How Backcountry Saves my Sanity

Another memorable ski-packing jaunt Dave and I took was four-days in Rocky Mountain National Park.  I doubt that, in looking back, I could figure out where it was we went.  My clearest recollection is climbing some eleven-thousand-foot wind-swept peaks near our base camp.  They were bare rocky summits sticking up above tree-line and cold as blue blazes in the wind.

I call this our 'therapeutic trek,' because both Dave and I unburdened to each other a lot of family miseries we were each experiencing at that time.  It was good catharsis and a lot cheaper and in a far more pleasant venue than we would have had with paid therapists.  And I kind of think it even was maybe more palliative.

I've often said that getting out into the backcountry has saved my sanity.  But some in my family, and certain friends, would challenge what sanity I do have.  But, hey, it's what I was given by the parents I chose.  I can't imagine what I'd be like if I didn't get out in the woods and mountains on a regular basis.

There was even one trick I learned early in adulthood, which has a pleasant calming effect.  It requires me to go to the outdoors for best results.

When I've gone out to the woods with a lot of worries on my mind, I find a cool spot to sit beneath a tree.  I then clear a place in the dirt where, with my finger, I scratch out a word in the dirt that represents my major worry.  Then, after a moment or two, I write with the same finger another word representing my next most troubling worry.  

I write that word directly on top of the first worry word.  And I continue writing worry words, one on top of the other, until I have written words for each thing that bothered me when I went out to the woods.  

It doesn't take long before it is really difficult to remember to worry about any of these things while sitting there in the woods with so many beautiful trees and birds around me.  And if that isn't enough to distract, usually there are enough bothersome flies and insects to keep my attention away from problems back home.

It works.  It can't hurt to try it.

And now, before the snow has completely melted out here in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, I'll say a few words about some of my other favorite winter treks.  But I'll save that for my next post.