[at-l] Boredom

[greyowl@rcn.com (greyowl@rcn.com)]

I find this a very interesting discussion.  I will agree that must people d=
o have short attention spans, and we can blame it on television.  On the ot=
her hand boredom can be good as it is an inidication that oje is stuck in a=
 rut.  Life is way too short and if one must force oneself to complete a ta=
sk (hiking etc)then one is wasting one time.  If it was not for boredom I w=
ould probably still be doing a lot of other things (I won't go into some of=
 my old hobbies).  On the other hand if one slows down then one can take ti=
me to observe their surroundings and appreciate what they see.  Unfortunate=
ly through hikers have a time line and they cannot afford to slow down.

One  of the things that I like about section hiking is that I can set my ow=
n pace (usually) and I try not to do more than 10 miles a day.  I can stop =
and watch clouds (A favorite past time), watch a sunrise or sunset, look at=
 plants, or even sit and read a book for awhile.  I don't think that many t=
hrough hikers have this opportunity.  They may see an interesting bird, or =
animal sayyeah way cool, but then they are off on their hike again.

To me it is more important to reconect with nature.  In today's world one n=
eeds time to heal from everyday stress, to be away from radios, phones, com=
puters and listen to the quite.  I hike on my own terms and listen to my bo=
dy.  As I posted early my trip plans are very vague.  I do have goals, but =
I am not chained to those goals.

Just a few thoughts,

Grey Owl

aka Bob Dudley

PS

I have had the pleasure of hiking with both Jim and Ginny Owens and these a=
re very remarkable people.  They have an inner peace about them that is tru=
ly amazing and because of this I am sure that they are more connected to th=
eir surounding than 99.99% of the other people who are on the trail