Journey or Destination: Hiking with Purpose

Manasquan Reservoir, Manasquan, NJ
So, it's a bit of a debate.  I started hiking as a teenager, worked for a sleep-away Girl Scout camp in Eastern PA for two summers, and hiked a crap ton till I got married, had babies, and sat on my butt for 18 years.

But, what I remember loving about hiking was the beauty of it.  Literally, every step is gorgeous.  I've never been a racer.  I don't need to be the first to the top.  In fact, I don't even need to get to the top.  For me, the experience, the nitty gritty of the journey, is the beautiful part.  It's fantastic to get to the top of a mountain, don't get wrong.  But, if the mountain is Everest, I am happy to go to the base and look up and love the beauty of God's Earth.  I don't have that competitive edge to be the first one there.  I don't need to make record time.  I'm not in it for that.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't judge people who have the need to climb every mountain peak or be the fastest one there.  Whatever is driving them is what they have to live with every day, so if they have that need, they should totally meet that need.  But, for me, I don't have those kinds of needs.

When I worked for the Girl Scouts, I led 11-16 year old girls on hikes all over the PA portion of the AT.  I was younger, obviously, and in great shape.  Hikes in college and grad school and the odd hike here and there since then have been solo adventures.  I don't consider myself antisocial, but I prefer to hike alone.  I can stop and take pictures whenever I want.  I can look for beaver dams.  I can do my own thing without irritating others.  No one wants to be "that girl" who holds the group back, and since I am a slow and steady hiker, I just know I would be "that girl."

But, I've come to realize there are a lot of us out there that want to hike with others but are all afraid of the same thing.  We don't want to be rejected by the cool hikers...the thru hikers...the bad ass hikers.  We want to be cool and badass.  Hiking is a bit of an elitist endeavor.  The hikers are adorably cute and in fantastic shape, they make fantastic money doing whatever it is they do that allows them 4 weeks off in a row to hike long trips on the AT or in Nepal or Pakistan.  Most people I know get maybe a week off, and in that week, they have to fix everything broken in their house with whatever little money they have left after paying to live in the great state of New Jersey.

So, what about the rest of us? The average hikers? The slow ones?  The flabby ones?  The poor ones?The ones of color?  Nature is free.  It should be something everyone can enjoy, but we've built up this elitist culture that says only the richest and cutest of us get to enjoy it.

In the words of Colonel Potter...horse hockey.

There is a place for the rest of us, and, in fact, there are already a ton of people out there breaking stereotypes.  Jenny Bruso, founder of Unlikely Hikers, is carrying the torch for excluded hikers.  Her work focuses mainly on the the LGBT+ community, but also includes people of color, people of all body shapes, and people of varying abilities.  I applaud her efforts, and I encourage you to follow her blog. 

There are some good posts that offer advice like hiking backwards when your legs get tired.  Vanessa Friedman has a great article about being a fat girl on the hiking trail, and it is an inspirational read.  Lauren Marie Fleming has a nice post with tips for out of shape hikers, as well.  The point is this: there are others...we are not alone.

On this blog, I am not going to apologize for being anything but me.  I am not looking to go faster.  I am not looking to always get to the top of Everest or K2.   I am looking to balance a life full of technology with nature.  Nature is a reminder of God's love for me and this world, and if I can get that out of a hike, that's what I came to get.

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