The Outside

I grew up a really outdoorsy gal.  Fishing on rocky shores, camping the northeast, hiking the Appalachian Trail and the hills of Humphrey, hunting small game, picking flowers in sprawling fields, flipping rocks for bugs & crayfish, shooting arrows, building forts & treehouses, constructing the perfect fire pits, studying trees, learning how to survive in the woods on edible plants...You know, the typical girly stuff.  

As a 13 or 14-year-old I went on a nine-day hiking trip through the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania.  My companions were a funny group of five or six other young teens and a trail guide from the Dominican Republic.  Man, was that guy a regular yoga-posing MacGuyver! He would put that nature channel dude to shame.  Anyway, we carried all of our supplies with us: small tents, pots, pans, freeze dried food, a very limited amount of toilet paper and clothing, biodegradable peppermint soap for stream-bathing, etc.  No makeup on this trip.  No showers, either.  We slept on the ground, hiked as much as 20 miles per day with 60-pound packs, and drank river water we dosed with iodine for purification.  The trip changed me--noticeably--within only a few days.  On a very instinctual level, something entirely basic was satisfied when I proved to myself that I could survive in unfettered nature.  It was freeing, and as if gazing into a looking glass I was reminded of that freedom over and over again.  At the end of a long and difficult hike we got to dive into fresh, crisp streams.  After a long uphill struggle, we would peer over the rolling hills or scaled ravine and be amazed.  It was like being broken down and rebuilt a hundred different times, and finally, when all of the pieces were reassembled, I was different--in a good way.  In a great way.  It remains one of the best things I've ever done for myself.