What drives your outdoors experience?

k_estela

k_estela

Co-Moderator, Wilderness and Survival Skills Forum
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What drives your outdoor experience? In other words, what is your motivation to go outdoors? For some, gadgets such as knives, flashlights and firearms drive them. For others, the experience of being in the outdoors is all that is needed. Others still are driven by challenging skills not yet mastered.

In my lifetime, I've been driven by all three. I recall my teenage years when I carried a Buckmaster on my belt and thought I was invincible. I could walk into the woods alone and accomplish anything (or so I thought) as long as I had that knife. I also recall times when I just wanted to see a place and experience it as I read about it in books. I remember traveling to Baxter State Park in Maine for the first time and hiking Katahdin. That trip was driven by a single purpose, hiking the knife edge trail on the way to the top. Mostly now I'm driven by elusive skills. I continually try new skills out and see what works in theory and what works in practice. I find gear and experiences still make me do what I do but I'm trying to get away from these and direct my attention on the skills that allow me to do more with less.

So, what makes you do what you do. Time for a self-evaluation. Does the gear inspire you, skills or destinations?
 
no simple answer.

maybe...the peace that comes after the effort is like no other.

maybe.



Kis
 
sounds wacky but being outdoors for me is what I imagine church to be like for other folks..It seems to me like the answer to a question I've always had but could never put into words.... and the sharp things are cool as well.
 
2008.04.29.R0015450.JPG

Clear sky and dramatic weather
Beautiful wild animals
Check and see my own physical limit

I love mountaineering, various climbing, hiking, birding, bike-riding and back country skiing.
 
Just the joy of getting away for me, and the experience of being outdoors. I'm in love with the Sierra mountain range almost as much as I am my wife.
 
I feel a little like what RescueRiley said. It's a very soothing experience to the soul. As I get a little older, it's sharing that experience with my kids and the chance to practice or learn new skills is another more recent motivator.

It's funny you mention that big-ass Buckmaster Keven. I still have mine and my son thinks it's one of the best knives in my collection. We grew up on different coasts, but I would often strap on that monster knife and head out into the woods thinking I could survive anything as well:D

ROCK6
 
Great Question Kevin...

I like to get out and Test new Knives and Equipment as well as test myself.

I also appreciate the "woods" for the calm I feel inside while I'm there.Strange to explain-although I'm POSITIVE we all feel it to some degree(and I'm at a loss to understand those folks that tell me they HATE to go camping/backpacking because they are afraid of the OUTDOORS??)

I also like knowing that each time I go--I learn something new..(either about myself or the woods)

Dr.Bill
 
  • The experience of being surrounded by the natural world
  • A sense of adventure
  • The ability to wind down and truly appreciate the value of small comforts - a fire, warm food and drink, peace and quiet
  • The inability to check my email
  • The inexplicable fact that coffee brewed over a smouldering camp fire on a misty morning beside a glacial lake always tastes better than the same coffee brewed in the heart of a metropolis.

Playing with knives factors in there somewhere too.

All the best,

- Mike
 
I enjoy the outdoors because I am a maladjusted misanthropic misfit.

I think it's the sounds and smells really. We're so sterilized in urban and suburban life. The same sounds, the same smells, be they of machinery, cars, perfumes, etc.

I just like to sit there, listen to the wind through the leaves, the trees creak, the water run by, the fire crackle. Smell the different plant life, smell the bacon frying in the skillet. Heck, when I lived up north, I loved the smell of the dirt -- we had tons of the thick black topsoil, and it's a smell you just don't forget. One of my favorite sounds is the crunch of snow underfoot.

Skills are nice. Gear is fun. But the being there is what does it for me.
 
I think for me it is knowing that I can be indepenent and the feeling of freedom that comes with it. The adventure of knowing that ( I feel LOL )
that if something were to happen I would fair alright as where others would might not make it to see the next sunrise.

And I like to cut wood and the smell from the campfire is just awesome. so that really drives me to get out there to LOL.


Bryan
 
I can echo nearly everything said by everyone.

