Last week I busted out of the house. To celebrate the start of summer we got creative and found a cabin 10,500 feet up in the mountains that no one had stayed in for the last couple of months because of Covid-19. That night I was up late looking out the window at the moonlight on the lake and drinking a glass of port.
I know this sounds a bit pretentious but hey we needed to celebrate the end of involuntary home schooling in some way and and port was on sale (you know I love the value y’all). The last time I had port was when a friend brought it on a backpacking trip over a decade ago so it seemed kind of fitting. It was a warm clear night but the tallest mountain in Colorado was just beyond the lake still capped with snow. It was one of those really inspiring sort of views.
An Old Book
My son came into the room crying and unable to sleep so I offered to read to him. I glanced over the shelf of books in this little log cabin and grabbed one called something like, “100 of The World’s Greatest Poems.” Wordsworth, Longfellow, Whitman, these were your great grandfather’s poets. After reading a few, I asked him what he thought of the poems and my son said, “they kind of all have a lot of nature in them and they have good morals.” After I read a few more and he fell asleep it got me thinking about nature and about writing this article.
When those old poets were writing about nature it was a metaphor that every reader understood. It was also a common reference that everyone knew. When Romeo hears a lark and Juliet tries to tell him that it is only the nightingale, this works because every reader in Shakespeare’s day knew what a lark sounds like and that larks only sing at daylight. But today, how many of us even know what a lark looks like? How much of that old poetry can we really understand?
The Woods
I grew up in the sticks and spent a lot of my childhood playing in the woods. When I was a kid, “The Blair Witch Project,” came out and I remember watching it and not being scared at all but just kind of wanting to go camping. I also remember hearing Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the first time as a kid and wondering why there is a loon call right in the middle of what is supposed to be a scary song? This has me thinking about fear of the unknown and exploring the natural world.
The Best Social Distance Adventure
Right now, social distancing means that we can’t do some of the things that we love. And no this isn’t the fault of democrats or republicans (wow the times in which we live), it’s the fault of a virus that we are all trying to navigate together. However, if you are already distancing why not go for ultimate social distancing? Getting out there hiking and camping is free and it is downright awesome! It’s great for kids and even better for adults. Unplugging that damn phone actually feels wonderful even for a few hours. I want to offer that exploring the natural world right now may be the best thing you can do for your mental and physical health. It is also perhaps the best return on investment because the cost to camp is free.
One Week of Adventure
I don’t usually take many photos when I go on these little adventures but for the sake of this article I got a bit camera happy this week and even busted out a drone that I have been trying to learn how to use. I hope to inspire you to get outside while sharing pictures, video, and stories from my own little adventures over the last week. If I had this much fun with almost no planning, imagine what awaits with a bit of initiative and sense of adventure:
Gateway To Adventure
Just west of where I live by Denver is a tunnel. It can be 70 degrees and sunny on one side but when you come out the other end it can be a blizzard. The Eisenhower tunnel is over a mile and a half long, bores right through a mountain and runs right under the American continental divide. Every time I emerge out the Western end it is on the way to some adventure. I’m skiing, fishing camping, or generally up to something awesome.
When school ended here, we celebrated with a weird social distance event where everyone decorated their cars and honked a lot. And also icecream!
Then we promptly headed for the Eisenhower tunnel and into the mountains just outside of Leadville, which I learned is the highest town in the USA at just over 10,000 feet. We hiked a section of the Colorado Trail, explored the Twin Lakes, and ran around the hills.
Total number of people within 6 feet of us the whole time = zero. Only thing planned in advance, finding the cabin and bringing a cooler full of food.
Camping For The First Time?!
I am always baffled when someone tells me that they’ve never been camping before or that they don’t like the outdoors. What have you been living under a rock or something? Clearly not because that would be considered camping 🙂 According to the data, camping is growing in popularity but almost 40% of U.S. households don’t camp ever. Of those that do camp occasionally, 40% are staying in an RV or a cabin. Kind of the great outdoors while being semi-indoors. I just mentioned the cabin option that we did outside of Leadville. In the same week I also tried out our brand new tent since my 20 year old Coleman finally bit the dust during last summer’s road trip. I owned that tent for many faithful years while everyone laughed at me for bringing such a cheap tent.
Outdoor Adventure, Planning Optional
Since wrapping up my college professor experiment a couple of weeks ago, I am back to total freedom during the week. As Wednesday rolled around I asked myself what was stopping me from throwing the boys in the car with a tent and finally catching a few trout this spring? Answer: nothing, let’s throw some gear in the car! We could do some impromptu adventuring and be back by Friday before Mrs Maze wrapped work for the week.
Fun With a Side of Fishing
I felt a bit weird taking my boys to a gold medal trout stream with spin reels in hand. But when a grown man walked out of the woods with a spin caster wearing one of those bright orange life preservers around his neck I felt quite a but cooler. Before I could take my first cast in this world class water, my 9 year old already had the world’s largest tangled backlash and my 11 year old had snagged his streamer on a rock.
It all worked out though because after a picnic and sitting motionless on the shore for about 15 minutes untangling, I saw a few fish move in and even found a few minutes to catch some. Insider tip to keeping kids happy in this situation is that they are doing an awesome job no matter what happens and I have a pocket full of gummy bears at all times just in case.
Camping For Free
Since campgrounds were unexpectedly closed due to Covid-19, we headed for BLM land. These public lands are totally free to camp on and open to anyone with a bit of grit. We found an amazing camp site on the side of a mountain. Total number of people that drove by on the forest service road the whole 2 days we camped = zero.
After setting up camp, we had a round of hard won root beers and dinner from the MSR stove. A fire ban was in effect, but we used the heat of the sun to make some tasty dashboard s’mores:
It’s kind of amazing how much kids love camping. My 9 year old hiked to the top of the nearest mini peak and back in his pajamas and we sat watching the sunset and playing the true or false story game until the stars were thick.
Hike To A Waterfall
The following morning brought more fishing and a hike up to a waterfall on a trail that we had found while looking for a place to camp the night before. My 9 year old took a huge muddy fall coating his whole right side but we still had a blast hiking up the waterfall and taking turns flying the drone to get footage for that video above.
My Favorite Social Distance Adventure
To me it is amazing how much natural awesomeness is all around. When I lived in Minnesota, I was constantly seeking out lakes and camping down logging roads. In Washington, I explored rocky beaches and camped in lush green forests. In Kansas I have ventured along the Oregon trail and explored hedge rows. No matter where you live, there are miles of natural beauty to explore less than an hour away. In my life this has been stress relief, free entertainment, it has been a teacher, and it has meant exercise.
Before Covid-19 arrived, I was planning a bunch of international travel and events with people. However, plans change and sometimes we have to be flexible. During this time where I am not going to concerts or restaurants, or hanging out with large groups of people, turning to the wilderness is an awesome option. You may not hear much about these outdoor adventures from me (after all, I’ll be busy doing them) but I plan to have lots more weeks like this one over the coming months. It’s good for mental health to get outside and get away from “content” on a screen. It’s free but more importantly it is freeing.
Feel free to chime in with a comment or question below. Have you been getting outdoors during social distancing? What has worked for you?
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