Reminiscing

As I was cleaning out my overloaded cloud files (cloud pollution of the internet sort)  I came across several essays from past trips, and thought I would share them with you over the next few weeks.  My rants are obvious, but, so, I hope is the fun!


Consider this first batch Camping Etiquette 101 !!!!

HE SAID WHAT?

“DUDE, this is some good weed now!”  

Even though carpets of leaves and canopies of trees make for great sound deadeners, they don’t absorb it all.  I’m not sure if it’s the lure of the wilderness that makes people want to talk loudly about personal topics, or if it’s only people with no social filters who go camping.  Obviously, I am excluding myself from that category.  I have heard discussion of your marijuana use, your issues with your spouse and his performance, your wife’s inability to “cook or get you cookin’,” and a multitude of discussions regarding bodily functions.  Save the personal stuff for your therapist’s couch or your best friend’s kitchen, and for heaven’s sake keep your voice down!

The Patagonia Pledge

I just finished reading Yvon Chouinard's book "Let My People Go Surfing." 

I am bowled over. I am humbled.  I am ashamed.  I am inspired.

                                The newer version hit home.  It hit deeper.  It resonated more. 

I'm not sure to what I should attribute this shake-up.  Is it that I'm older and my environmental concern has become more pronounced?  Is it because as I've traveled over the years and seen the degradation of nature first hand that I can grasp the reality better?  Is it because Chouinard has become more persuasive?  Perhaps all of the above.

The premise of the book is that every individual and every business has an obligation to protect the planet for future generations.  We can all grasp that lofty ideal with a loud 'hurrah!"

What we don't- and won't- grasp with zeal are the personal efforts it takes to make that happen.

Are you willing to shuck that consumer mentality?  To shop for your clothes in thrift stores?  To mend the ones you presently own?  To make do, use up, or do without?  We THINK we are.  We THINK we do...  but it's hard to shed what has become habit- to buy and buy again.

I did it as well.  I love Patagonia products.  I have a closet full of them. Part way through the book I thought to myself  "I want to order a catalog."

Sound of brakes screeching and crunching metal....

Why would I need a catalog?  BECAUSE I WAS SO ENAMORED OF PATAGONIA I WANTED TO SHOW MY SUPPORT BY BUYING MORE STUFF!!!!!!!  What.  the.  hell.

Which is exactly what Chouinard is advocating against.  (And maybe Patagonia pulling their catalog is one step in the right direction to curing our shopping addiction, but I think it's going to take more than that).

Instead, I've made what I'm calling the "Patagonia Pledge": to not buy another piece of new clothing for the rest of my life. Sound drastic?  Only if you MUST follow the latest fashion.  My closets are full of excellent quality outdoor clothing, (and just enough other clothing to make me office appropriate-barely).  They are good quality for which I paid a good price, because I know they will last a good long time.  But I have also been guilty of buying the same Icebreaker shirt in three colors.  Because I liked it.

I've asked my family to help me be accountable on this.  When I see that adorable soft fuzzy fleece sweater, they have been instructed to use whatever force necessary to remind me of my pledge.

There are many other avenues to take to make the planet healthier. I hope to pursue more than just the clothing aspect.  But it's a start.

I'm also going to encourage my boss to read the book.  The idea of flex time scheduled to outdoor activities is THE WAY TO GO!!!  Boss- are you listening?!?!?!

Read it.  Think about it.   #Patagonia  #LetMyPeopleGoSurfing

Happy Trails...

Saor

Where did all the children go?

The sad thing about children is that they grow up and move away.  The cool thing about children growing up and moving away is that sometimes they move to awesome places like Virginia, next door to the Shenandoah National Park.

My oldest spawn up and did that, and bought an amazing house in the woods.  I want to live in the loft.  I think she's only going to let me visit...

But visit I will!  And often!  Just returned from a visit, as a matter of fact.

This is just one of the trails we hiked.  It's on the grounds of Mount Vernon.  History and outdoors are a winning package in my book!

We also hiked in the Shenandoah Valley. So much verdant!  So unlike Oklahoma! 

Wonder how long I could stay in the loft before she noticed...??

Happy Trails!

~Saor

Run in the Forest, Run!!

What happens when you combine a virtual 5K fundraiser, the National Park Service, and one chick who hasn't run anywhere except to the pizza parlor in over a year? 

You get an awesome nationwide coalition that at last count had raised over $70,000 for the National Parks. And one really hot, sweaty, sore wanna-be runner.  Runner/walker/hobbler. Oklahoma in August is NOT the place to run.  Even for fun.  Even for a good cause.  Next year I'm going virtually to Colorado. Maybe the Arctic.

*NOTE*   VIRTUAL RACE does not mean that I imagined myself running it.  It just means you can run it anywhere you choose, even on the treadmill in your living room, rather than at a designated race location.

