Introductions

I thought that for my first blog I would share a piece from a book that I am writing about my experience on the Tahoe Rim Trail.  Really, I think that this piece is a great explanation of not only what I am about but it  also provides a little motivation for you the reader to get out there, outdoors.  You see, I think life is not about getting through it, it is about overcoming fears and excuses and experiencing it.

Photo by Steve Wild

                                               Chapter Ten – The Reason

     For as long as I could remember I would love to be out in the woods, night or day, by myself, and with nothing or no one around. It seems a little strange considering that most people would rather pull their own teeth than be out there in the middle of nowhere with those unpredictable noises lurking about. At night, especially on moonless nights, everything speaks to you. The background noise of the day is gone and everything seems to echo through the woods like it is the only thing that matters to be heard. The wind on the leaves, an old barn owl, and my favorite - katydids! Those little green bugs are the symphonic score of my youth. To a lot of people that stuff is torture; they have no idea what is looking back at them and that scares them half to death.

     Actually, in Connecticut, the scariest of all woodland creatures are the bobcat and the coyote. However they’re nothing to really worry about considering how scared of you they are. They might run away with your cat or your small dog, but they generally won’t come near a human. Every now and then a black bear will be spotted picking through someone’s trash or knocking over your bird feeder in the more wooded parts of the state, but that’s a serious now and then. Needless to say there really are no inherent dangers in the woods of good ‘ole C-T. Well, there’s the West Nile Virus but nothing a little bug spray can’t prevent. Well, I guess we have the poisonous copperhead which I’ve seen once sleeping on a rock in the sun and the timber rattlesnake. The rattler is so rare in Connecticut that I don’t know anyone who has seen one.

     In the summer of 2005, my friend Jason and I were having a campfire on some property owned by his family in our hometown of Windsor. It’s a Christmas tree farm that we used part of to make our troop’s Boy Scout camp back in the day. Troop 203 still uses it today even though Jason and his brother are long since retired from the scouts.

     It was a clear night, however dark from the lack of moonlight. One of those nights. I decided that I wouldn’t have a problem being the one to go get the marshmallow sticks for the ladies, what a hero. I knew just the tree, about 200 feet from the fire.

      I walked from the clearing into the densely populated forest of mostly swamp maple and grapevines, just outside the reach of the firelight... and then I heard a noise. For the first time in my life I was scared. I was really scared. The smell of the ripening grapes in late summer, wind blowing through the tops of the trees, everything became loud and perfectly clear to my senses. I don’t know what it was, nothing was different, and I had been there a thousand times before, but all of the sudden I was overwhelmed with a serious case of anxiety.

     I told myself, “you’re crazy, it’s nothing, you’ve been here before… yadee yadee yada…” then I took out my knife; just a little protection in case that Wile E Coyote decided to come up with a plan for my demise. It made me feel a little better I guess. But I was the hero remember? I couldn’t return with no sticks and tell them, “sorry, I got scared,” can one of you ladies get me one too?”

     So I finally reached my tree and the branch was pretty high and green, which made it hard to break off, especially with a knife in your hand. That's when I had an idea. I really didn’t feel like cutting myself so I would just turn the knife around in my hand so the blade would come out on the pinky side of my palm, edge away from my body. Perfect.

     Imagine these thoughts going through your head as you are terrified. It seemed sane at the time. I twisted and turned that branch until finally… it gave. And in the process of all that twisting and turning about, I managed to drag the brand new factory sharpened blade across the meaty part of my left hand just below my thumb that was fisted around the branch. It was a nice and clean cut. Actually, I barely even felt it. Not until the blood started to well up in my sleeve did I realize it was more than just a scratch.

     I dropped the knife and slowly, calmly walked out towards the fire and gently beckoned Jason to come and take a look. He was a medic in the army so I figured call for him. Once I got near the light of the fire and realized just how much blood there was and that my skin tone seemed to completely change to red, with not a patch of its original dirty white complexion left, It cut straight through the muscle, making my flesh flower out like a daffodil in spring. I figured it would be a good idea not to startle anyone else with this scene from a horror film. Well that didn’t work. How could you miss the bright red dripping thing that it looked like I was holding? The night was officially over.

     Needless to say I forgot all about the dangers that lurked about in those woods on my hike back to the fire. So it turns out, the only danger to myself that night was… myself. A little crazy glue, butterfly bandages, and a lot of Maker’s Mark whisky this egg was put back together again.

     A few weeks later I decided that it has been too long since I have been in the woods, why would I let myself get so unacquainted with something I love so much? I decided to go for a walk to get my wits back. It was calming, and I realized what I had been missing. I actually heard a pack of coyotes howling and yipping in the distance, and it was beautiful. At that point I decided to start looking for a journey. A multi-day distance hike and no matter what it took I would make it happen. A year later, there I was on the Tahoe Rim Trail, literally living a dream.

     I think that’s the problem with a lot of people, they are just too afraid of what they don’t know, and that alone is what keeps them from enjoying things to their fullest. That reservation and fear may also be the one thing that causes them harm, not what it actually is that’s scaring them in the first place. Or whatever it is they are making up in their mind. Don’t get caught up in your imagination; get caught up in where you are and who you are with. And always have patience with the now, you’ll be happy you waited.