For me it is the tranquility, the scurrying of a couple chipmunks playing, the snorting and digging of a badger making a den, the weeze of a whitetail doe with her fawn as she stares me down, the rippling of water of a rocky river bed...

Fall time is the best for me. The new senses that come from the smell of the changing seasons, the leaves that change color, the sound they make as they dry out and are blown by the wind. It is because of what is mentioned that drives me to practice more with gadgets and knives to better my skills, but ultimately, it is just being out there in any way that drives me.
 
I've always found my peace outdoors. I guess it's my church as well.

If a person believes in a God, why would they choose to worship him in a building that man built instead of a wilderness that God built. Thats how I've always felt anyway.
 
When I get out whether it's fishing, hiking, or camping there are a bunch of different reasons like you stated. Whether its my continual quest for that big bass, or to see whats around the next curve of the trail, or to practice skills, One thing is always constant though; my mind is always clear and free from the every day BS of life , work, bills, etc.
 
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RescueRiley said:
being outdoors for me is what I imagine church to be like for other folks
Click to expand...

RR sums it up for me :thumbup:

"If you study life deeply, its profundity will seize you suddenly with dizziness . . .
"Let a man once begin to think about the mystery of his life and the links which connect him with the life that fills the world, and he cannot but bring to bear upon his own life and all other life that comes within his reach, the principle of Reverance for Life." A. Schweitzer

when i'm out in the woods my head begins to spin if i contemplate what i'm looking at - the level of complexity in even a forest that's been cut-over in the last century is mind-blowing
 
My dad was a good dad. Well IS, he's still alive, but when we were kids one of our activites was hiking. He had grown up hunting and hiking the woods, collecting arrowheads, trapping etc. When we were little we used to hike up above our house to Elephant Rock where you could see the whole town. Later we went on long hikes to the Devils Tea Table a rock formation back in the woods a few miles from our house. We'd also go other places and hike and hunt when we got older.

In the spring we'd go on a hike to get sassafras to brew up sassafras tea.

Once the sap was flowing he'd take us out to cut Paw Paw saplings and we'd make paw paw whistles. You cut a ring around the stem and pull off a "tube" of bark. Then you carve the whistle part into the wood, carve a hole in the bark for the whistle hole and slide the bark back on. Cool.

I guess it was part that was always his interest and part that we were not really well to do but we did a lot of free stuff. He'd take us to state parks, hiking, museums, teach us about the pioneers and history and stuff.

My maternal grandfater was also into the woods and ramp digging and any time we'd go to visit him a hike and lore about the pioneers was part of the activities, playing with guns, showing us his knives etc.

So I guess it's in my blood:D:thumbup:

But- My dad never went backpacking and was never much into camping. He was big into hunting but I think I have taken a greater interest in foraging and stuff than he did and also hiking long distances and orienteering.

It's weird that I picked up his interests in the outdoors, guns, and liberal politics but he was a huge sports fan and neither my brother and I were even slightly interested in sports.
 
The majestic views. When I am huffing and puffing up a trail, and see that valley below me, or a beautiful lake, I am literally overjoyed.

Generally, where I hike, they don't care if you have a knife in your pocket. You use it, that's another story.
 
Growing up , we went fishing alot and I remember the peace of the outdoors and Family time... I want my son to enjoy the outdoors and stop to smell the roses per say...to much electronic do dads to pacify a child to never want to step foot outside much less take a trip to the creek. I taken my son fishing/camping/outdoor excursions every chance I get..
I love the Family time/Peace/ solitude the outdoors brings to me & or Family !
 
Im still in school but I camp to get away from it all... that may sound very elderly but it is true. I really hate school - I hate the schedules, the discipline and being constantly assessed and judged.
I much prefer to be out alone or with a best friend just doing things at my own pace, if I don't feel like hiking I won't. The wondrous feeling of freedom is immense for me, I love being able to control what I want.
 
I like getting out for the simple reason that it gives me a chance to forget about life`s little problems. I can sit out there for hours and relax, and just enjoy being alive.

John
 
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