About Backcountry Blues
Post 987:
Like any untethered skeptic, I do my fair share of rejecting what is perceived to be good and normal in this society. This modern society. Many of the comforts serving to evolve or devolve humanity in rapid time make me wonder. Are we better off?
Hell if I know. At best, I can say it’s all a mixed bag of paradoxes. We know so much but sometimes feel helpless to a universe of knowledge. Travel is easier than ever but finding time to see people can be tricky and hard.
Do I want life to go back to olden times? Uh, no thanks. I like having a fast car and taking showers. Looking up curiosities on the internet beats climbing up rickety cabinets in dusty libraries. I like movies and so many things about modern times, going back the other way seems ridiculous.
And then I read some more Zane Grey. This time, The Last Trail. It centers around a few men on the border in their attempt to rescue a young woman one of them loves. This tale of the Ohio Valley makes me feel soft all over. That said, it’s fascinating, the mentalities of people that moved out to the borderlands and shirked the few comforts they had at that time.
And yet I do understand. My dad used to take us backpacking in the summers to Montana. We would be out in the wild, no doubt. No conveniences except the ones brought with.
I was never happy. Not at first. For those who haven’t tested their mettle in the backcountry, it’s hard to describe. You go back in time. No phones or internet or cars. Just nature. It’s a shock to the system. That’s why I never liked it for the first few days. But then something happens. A quieting of the mind. A clarity. You care only about you need to care about, know only what you need to know. Though you can only go where walking will take you, there is a grand freedom there.
It’s probably what I find romantic about Zane Grey and his adventures. I can smell the forests. I can imagine being comfortable in places that aren’t all that comfortable. You can go there, too. Just read his work. I highly recommend. There is violence. Bandits and outlaws. Everything matters. Life was short and they lived it. It’s still short. We should too. See you after.
