Backpacking:
- Carry everything you need on your back.
- Walk miles over tough terrain.
- Breathe oxygen deficient air.
- Sleep on the ground.
- Crap in a hole.
- Eat just-add-water food.
- Bugs.
- Altitude sickness.
Who needs this? Backpacking. Why?
This question is a classic example of those that elicit the remark, "If you have to ask the question, you probably won't understand the answer." Never deterred by short odds, let me take a brief stab at it.
Perhaps the best and briefest answer is in this photograph. You cannot see sights like this at roadside rest stops. And if you could, it would not include what this photograph cannot fully convey. Use your imagination to expand this rectangle into a sphere that fully envelopes you. The utter stillness, the complete silence, the warm light, the immense reach of space, completely surrounded me on this morning. I was well off the trail, far away from anyone.
The magic and the mystery that this photo implies were palpable.
Add to this scene the sense of nervous vulnerability one feels in the wilderness. Nasty weather, equipment failures, and injuries can be real, even life-threatening, problems. When you face such a problem, what are you going to do about it? In today's world, we confront few elemental situations where our resourcefulness profoundly matters. Here, a phone call or a flip of the thermostat won't cure your discomfort. You have to find a way with what's on your back.
I truly believe that a moment like this in the wilderness - truly alone, where one's hold on basic comforts is so tenuous - changes a person in a profound way. Such moments expand your sense of self and awaken in you the magic of the world.
Backpacking? That's why. There's a price, but the dividend is priceless.
