It’s time for another Outdoor Blog Carnival …what is your dream hike? If money wasn’t an issue, if time away from loved ones, work, school, etc. wasn’t an issue, if there was nothing preventing you from going, what hike is your dream hike? That is this month’s theme. Let us know what your dream hike is.
My entry:
We all hike for some reason; exercise, meditation, exploration, companionship, achievement, solitude. My dream hike lasts about six or seven years; it’s a pilgrimage, a quest.
Part of the trail is a metaphoric path but we’ll be hiking and running and cycling and paddling our way over hundreds of real miles and spend a hundred or more real nights camping out.
Some sections of the hike are traveled with friends and some are traveled alone. We’ll see beautiful sights and the less picturesque. We’ll have heat, cold, sun, rain and snow. There will be inspiration and discouragement, achievement and failure, boredom and excitement.
We’ll walk on wild mountain trails trusting our comfort and safety to the skills we have learned and preparations we have made. We’ll paddle remote rivers and lakes and walk the sidewalks of cities. We’ll ride in buses and trains, fly in planes and drive in cars.
Our companions will start the hike leading us until we are able to lead them. We’ll enjoy the safety of numbers, of belonging to something bigger than ourselves but we’ll be able to stand on our own merits as an individual. We’ll begin as uncertain students and end as the confident teachers. We’ll grow and change in stature, mind and heart.
At every turn of the path we’ll encounter real and metaphorical dangers but a simple code will guide us to act as and become decent, contributing human beings. We’ll respect the places we go and the people we meet.
We’ll learn that the end of a journey only marks the beginning of another. We’ll carry forward a set of skills and experiences that will guide, inspire and help ourselves and others on every new journey.
My dream hike is no dream. I’ve guided quite a few hikers who have covered it. Metaphorical or actual the mileage is measurable, the experience is personal, the hike is real.
Millions of Scouts have taken my dream hike over the past century. It doesn’t matter where they live, who they are or what they have they cover the same ground from childhood to adulthood. Look beyond what you think you know about Scouting and see if you can understand what it offers. It’s ideology may be broader than you think and the advantages more valuable than you estimate.
It’s an exciting, unpredictable, rewarding journey I hope to travel again and again.