Halcyon Days
I used to hate camping.
When I was young, my family and I would camp quite a bit, actually. National Park trips and similar vacations into nature were affordable. And I really enjoyed the novelty and sense of adventure, when I was younger.
But some time along the way, probably not coincidently in my teen years, I didn’t want to be away from friends and the soccer team and my other interests.
And even when I got into backcountry activities as an adult - mostly mountaineering and climbing - camping was something that I had to do to make my other objectives attainable, not something I sought out for its own benefits.
But somewhere along the way, camping again became something that I enjoyed for its own sake.
And since becoming a father, my joy of camping has only grown. Like most parents these days, I’m busy. Heck, I was busy before COVID. Now, I’m rather ridiculously busy… between being a husband, a father, a business owner, a school teacher… the list goes on and on.
I guess I’ve come to appreciate slowing down. I don’t always have to be on the way to something: some summit, some next rung on the career ladder, some next camp on a backpacking trip.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a big believer in goals and of finding fulfillment in striving for things rather than fixating on destinations. But, I’ve also come to appreciate the balance that is needed to keep life, and joy, and love sustainable.
Camping is one of the things I do with the family to have an immediate destination and not need to be off to the next location… to enjoy the peace of sitting still, with limited to-do items… to have moments that feel long and drawn out - making “the moment” something easy to fall into and enjoy - rather than having transient moments that you need to catch as they go by.
So, when the family all needed to create some space for each other, we went to where there is, literally, space: the outdoors.
We didn’t go too far from our last big camping trip to Lost Creek Wilderness. We were in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area, this time. It’s easy to get to. You don’t have to hike too far. It has interesting rock formations - which the kids love. And while it’s crowded in season, in the winter it’s quiet and sparsely visited. It was perfect for a short weekend getaway: not too committing but also out there enough to generate some sense of distance and release from the day-to-day struggles of COVID life.
Not everything needs to be an epic trip. Sure, those are a blast to do and fun to talk about afterwards. But they also take a lot of planning and preparation. And what we all needed at this time was something we could just go do. We needed to break the pattern of work and online school… not end up with yet another project.
Those big project trips bring me a lot of fulfillment through the sense of shared adventure and accomplishment. But these little trips bring fulfillment through an easiness of manner, because that manner permeates into the relationships between me and all the participants - in this case, my boys. And who wouldn’t want to be at ease with their kids? Especially right now when it can be so hard to do so?