Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker

Being in the wilderness is not just about things like self-sufficiency or situational awareness, it is also a place where you can learn grander, more meaningful lessons about life and how it should be lived. It can make you a better person.

The Twitya had a reputation. I already knew how cold the water would be, and this river would be much bigger than any of the others I had crossed. And it was getting closer. Two days had

attitude-adjustment

I can actually feel my senses becoming keener, to the point where I see things more fully than if I had been part of a group.

and vegetable soup, followed by three generous helpings of beef bourguignon with tender noodles in a red wine sauce, along with plenty of bread and coffee. Dessert was cheese, crackers, and a mug of hot chocolate. After dinner, I sipped cognac and puffed on a fine cigar while relaxing in the shelter of my muddy portable home. I was feeling great. B

I enjoy using my gear again; it’s like renewing old acquaintances whom I’ve shared good times with.

descending into long gullies, ascending back to the ridgetop, contouring across knolls, negotiating rough, scoparia-covered slopes, and detouring around rock buttresses on highly exposed ground. The going was slow and deliberate: I cautiously moved

Bushwalking, she said, is like meditation; she uses it to recalibrate, and she feels a sense of calm when she looks out at a landscape that is free of human habitation. I could relate to that.

The difficulties I had encountered were superseded by stirring memories of the vastness, remoteness, silence, and incredible beauty of this pristine wilderness.