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Post by Coolkat on Aug 12, 2016 8:11:56 GMT -8
I've got a lot of great outdoor books about adventure in the wilderness. However, I'm looking for something a bit different. My wife doesn't mind me backpacking but she really doesn't like it when I go alone. Which for me is about 50% of the time. I'm wondering if any of you have a book recommendation that would help communicate the attraction of being alone in the wilderness.
Although my high-school english teacher desperately wanted me to major in english (ie..writing) in college I'm not a writer. It's hard for me to describe the feelings a person get's when they are alone in the wilderness. I'm talking about realization of your smallness compared to world around you. The lack of distractions and being alone with your own thoughts. The soul healing and cleansing that comes from the wild, the nearness to God. The magic of feeling like you're one with nature.
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foxalo
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Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent.---Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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Post by foxalo on Aug 12, 2016 9:29:29 GMT -8
I'm not sure any one book could describe it, because honestly, I think it means something different to each person. Does she like to get out at all? Day hikes? Will she do them alone? There are a lot of people who would never think of going out alone anywhere while others prefer it. I think some people don't need that connection to nature while others thrive in it. My husband seems to be one of them. Maybe he knows my need to go alone. Maybe not. He never really questions it and lets me do my thing. He just asks when I plan to be home.
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 12, 2016 9:45:55 GMT -8
I'm not sure any one book could describe it, because honestly, I think it means something different to each person. This is probably true. Just thought I'd give it a try. If I could find a book that might do this would be a good thing because we love reading books together. Does she like to get out at all? Day hikes? Will she do them alone? She'll go hiking with me on a shorter day hikes if I ask her but she'd never be the one asking to go. She'd never do a hike alone.
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foxalo
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Post by foxalo on Aug 12, 2016 10:09:36 GMT -8
What is it about going alone that she doesn't like? It's she worried about your safety. I think that a legitimate concern for people who are afraid of being in the woods alone. If that's the case, I'd say just do your best to reassure her. Make sure she has your itinerary. I think a lot of people can appreciate the natural beauty of the outdoors like mountain ranges, waterfalls, lakes, etc, but few can appreciate it on a much smaller level like the shades of green in a forest, the little wildflowers, mushrooms, and even bugs. Some people need that. Some people don't. Is there something she loves to do that you don't? It's comparing it to that. We can't force our hobbies/interests on our loved ones. We just have to respect them.
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mk
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Post by mk on Aug 13, 2016 11:05:09 GMT -8
realization of your smallness compared to world around you. The lack of distractions and being alone with your own thoughts. The soul healing and cleansing that comes from the wild, the nearness to God. The magic of feeling like you're one with nature. I think you just said it all Coolkat
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Post by cweston on Aug 13, 2016 12:28:47 GMT -8
I used to feel a little guilty about leaving my wife at home when I went on backpacking trips, but I eventually figured out that she enjoyed the time to herself (especially as the kids got older and are now grown). So I just don't sweat it. I would love it if she shared my passion for BPing, but that's just not going to happen. She does enjoy the mountains, so we have been able to do semi-shared his-and-her trips a few times where we spend part of the time together.
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Post by trinity on Aug 13, 2016 14:58:49 GMT -8
Interesting thread! I think that in many respects Walden does a great job of communicating the attraction of solitude in nature, as does Desert Solitaire. Others that come to mind are The Wisdom of Wilderness (Gerald May), Backpacking with the Saints (Belden Lane), and Grizzly Years (Doug Peacock).
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Post by johntpenca on Aug 13, 2016 17:43:15 GMT -8
Going solo is not a big deal if you have the skill set to make it through. There are plenty here that go solo regularly. My ex wifey never worried about me backpacking or backcountry skiing solo because she knew I had the skills to handle it. If something goes south, you just need to deal with it.
edit: keep a can of coca cola in your pack for if you wake up fatigued.
