Woods Wanderer

Last week my grandson John and I backpacked a short distance into the Breadloaf Wilderness, then set up camp along the headwaters of the New Haven River. Ours was a five-minute bushwhack from the trail to the stream. I had discovered the sweet spot during a day hike there the week before. I had etched a mark in a tree along the trail so that I could find the spot again. John found that amusing.

Even though it was John’s first backpacking trip (he’s done plenty of hiking and car camping), I loaded him up with food and gear. He’s a strong swimmer, biker and runner who does triathlons. He’s also nearly 50 years younger than me, so he carried 34 pounds to my 27. Next time he’ll carry more. Grandpa’s sherpa.

Since it was his first time backpacking, I showed him how to locate a good campsite, sling a food bag in the trees, pump water to purify it, and all the other small tasks associated with backcountry camping. Before leaving the house, I had showed him how to layout gear before an outing and pack it up. John’s a smart young man. He’ll remember most of what I taught him.

Before cooking dinner on my camp stove, I did a little fly fishing. That freed John for at least an hour from my constant yapping. He lounged in his hammock right next to the stream while I plied it for brook trout. I looked over once to see him eyes closed and smiling as he grooved on the sound of rushing water. No doubt he liked our remote campsite in the wild forest as much as I did.

After dinner we built a small fire and maintained it well into the night. Even though we had stripped bark from the wood we had collected earlier, it was still damp from the rainfall the day before. As a result, maintaining the fire was a lot more work than expected. But John got into it. He’ll be the fire-building expert next time he goes camping with his friends, no doubt.

In the morning we built another campfire after breakfast. But we hadn’t collected enough mid-sized sticks to get it going properly so it kicked out a lot of smoke. Lesson learned. Then we broke camp, making the campfire circle disappear along with any trace of us having been there.

The hike out was a little too short and easy. Next year we’ll do a longer hike, going deeper into the wild. I’m sure we’ll both enjoy that.

Tags: backcountry ethics, backpacking, campfire, wilderness camping

Once again, I have put together a collection of philosophical essays that appear at the on-line platform, Medium.com. Some of you may recall the previous collection, Confronting the Unknowable, released in 2023. This time I’ve gone deeper into metaphysical matters while trying to keep my speculations as simple as possible. Contemplating the Boundless touches upon natural order, cosmic evolution, consciousness, infinity, and a host of other head-scratching subjects. I skip along the razor’s edge between reason and mysticism. Here’s proof positive that I’m way out there in left field.

Some of these short essays are available only on my profile page at Medium. Others are in one of the publications that appear there: The Philosophy Hub, Illumination, Philosophy Today, Original Philosophy, and Mystic Minds. I haven’t reprinted everything I’ve put out there. The essays in Contemplating the Boundless are the better ones, I think. But what do I know.

Even though I’ve been posting my work at Medium for six years running, I still have mixed feelings about this platform. Publishing there has forced me to make my work more accessible to the general reader. That strikes me as both good and bad. The stats I get from Medium regarding the readership and appeal of any given piece I publish are encouraging at times and humbling at others. Furthermore, the responses to my work are often more off-the-wall than the work itself.

At any rate, this book is now available at Amazon.com. It can also be purchased at my website, woodthrushbooks.com. Check it out.

Tags: essays, metaphysics, nature, philosophy