actions peak louder than words

ali | 21 | tx | 

[a-beginner-on-the-trail]

Jan. 21, 2021

This semester in college, I decided to throw caution to the wind and take a class I’m actually interested in! The class is called Leisure and Outdoor Recreation and we’re going to be learning super useful information! We’ll also be reading a book called Desert Solitaire, which I’m excited about. 

In today’s online lesson, our professor told us about the four phases of the outdoor recreation experience. I thought this was interesting so I’m making sure to jot it down. 

The four phases are:  

Anticipation (I’m definitely in this!), Planning, Participation, Recollection 

Anticipation: the person thinks of doing the activity, reads about the activity, eagerly awaits. I’m definitely doing all three of these things! Plus I’m watching a lot of great outdoor advice channels on Youtube. 

Planning: preparation, gathering necessary equipment, travel arrangements, education and/or social. I would not say I’m in this, because I really don’t have any set plans for what I want to hike or backpack yet. 

Participation: the actual experience

Recollection: thinking, telling, showing experience; oral or written; photos; no time limit to this phase. 

He also mentioned that Anticipation is one of the most important phases because, especially in the times we’re in, having this anticipation can improve your outlook, and keep you going mentally. 

[a-beginner-on-the-trail]

A channel I have really been paying attention to this past week, Homemade Wanderlust. Dixie is super thorough and helpful in her backpacking advice and I’m learning a lot of good stuff. I know I’ll be continuing to watch her channel. 

Some things I took away from this video:

- Do not bother taking a towel when backpacking. If you do end up going for a swim, I believe she suggested just taking a bandana... much more lightweight 

- Really the only clothes that should be taken are your hiking clothes, sleeping clothes, rain gear, and depending on weather, a puffy and whatever other warm gear (WILL be seeking more info on this all of course)

- No Nalgene bottles needed. Super interesting for me to hear as I always suspected that’s what you use!

- Most people end up ditching their soap and deodorant 

- Phones are completely acceptable for camera usage 

[a-beginner-on-the-trail]

Here are some of the things I took away from this extremely helpful video (Thanks GearTest Outdoors!). It’s really just a list of things to consider backpacking with that I hadn’t thought much of before seeing this video. 

- Your own first aid kit in plastic baggy (Advil included, hmm)

- Use smart water bottles as water bottles? (Which I read further into and apparently they are compatible with Sawyer filters (a water filter I will need to look further into using. They are tall and slender which makes it easy to fish them out of the side pockets of most backpacks. Smartwater bottles are durable despite being disposable)

- Emergency poncho (like $1)

- Long stemmed spoon

- Gallon ziplock bag (for trash)

- Sit pad (can be made out of cheap mats)

- 20 gallon trash bag (as a liner inside backpack) 

- Bandana 

- Synthetic sleeping bag (a sleeping bag is a must-have, obviously, and I know that where I want to hike, it’ll need to be warm, so I’m including the word synthetic to make sure I look into that)

[a-beginner-on-the-trail]

Jan. 17, 2021

Sitting here, writing this, knowing full well that Tumblr is probably not the place to be blogging about something I want to take seriously, but doing it anyway.

I got into hiking last summer when there were so many things on my mind, I could barely stand to sit around and think them. So I realized that maybe I needed to be thinking things through actively. That is, at least doing something active whilst my thoughts encircle me. I felt like that would be taking a step in a healthier direction, physically and mentally. And yes, most definitely, spiritually. 

So I made last-minute plans to join a group of hikers on their ascent of Mt. Sherman, a 14er in Colorado. I’d done two different 14er peaks the year before, and wasn’t sure yet if I was all that into it, but I knew I really needed to get out of my then-current environment for a bit and just hike. So I did. And then I went on to peak Colorado 14ers three more times that summer. No, that's not that many, but I couldn’t resist any opportunity that came up to do so. And now, back home in Texas, and for the past 6-7 months, all I can think of is being back in those mountains... hiking, backpacking, camping, road tripping. I want it all, all the time. 

Now here I am. And I plan on blogging about some of the books I’m reading (hiking/camping manuals, wilderness survival, hiking memoirs, cautionary tales, etc.), videos I’m watching (backpacking advice, women in the wilderness, etc.), my plans to prepare and train myself for backpacking/camping.

I have a lot to learn. I have no shame in saying I have almost no idea what I’m doing. No shame in calling myself a rookie, a wannabe. But I want to start something that’ll change my life and I need to start now.