Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker

Fear shows itself in different ways. In a crisis that requires an instinctive and immediate reaction, like when I got stuck in the quicksand, you don’t have time to be afraid. The fear comes when it’s over, when you think about how close you came to catastrophe.

came to … a world that was governed by the sand and the wind and the lie of the land. A world in which the things that mattered were the pack on your back, and sunlight on rough rock and the look of the way ahead. A world in which you relied, always, on yourself.”

must admit that I was a little sad to see Trapper go. In the few days we were together, we covered a lot of miles, shared an adventure, and formed a nice bond.

Jake was stationed on Normandy beach, where he worked eighteen hours a day servicing trucks on the Red Ball Express, the truck convoy system created to supply Allied forces

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.

Being out there, you get in touch with the natural rhythms of nature and learn to adjust your pace accordingly.

Sometimes when you just let yourself go with the flow, things work out very well in the end.

Neither of us was complaining. In a situation like that, you try to enjoy what you can and block out what you can’t.

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