Journeys vs. Destinations...

“There is alot that we each go through in preparation for a trek to the wilderness. Planning, packing, driving, the anticipation of the voyage during the voyage to the trailhead...food, gear, weather, unexpected incidents that we all hope we are prepared for if they happen. Meeting strangers that we hope that we get along with for the duration, and in converse hope that they enjoy being with us.

But, is there more to it? Oh, let me explain a moment as to what has led to this seemingly meloncholy state of mind. Trapped in doors for the weekend, tired from the exhaustive "home improvements" yesterday. And, I'm missing my friends, who are very far away.

this is no melt down, been there and done that, but as I read the trip reports this weekend, I'm wondering if the people, you people get anything more from them. Now, I'm not pointing fingers, saying this that or the other thing, I'm seriously interested.

Now, during my trips, I tend to mentally trip into other places, and I'm sure that many of you know to where that is, for others that don't...hehehe, for me (and others) to know, and for you to find out. I still see and hear all that there is to see and hear around me, and I take in everything that I am surrounded with, like sucking in oxygen after emerging from a deep dive in the ocean. The wilderness is a place that puts the universe into alignment for me. I feel more alive, and more understanding, and when I'm not there, a not as appealing reality seems to come crashing into my consciesness.

So, to conclude my opening statement and begin the concourse to enlightenment, what I get out of the entire process is balance. The performing the planning, packing, anticipation, trepidation and then execution of the plan. Once returned from the voyage, I feel lighthearted and renewed. A lingering sense of accomplishment and wonder resides in my being. My search is not miles, its not the destination, its a bit less palpable than that. I guess its a spiritual journey, but not always, sometimes its about being...

I love what I do, I just wish I could do it more with the people that I love.”

“Man, with a thread title like that, you can author a newspaper column. Good post.”

“HEY, THAT **IS** THE NAME OF MY NEWSPAPER COLUMN!!! "Journey vs. Destination." LOL!

(Me thinks Pros. knew I would show up. LOL)

As I said in MY column... well, at first I always thought it was the journey that's the most important. Be it literal or figurative. BUT... as I kept writing columns and would be introspective about it all -- all that I was doing to prepare for a trip and all that I was doing where I went and the mental aspect... I came to this conclusion: sometimes it's the journey and sometimes it's the destination.

You have to figure that out for yourself. And it's a good thing to put in the mental thought on that.

and... stikky?... I know on Sex in the City that Carrie also had a Journey/Destination column/episode. lol, I just had to give you crap. ;-P”

“i think about all kinds of things when i hike. Especially when I'm hiking alone - its the only time i really get all to myself without having to worry about redlights, pedestrians, kids, etc, etc, etc.

But in addition to noticeing the grandeur of a mountain side or that of a flower bud, my mind is clenseing itself and replaying things I said, or wished I'd said before placing that thought in its proper place in the filing cabinet of my self.

Hiking is sanity - Sanity is hiking.”

“I hear what you are saying man, it is what we live for. Can't wait to get out and then when its over it is all you think about. It renews my faith, my spirit, and my soul. Not to mention my old body! I just wish I had discovered it earlier in life. I am ashamed to admit that I had never even been to the Smokies till I was 30 and lived in Tennessee all my life. What a waste! But I don't dwell on the past, just look at all the opportunities in the future. And I can't wait to go out West! I may never return!”

“I like the journey”

“My journey has many destinations, some more exciting than others. I usually look for the path less traveled.”

“"And it's a good thing to put in the mental thought on that."

lizs

Sure, the non-mental thought just don't do it.

May the path less traveled be well-traveled by you, Pathman.

Getting to the mountains charges my batteries.”

“This makes me think on how desperately I need to get out, soon. It's been since last August. I'm getting all shriveled up inside!”

“Great topic! The planning is as much fun as the trip for me. The week before a trip I start by making my list off the top of my head and then a few days of staring at it I mull over the gear choices and the weight (not so much) and plan plan plan. Every night I go to bed thinking of what I’m going to do, where I’m going, and am I forgetting anything? I view these things as the only things that keep me from killing someone while ramping up for the weekend.

