Forecasted temperatures for the weekend? Freezing. My plans? Camping, backpacking and rock-climbing. Why? As part of the DO Outdoor Experience Class (OEC). To be perfectly honest, part of me was scared. I grew up in tropical climates; I don’t do well in cold. Needless to say, I was happy on the early morning of our departure when we decided to switch destinations to a slightly less freezing place, Pilot Mountain, NC.
Though it is said that it is not the destination that matters but the journey to get there, it is still worth asking what the destination is. Clearly, in our case it was not the physical site of Pilot Mountain (since we decided on it 20 minutes before leaving). From the title of the class “Outdoor Experience Course” we can perhaps infer that the ultimate destination would be “experiences”. It might sound simple, but in a world such as ours where interactions with “nature” usually occur trough a to a screen there is much to be gained by venturing to “the outdoors”.
Backcountry folks will probably agree that once you go on your first adventure it is hard to stop. There is a certain pull to having to “rough it”, living in the moment, facing the elements, having only what you can carry. Wait- someone might ask- what exactly sounds appealing about that? How is giving up many man-made comforts and luxuries to become more vulnerable recreation? Why would anyone decide to spend their precious weekend trying to climb up a rock or braving the night with only a thin nylon wall separating them from the biting wind?
To a certain extent, these recreational desires result from our current sedentary lifestyle, which lacks, for most of us at Davidson, survival challenges. The challenges that for centuries made up humans’ days; keeping warm, building shelter, pushing our bodies, interacting with nature. On some level we yearn for that challenge, to put ourselves to the test of nature, explore the potentials of our minds and bodies and see how we fare… Ok, so the idea has become romanticized. We weren’t exactly struggling to survive with our MSR stoves, sub-zero sleeping bags, headlamps and packaged food, but the idea still holds. The desire to be challenged still stands, and it pulls people outside.
If nothing else, “outdoor experiences” help place things in perspective. In a society that is constantly shouting at us “more, more, more”, spending time in the backcountry, whether climbing, backpacking, or just gazing up at the winter night sky, gives us the space to realize the emptiness of that shout. The happiest man is not the one that has the most but the one who needs the least. At Davidson, we are often so concerned about getting more things on our resume, doing more networking, and working more, that we fail (yes we sometimes fail) to instead have more courage, more meaningful interactions, more life experiences.
So what did I get out of spending my weekend climbing until my fingers got numb, trying (not very successfully) to warm up my sleeping bag, and hiking through fall colors? I got to stop mid-rappel to watch a beautiful sunset. I got challenges. But most of all, I got to be present and enjoy my weekend by sharing conversations with wonderful people.