[at-l] Developing mental toughness for LD hiking

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

--- Shane Steinkamp <shane@theplacewithnoname.com> wrote:
(Amy Skreqpriruqprqrx wrote:
> > The fire in my belly kinda dies out when I don't have a home
> base to go back to for regrouping purposes.  How do you get
over the need to have a safe place to go to?  Or do you just
re-designate your sleeping bag as your safe place?
### sloetoe respondeth: I REALLY like your question(s). By way
of answer:
For ME,
The fire in my belly/desire to see what's around the next corner
similarly goes *out* {"poof!"} when I don't feel like I have my
little act together. Having "my act together", in my mind, means
I'm ready for any (reasonably expected) exigency. Food will
hold, shelter is whole, sleeping bag is dry, parka shell is
tight, insulation is sufficient and dry, feet are good (which
really means "socks are clean" and "leather boots are waxed"),
cooking pot is clean (*really* clean, *scoured* clean,
bright&shiney clean) -- all of these things AND that I feel
clean myself. (I gross out easily when it comes to that overall
sticky feeling that sometimes hits...) A "safe place" therefore
(and what a great term) means to me a place where I can
"explode" my pack (when you read "explode", think of the cover
photo from The Complete Walker), go through everything,
refit/refinish/repair as needed, reassemble, and go on, feeling
tight -- as-snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug tight, and feel ready to
hit/do anything that comes along once again. Recently, it has
been a *region* in a hostel (The Barn, Gorham, NH), a lawn
(Caratunk, ME), a bed (Monson, ME); most recently, it was a wall
and a floor (Miss Janet's, Erwin, TN). But everything came out,
everything was inspected, detected, reflected, not-neglected,
and made ready-to-go, in a distraction- and dirt-free
environment. If I *don't* get the explosion done (or, if I don't
get that 'safe place' in which to do it), then my desire for
adventure, for the beyond-the-horizon, is completely
overshadowed by chaos. And an accompanying desire to "go home"
in perhaps one way (find a roof "in town") if not another. Did I
just "redesignate" my sleeping bag as the safe place? No; my
pack, instead; same difference. My pack is my home; where it be,
I be home. I am one with it. I call it the Turtle Syndrome --
where I feel self-contained and able to be *home* whereever my
little feet take me, whereever my little heart desires,
whereever my little gaze points. Cruize, baby. Storm, sun, wind,
rain, cold blow or happy shade; just me and my kit, out meeting
the world, finding the horizon. As long as I have that "safe
place".

### Now, contrast this with Shane, who writes (on his website)
"Backpacking isn't fun for me. It never has been, and it
probably 
 never will be. Dragging any pack of any weight across endless
 miles for 'fun' is, in my opinion, a sick abuse of the word. I
 have made peace with my pack, but I'm not in love with it
 either."
### Wow. Doesn't sound like he's very likely to hit the woods,
does it? But we know better -- just read what he followed your
post with:
> When I'm in the wilderness is the only time that I feel like
> everything is going to be OK. It's the only place I feel safe.
 Darkness and loneliness are my dearest friends.  My danger
isn't going home early, my danger is never going home...because
I am home...and the house is just some kind of abomination."
### Wow! (See, now, that was me in Maine in 1979. That was me in
Georgia in 2003. Just gimme a bump and I'm GONE.) So Shane knows
the feeling regarding the woods in front of him, but not
regarding the woods out of sight around the next corner.
(Verrryyyyy interesting, this.)

### What's it about? I'm not sure, but then you write: 
> > I think this is part of why I'm a section hiker.  I like to
> hike, I like to backpack, but I'm also a homebody and I don't
> feel quite right out on the trail for long periods of time.
> Maybe I don't have the explorer personality.
### Now, I don't have an answer for ya, but maybe what Shane or
I wrote above might get you closer.
 
> Different strokes for different folks.  Nothing wrong with
that.
> Shane

sloetoe

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.