This was my second 5K for the weekend. My friend Juli and I participated in a local race fundraiser for one of the social services organizations in our town, hosted by Hitachi Corporation.  And darn if we didn't look cute doing it! 

Just for the record, we were in the middle of the pack, we finished at a run, and my time for this first race was significantly better than the second.

Starting at 9 am Friday until 9 am Sunday morning, I asked my body to run/bike/hike/paddle/camp a total of 12 kilometers (since the route I picked in the National Recreation Area was 7.2k), knock out a 5 mile bike ride and an hour of paddling.  That was one fast paced, all-outside 48 hours.  I'm pretty sure my muscles are plotting their revenge. 

So Happy Birthday, National Park Service!  I hope I'm as fabulous as you are when I'm 100!

And to all those folks who ran with me or past me- Happy Trails!

Night Night

There's few things nicer than snow capped mountains or full moons, unless it's those things combined.  Peace.  Chill.   Reflect.  Bigness.  Greatness. 

Go take a night hike, then...

Turn off that headlamp.

Turn off that music.

Throw back that tent door.

And just revel in the wonder of it all...

Easing the pain

Happy Heat Stroke!  Don't you just love summer in Oklahoma?!  NOT. 

I think I'm turning into adipose.

I'd love a freak snow storm right now.

I' love to be in the mountains.

I'd love to find something besides the weather to talk about.





What do you love?  There's two things I love right now, neither one related to summer.

1. #MisadventureMg  Misadventures Magazine.  COOOOL   COOOOOL  COOOOL new magazine.
I stumbled onto their online version a couple of months ago, and I've been panting with anticipation for the summer print issue to come out.  Well, anticipating anyway.  The panting probably has more to do with the Oklahoma heat.





2. #Chawel   Um- ok- it's a towel, it's a blanket,  it's a bag liner..  it's  going to be an awesome addition to my outdoor gear!  I won one in a contest, and this makes me very, very happy.

I take great pains to keep politics and negativity out of my blog, but I gotta tell you, this year's politics are giving me a pain.  I need relief.  Summer reading in the hammock and looking forward to using my new Chawel is just the medicine I need.

Happy Trails, and may all your adventures be cool ones!

Getting high in Colorado

I'm pretty sure my click throughs for this blog just quadrupled because of the post title...  Calm down, it's not what you think.

I've only recently returned from a week in Colorado, and I'm still living off the high.  NO. Not that kind of high...

I think the mountain air and elevation give me more energy and motivation. Yet another reason to move to Colorado!

And the people you meet on the trails! Characters and coots. The last time I hiked in RMNP I met a pair of elderly locals who hike some part of the trail EVERY DAY. I didn't meet them together, however.  He was hoofing it waaaay in front of her. She sat for a moment to catch her breath and told me with a twinkle in her eye: "We may not walk at the same pace, but we always end up at the same place."



And trail runners! Those are crazy people who RUN up the trail. On purpose. When nothing's chasing them. I can turn into a trail runner, if it's downhill to a pizza parlor...



I noticed a difference in the hikers at elevation from those down below. On the easy walking paths were lots of small children, families, couples, and almost without fail at least one person in the group looked angry/hot/tired/miserable/didn't want to come on this vacation.



Compare that to the folks you meet off the beaten path at 11,000 feet. Cordial, happy, love to share stories of the park.  You have to want to be there to climb to 11,000 feet.



I'm going to live off the air, and elevation, and memories of waterfalls and wildlife for as long as possible. Then, when my thinking starts to get fuzzy, it'll be time to go back for another 'hit'.

Of this.

Stop it- I know what you were thinking. Nature is all the high I need, thanks.

Happy Trails!

Why Why WHY am I posting a picture of my tent in snow when it's 105 degrees outside?  Because it's 105 degrees outside!!!  DUH!



There are many good things about Oklahoma, but summer isn't one of them. I had my first attempt at serious winter camping over New Year's this year.  Serious means it was 7 degrees.  SEVEN.  That's a single digit!!!



There was snow. Three feet of it.  Not a little dusting. Real snow. I've always considered myself a little bit of a weather weenie when it came to winter camping- but I've decided I'm more of a summer sucker.  I have good cold weather gear, and you can only shed so much in the heat of summer.  Makes sense to go when it's cold!



My super cool camping buddy dug out and trampled the tent spot.

Digression -there ARE criteria for good hiking/camping buddies:

• can they carry your pack if you collapse?  Bonus points if they can carry you AND your pack! 
• can they navigate?
• can they hang a bear bag?
• are they large enough to sustain you for several days if you are the sole survivor in a snow packed mountain pass?

These are important things to know. I conduct interviews and trial runs before I commit to serious camping with anyone! Except for the sole survivor part...