And if it’s a week long trip? Oh holy poop on a stick! Look out! I’m a planning fool for a month before the trip. Which only makes me laugh all the harder when I do dumb shlt like, oh, I don’t know, FORGET TO TAKE MY BOOTS! LOL!”

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson”

“That was the soul message of my former hiking partner Olftauron, which was the name of my hiking staff. That may sound a bit strange, but being a worker of wood and the maker of hiking and walking stiks I pour alot of energy and effort into each peice, and sometimes a theme comes to me whilst in the process of design and making. I made a stik for myself in ages past and that stik came to an untimely end, but I think I have told that tale eleswhere and shall not repeat it here, but last september I completed its replacement. A project that sat idle for some 6 years, and the new staff has been on a few treks since then and a few of you have met it. It also has a theme and message and I live by that theme just as I lived by Olftauron's message. "Hurt not the Earth, Neither the Seas, Nor the Trees". Its name is Voronolf, which in the high tounge of the Noldorin means "Steadfast Friend". So, even when hiking solo, I'm not really alone, well, I have Khatru and I also have my staff, which certainly has a personality. It goes where I go, and shares in every step that I take.

When driving, I go blank. My mind is so serene, nothing gets in. When I hike, I don't think about anything but what I see and hear. I travel to places that either no longer exist, or never existed, except in imagination. That is my escape, my secret place that I go to, wishing with all my heart to be able to, like Alice, go through the hole and find that place. As Bilbo said, "I desire to see mountains, woods, rivers, to cross the land to enchanted places, and then find a quiet place to sit and think and maybe finish my book, I've thought of an ending, And they lived happily ever after."

I'd like that to be my tale, and I hope that it is yours too.

I'm obviously in an introspective mode at the moment. These things come and go with me, or rather, it is with me most of the time, I just don't always share my thoughts with the world, but, I am sharing at this moment, and I appreciate the responses...and it is very meaningful to me. Thank you.”

“This is a rather intriquing question. I'm glad you brought this to the forefront. I often wonder what it is that others seek out in the wilderness. I believe once you've disected and revealed their truth, there are clues lying within the trip reports that are posted. Not to degrade but to point out the difference, there seems to be a consistent theme that weighs heavily on "man's concern's"...i.e. mileage, elevation gain, etc. Are these attributes important? Is this wrong? For me, it has no definitive purposful meaning. The trip report is the common thread to us all. Its the most viable conduit on this board to express to others what they feel. I suppose i'm seeking out a deeper meaning to being in the wilderness.

As you well know, I enter the wilderness in search for the truth. The answers are there, hidden and sometimes undetectable, but it takes a leap of faith to be able to identify them and more importantly the desire to accept and share them with pride. Personally, my trip reports are an attempt to reveal and share what I feel in my heart, so yes, you can say my adventure, or to use your terminology, journey, is of a spiritual one.

To answer your question, I believe the journey has more relevance because the destination, IMHO, doesn't matter. It's invalid.

And recently I saw the following quote:

"the greatest joy in nature is the absence of man"
~Bliss Carman

That's my $.02 and i'd need a larger canvas than this small box to express a detailed constructed opinion...I could waffle all day on this topic....

Chili....that RWE quote is currently on my calendar for the month of March....”

“"My mind is so serene, nothing gets in."

I refuse to be the mean little shlt that posts this to the quotes taken out of context thread. Would someone else be so kind as to do it for me? LOL!

Seriousely though, great thoughts sticky.”

“taken out of context...but if that is how your mind works, then so be it.”

“Good thread. I am taking it all in and pondering.”

“For me its the whole experience. Its the planning, and the hiking and the destination. I go for the quietness, the fact that I am really away. The beauty and the solitude. I sometimes walk for miles. I sometimes hardly go anywhere and just sit and enjoy the beauty. Sometimes the best part is all the planning beforehand, but most of the time its when Im there. When I am out there I never want to go back to real life. And when I go back to real life I just want to go back to living outside.”

