Having grown up in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, I did not have much of a choice but to become an outdoorsman from an early age. I spent the weekends of my middle and high school years backpacking, kayaking and caving with the Boy Scouts (say what you will, it’s a killer program). Needless to say, I was ecstatic when a group of my friends expressed a desire to take a backpacking trip over fall break. I planned the perfect loop in the Mount Roger’s National Recreation Area. We would summit Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia, spend time on the famous white-blazed trail and see some wild livestock along the way. This was my first trip being the sole leader of a group of people. It was just over 20 miles over three days, which used to be a single day’s trip for me. This did not, however, ease my multi-faceted anxiety about the trip. What if it was too strenuous for first-timers? What if they just didn’t like it?
This was not eased on day one. We had a couple stops to make that took entirely too long and the weather was disgusting. I modified our route so the fog did not mask the great views. To be short about it, nothing was going as planned. Once we finally hit the trail, I was honestly slightly relieved by the nastiness. If we had stopped to look at things, we would have never made it to our campsite before dark. I ambitiously planned for us to camp at the top of a mountain. I got slightly injured, but the rest of the day was relatively uneventful. We camped and that was that. Day two was phenomenal. We got breathtaking views, got to pet wild ponies and got moving early enough to allow for plenty of stops, which were necessary to take it all in. We began to grow much closer than we were. The friends I brought were a couple I go to school with, and I have known Emily for a while. Her boyfriend, Spencer, on the other hand, I did not know that well. I am so very happy to have gotten to know him over the break and build a friendship that I do not envision ending any time soon. Day three was a short day that got us off the trail. It was very humbling to see the mountains we had looked at from above the day before from below as we descended. On the ride home we were already talking about the next trip!
I am not one to beat around the bush with a subtle explanation of the moral of a story. I am an accountant at heart and like things to have a clear credit and debit, if you will indulge that analogy. That being said, I have a challenge for you. Be adventurous. Ask questions. Learn a new skill. We get so absorbed in our days at school, our relationships with significant others and a constant desire to succeed tomorrow that we do not live today. Take a leap. Whether it’s living out of a backpack for three days, going for a day hike or taking a trip to the swimming pool, it is never too late or to early to embrace the reason we work so damn hard in the first place. If we cannot make the most of the minutes we have away from work or school now, how can we ever expect to do so once we graduate and are working our way up from the bottom?
