nature-4-life-1

[nature-4-life-1]

A life backpacking in the mountains

A little while ago I had the chance to experience Philmont Scout ranch, back when I was a scout. This was an experience that will forever stick with me and for a lot of reasons but one of them is for things like this image. The scenery was unmatched to anything I've seen previously, especially coming from a flat state like Illinois. The wide-open expanses gave this whole trip such a grandeur feeling that I didn't understand till years later. Thinking back on the memory now there's so many fond memories I have even if it's not all good, the times where it has rained all day, all your gear is wet, and you still have to set up your tent and feed yourself. Those days in those moments were some of the worst times of my life up until that point. Stranded in the mountains, cold and wet, not a fun way to spend your summer, but I would, in a heartbeat, wish to go back to those moments. Living that lifestyle was strangely fulfilling and seeing clouds carrying storms roll over mountains and crash into the valleys below made it all the more worthwhile. There are few experiences that can recreate the feeling you get there, no place will ever recreate my experience, however. At the end of this trip there is a little shop that sells nick knacks and tools for the life on the trail, there are books that describe the stories and experiences of what life is like out on the trail. It's hard to be able to put that kind of experience into words, even harder to turn other people's experiences into stories that sell. But a quote on the back of one of those books stuck out and I believe best got what life is like out on the trail. This book is about the rangers of Philmont and their life patrolling the mountains.

"Sticking out of the hip pocket would be a folded Philmont map, its layers pressed into a sweaty, body-molded state. The ranger hiked in well-made ankle-top boots, well broken, over double layers of sweat socks. He soon wore a tawny, sun-baked look and an unstyled head of hair. He walked with a long, muscled gait that was conditioned from mountain miles under a backpack. But he never looked so much like a ranger as when he was marinated in a film of sweat and soot and trail dust."

I Wanna Go Back: Stories of the Philmont Rangers - Tooth of Time Traders