“karo and adventuregirl nailed it.”

“The intro from the editor in this months NG Adventure deals with this topic. It was a good read.

I really enjoy planning trips. I'm already thinking about what I'll be doing this fall. I'm even more excited about the trip my wife and I are taking in 2 weeks. We're going to raft the Chatttooga Section IV. Can't wait!!!”

“When I first started dayhiking it was the solitude that I enjoyed most. Now that most of my trips have turned into social type of trips I find that I miss what first led me to this hobby. I don't really know what to do about it though. Saturdays have become precious commodities. I would almost have to give up a backpacking trip for a big dayhike and I don't really want to do a weekend solo trip.”

“Dayhiker, funny you should mention that. When I read this thread, one of my first thoughts was remembering what was written in the April NG Adventure "From the Editor" page. He quoted Mahatma Ghandi: "Live as if to die tomorrow. Learn as if to live forever."

The quote seems more about the way we live life as opposed to journey v. destination. But it still is appropriate I think.
last edited: 3/28/05 11:06:41 AM”

“When I read that intro I scanned it into pdf and emailed it out. It was a wonderful intro.”

“Today is a good day to Die. That is a philosophy that resides in many real cultures. If one truely lives life, then there should be no regrets when that life passes. the Vikings lived like that, and so did the Rohirrim. I would embrace death if it came to me at this moment. I have no fear and no regrets and certainly no remorse of things not done.

I've lived my life by as many of my own rules as I could. Making good memories along the way and probably a few that aren;t so good. that is unavoidable.

It seems that those that posted here are the ones who actually think. What about it? Are we the thinkers? surely there are others. ahhhh well, if you don't like my topics, or diatribes, or me, then you'll likely pass over anything that I write or say. But, its not about me...its about YOU, and your life and what you get out of it and it seems that each one of you is in control and has an understanding...there is one thing that I will make a comment on that was written here..."When I am out there I never want to go back to real life. And when I go back to real life I just want to go back to living outside". This to me is what most people feel...that going to the wilderness is an escape, which it is...but not FROM reality, TO reality. I would argue (gently) that the wilderness is the ONLY reality. Everything else is fantasy, a "matrix" of our own making. think about it. everyone has there own designs and worlds...each one tailor made and ready to wear to our own specifications...no personal world exactly like another. Tuned to perfection to fit only one person...and that is our everyday "reality" (or as I like to call it, my personal fanasty), I like to escape this fantasy world of mine and go into the real world of the wilderness. Which is where I get the training, the fortitude, the energy to return to the living world of fantasy land. I work, I mow the grass, i wash the car, I pay bills, i shop to my hearts content in this play land. Now, my neighbors...they work, they shop, they pay their bills, they do whatever they do in their own universe and thats ok, but take it to the wilderness, and things become equal...no difference...the wilderness is equal ground...no separations, no barriers, no fantasy...its REAL...and the root to Reality is REAL. So, whats real and whats fantasy?

I only know how it works for me. I feel that I'm drifting from my friends. the separation is a great one in miles, and we spend less and less time together. What is real for me, is not to them. What is their everyday existence is not relatable to mine, so separations occur and we grow differently. Influences of a profound nature take hold and mold us into what we are yet to become, and that becoming is only to be determined by what has yet to happen. Hmmm...full circle here. Im not sure what I just said, but it makes me smile in a tounge in cheek kind of way. and it makes me sad too. I wonder whats going on. Oh, maybe I should just let it go and not think about it any longer, but the internet is such a great place to ponder things in silence and get great feedback on those ponderings...I'm still losing my mind, but not in such a devistatingly tragic way. When I had that mental melt down in December, It hurt, but going to the Bend brought me back, but not to the same place. To a different place, every time I come back from the wilderness, its never to the same place. You can never go back, the wounds never heal, they are only covered over by other things, but the scar is always there.

Ive had these sentiments before and I guess I'll have them again, we'll see won't we.”

“One is dependent on the other - like bricks and mortar.”