
about the trail...encourage people to get off the couch, tell them where to go,
make it easy for them...go to the Grand Canyon.
Buy that cheap flight to – etc etc.
Or just go climbing – go up for a sunrise, or a sunset...’
Caller:
‘you have to observe constantly.
Which you don’t have to do in town.’ (OKAY WAIT. Not my personal experience – other way
around, I think).
‘Is there a bear behind that rock?’ (OKAY if you aren’t seeing the fucking bear
behind the goddamn rock while your eyes are open, your problems are a lot
bigger than mine!)
Peter C --?
Classic Hikes of North America.
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