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Post by cweston on Aug 13, 2016 18:43:49 GMT -8
A Spot, Delorme InReach, or PLB would go a long way toward reducing your wife's worries. I don't own one, but I do rent a PLB when I go on solo trips in remote places.
[Edit: sorry, I do realize that neither of my posts in this thread contain any of the information the OP was asking for.]
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Post by cweston on Aug 14, 2016 4:32:03 GMT -8
Here's something closer to what you asked about: from when I was an artist-in-residence at North Cascades NP.
Artist’s Statement
I love the idea of the NPS Artist-in-Residence program, because I think that people come to beautiful, pristine places like Stehekin for the exact same reasons we come to the arts: to set aside the concerns of workaday life and marvel at the beauty in the world: to be transformed by it, to renew our spirits.
My time in Stehekin certainly renewed my spirit as an artist and as a person. Aside from my family, composing music and hiking in the mountains are the two great passions of my life. My experience as Artist-in-Residence allowed me to focus exclusively on work (and the “play” that renews the creative spirit) in a way that would never be possible during regular life. In between my working days, I also climbed mountains, crossed a glacier, swam in Image Lake, forded streams, marveled at the turning of the Larch in the high country, watched bears in the deep wilderness, and, as the autumn snowline gradually dropped closer and closer to the valley floor, I visited magical Park Creek Pass in two feet of fresh powder. How could my creative energy not be recharged by all of that, surrounded by such amazing beauty in large and small form?
For the piece which I began and finished during my time in Stehekin (called Stehekin Sonata, for clarinet and piano), I named the individual movements “Nature’s peace will flow into you…,” “The winds will blow…,” and “…sunshine flows through trees,” after phrases from the following well-known inspirational statement by John Muir:
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail. [John Muir, Our National Parks (Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin, 1901), 56.] In my work, I simply aspire to write beautiful music—not to prove a point or advocate for this or that. To me, the mountain wilderness is like that. It is sometimes gentle, sometimes rugged and imposing, always hiding something amazing when we look a little closer, but always simply beautiful in both grandiose and ordinary ways.
I am extremely grateful to the National Park Service, and especially to the folks in the Interpretive Division here in Stehekin, for the opportunity to spend five wonderful weeks working and playing and being renewed here. As you soak in the tremendous natural beauty around you, I hope you’ll remember that while you cannot always escape to a remote mountain valley, you can always be transformed by the beauty of the arts. Craig Weston, Composer Manhattan, Kansas Stehekin Artist-in-Residence, Fall 2008
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 14, 2016 7:18:02 GMT -8
Thanks trinity for giving me some names to check out. cweston I like your idea. I've seen the prices at the stores and have always passed them by but maybe now is time. What is it about going alone that she doesn't like? It's she worried about your safety. I think that a legitimate concern for people who are afraid of being in the woods alone. She's told me over and over again that she doesn't like it that she can't contact me to make sure I'm ok. So maybe I'll buy a second map and mark on it day 1 through day 8. I started the thread hoping to find a book that would help her see my attraction but maybe that just won't happen. I'll check out the authors that trinity suggested.
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snappypepper
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Post by snappypepper on Aug 14, 2016 14:34:12 GMT -8
We have the DeLorme InReach and really like it. If she's worried or even just lonely, she can shoot you a message. She can also view your progress online which may reassure her. It sounds like she understands that it's important for you. it's just not her thing. I'm not sure having her read about it will change anything, especially if she's not opposed to you doing it but is just worried about safety.
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Post by thrillseeker on Sept 18, 2016 13:30:55 GMT -8
Well this is pretty cliche, but I think Wild does a good job of conveying the beauty and resilience that comes with solitude in nature. Since it's written by a woman, it might be a book she can more easily relate to as well.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 19, 2016 9:40:20 GMT -8
I'll toss in a vote for John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra.
For a completely different look at being in nature, in a very different place, Craig Childs The Secret Knowledge of Water
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 18:36:41 GMT -8
'Grandma Gatewood's Walk' - Ben Montgomery, would communicate well to women, I think.
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