Back to the winter camping--- my buddy got the tent spot ready, we set up in the dark (we like the challenge) and threw in the Western Mountaineering bags, water bottles and puffy jackets. Kudos to #WesternMountaineering, #Hydroflask and #Patagonia!  We also buried a 2-gallon water container in the snow.

Wonder of wonders- I didn't freeze and neither did our water.  We had breakfast in a crisp, cool, clean, bright and totally unoccupied except for ourselves campground.  Heaven.

I am now a superfan of winter camping,  Summer heat, be gone!

Happy Trails!

Happy Memoral Weekend!

Here's hoping your plans include some delightful food, fun people, sweet views, comfortable rest, and great memories! 

#Chooseyourview

We won't be camping, because this holiday weekend is always a madhouse at the campgrounds, and we won't make it to some isolated forest this time.  But we'll think about camping.  Cause that's how we roll, lol.

We're celebrating some family milestones this weekend.  The youngest spawn graduated high school and is excitedly anticipating  college  sleeping in.  I'm excitedly anticipating paying for college having someone else do dishes for the summer.

More later,  and whatever you do, #ChooseYourView !!

Hiking epic-ness

If you refer to the previous post, it says we were leaving for an epic adventure with a hike included.  I was soooo wrong.  It WAS an epic adventure.  It was an epicurean dream.  And it had epic hikes included.

Ireland was a bucket list trip for Sully and me.  Now that it's in the bucket, and we've recovered from  the jet lag, the missed flights, and the stuff stolen from our house while we were gone (story for a different day)- I can tell you all about it.

We did a lot of walking in Ireland, primarily because it's terrifying to drive in that country.  It might be slightly less terrifying to swim with hungry sharks while carrying a chum bag.

But everyone walks or bikes there, so we were right at home.  We needed to keep our strength up, so we had little snacks along the way...

We walked somewhere every day.  Every day we walked somewhere. Some days we walked a looooong ways, like the day we did the trail along Cliffs of Moher, to Hag's Head.  10 kilometers.  Sounds more impressive than 7 miles....

I was sun burned, wind chapped, mud slogged, and totally, totally in love with the wildness, the booming of the waves against the cliffs, and the whole intensity of the walk. I didn't want it to end.

Ireland reminded me in some ways of Oklahoma.  Pastures with trees along the creeks. Cows in the pastures.  A lot the same. Except for the random castles in the Irish pastures. And if you ignore that Oklahoma pastures are kinda gray brown, and Ireland's are a vivid, eye-shattering green. Other than that, a lot the same.

We logged a couple of big hikes for our 52 week hike challenge.  If you haven't checked out #52hikechallenge2016 on Facebook and Instagram, do that now.  Right now.

And then come back to find out more about our Leprechaun Life!

Happy Trails!  ....Saor

Leap, leaping, leapt

In my previous life, which included a previous blog, there was a jump moment.  The economy crashed, jobs, savings, and investments disappeared like smoke, and there came that call to jump - a time and place where you must decide which way to go.



The problem with forks in the road is that they can lead to knives or they can lead to spoons. But I jumped, not knowing what kind of silverware lay ahead, and from that moment emerged a year of adventures, a successful blog that had its own life for a few years, and many memories (some good, some I'd like to forget).



Jump moments are a part of life; sometimes they're hops-over-the-crack-in-the sidewalk, and sometimes they're more like get-a-running-start-and-hope-you-can-grab-the-edge-of-the- crevasse...



Life threw us a jump moment this weekend, and we're backing up for that running start. I've been told that resilient, adaptable people do well in the outdoors. I've decided that in actuality it's that people who live the outdoor life are better at adapting.  The unexpected avalanche, the surprise wildlife, the unanticipated newbie with injuries- the outdoorsperson encounters all kinds of jump/leap/hop/run moments and the experience of living in nature helps us cope with the unexpected.

Sully and I have had our share of adaptability training in the outdoors. We'll survive another jump moment, not knowing what lies ahead, and await the adventures to come...

Winter DULLdrums

Every year about this time I start feeling sluggish.  As in, like a slug. The slow moving, creepy, all- skin-and-no-shell kind of slug.  yuck. Only two things can save me from impaling myself on an icicle at this point:

1. Looking at photos from last year's adventures
2. Planning this year's adventures
3. There are no icicles in Oklahoma right now.  Make that three things.

To avert the sluggy aura, I uploaded all the recent adventure pics. 2015 ended on an outdoor note, including a Christmas paddle with Spawn #1.

I've also tackled the 52 Hike Challenge (check them out on Facebook).  Nothing like feeling you have to keep up with a global community to keep you going outside!!!  Here's a link to hike #3

FB Hike 3

Ahhh... I feel less slimy already!!   

Happy Trails!