Who's Wood These Are, I Think I Know. Or, Where I go when I go.

I've said before that I just feel better when I'm in the woods. That's so much more true than you could ever imagine! The bestie and I have taken to hiking. We started this about two years ago, and a hobby grew into an obsession. Our goal is to one day hike The West Coast Trail in Canada. It's a lofty goal, to be sure, but we want what we want. This is a forty seven mile hike along the coast of Canada, that takes seven to nine days to complete. We're talking ladders, rope bridges, zip lines, mud, sand, rocks, rain, cold and woods, woods, woods. It's not for the light of heart. For now, however, we are taking our weekend forays at Brazos Bend State Park, outside of Needville Texas. 

Every Friday (almost) Elizabeth and I put on our packs and proceed to abuse the hell out of our bodies. Last week was our dumbest move yet. It had been months since we went on a hike, and I guess we just missed it a little too much. That day we hiked seventeen miles. Think about that for a sec. Say you've been planted on your butt for a month and suddenly, one day, you have the opportunity to lose yourself in the woods. And, say you LOVE losing yourself in the woods. Your body is totally unprepared. You're brain shuts off, completely. The phrase of the day becomes "It's just a short trail. We can clear it in no time."  After a while you begin to realize that "It's just a short trail" has become five short trials. Put those together and you have one really long trail. But, hey, you're still good for "just one more". You're an idiot. Like me! By the time we finished our hike we were trudging to the car. I had a hard time finding a bird poo free place on the trunk to hug, but I finally got my "Oh, CAR! How I love you!"s in. We were so worn out that we were flat out rum dumb stupid with laughter. It was great! The next day wasn't so great. I think we would have won a baby giraffe imitation contest, easy. Oddly enough, it only took the next day for us to recover. By Sunday we were fine. Weird. By the next Friday we were stupid again. Just not as stupid. Our moderator, Athena, had a sick one at home and couldn't join us. She won't know until she reads this that we were so planning on using her! If she had been with us, we would have had a time limit. Which means a mileage limit. Without a strict limit, we will keep pushing on. It's unavoidable. So, ten mile hike, here we come! Maybe next time we'll be able to take a brain with us.

Now, this is the weird part. It's what we do on the trails. We don't just walk. Of course we talk. Not a lot, though. There are long periods of nothing but foot crunching between us. Not because we have nothing to say, and not because we are too winded to talk. It's because we are trying to see how quiet we can be when we walk. See, we imagine apocalypses scenarios.Our hikes have become survival planning. We talk about where we would go, how we would get there, what supplies we would need, who would be rescued to come with us and how, and on and on. Not just the usual zombie apocalypse, either. We are planning for ANY AND ALL end of civilization scenarios. Are we weird? Hell yes, we are. But, we're gonna be prepared. Will you?

I absolutely love being in the woods. I can just go away from myself. My mind can wonder to the serene places without being interrupted by...well, by anything. It doesn't matter if I'm coughing and sneezing, limping, aching or nauseated. The peace and beauty take me away from the physical. The crunch of leaves under my feet, the sound of the birds singing in the trees, the animals running through the forest and the wind in the trees are like a lullaby. I don't care about the stresses of money, drama or illness. It's the one place that I can push myself beyond my limits without even realizing that I'm doing it. That's both good and bad. We all need a place to disappear, but, it's probably better to disappear in moderation. I don't seem to know the meaning of the word!

My pack

We have our day hiking packs, and we have our list of things that we have with us on a regular basis. Of course water tops the list. We use camel backs in our packs. I love my camel back, though I have yet to learn how to drink from it without slurping like a pig. It's a disgusting sound that I can't help but laugh at. I'll get the hang of it one day. We have our knives or multitools, snacks, bandages and moleskin, first aid kits, rope or twine, carbiners, compasses, whistles, and media supplies. I have to have my media supplies. On hikes, anyway. I wont be so worried about my camera if the world is ending. But, on a hike, I want my pics! For these day hikes, we are keeping our packs relatively light, though they are heavier than they need to be. I suppose it's our way of training for the real deal. When we get out on a hike like TWC, we'll need to keep our packs at no more than thirty pounds. Of course, we won't be using these particular packs. These are short (our version of short) hike packs. For the week long "you take out what you bring in" hikes we'll have internal framed packs with ultra light gear. It's the only way we'll survive. You have to have a week supply of food, your clothing and regular hike supplies, water and purifiers, camp gear and tent, all on your back. Ultra light is the only way to go. If we think we looked like baby giraffes after that seventeen mile hike, I can just imagine what we'd look like after a week with heavy packs! I'm picturing casts with traction involved.

Elizabeth gator spotting

Honestly, I can't wait for a major hike. I want to be so far removed from all other people that seeing one is like rare bird spotting. I want to escape the drama and pain of daily life, just for a while. So, I go to the woods. Once a week, we get to pretend like there are no other people left, except for us. We get to enjoy nature, the way it was meant to be enjoyed. We can walk in silence and let the Earth sing us into a trance. We can be at peace. That's the most important thing of all. Peace.

Where do you go, when you go away from yourself?