I spend much of my life online, something I once reveled in, but have always sought to balance by disconnecting and going outdoors. This year, 2018, I made the longest solo backpack trip I’ve managed since Ann sagged me on the Continental Divide Trail in 2004. On that trip my longest stretch between resupplies was eight days, an experience that transformed me mentally and physically in ways I never anticipated. Last August I wondered what I was in for this time when Ann dropped me off near Cove, Oregon for six days on my own in the Willowa range. There were much different questions in my head on this trip. How would my mind handle being offline? Does time alone in the mountains always heal and refresh, and how does that happen when it does? I took a notebook to record any answers that might come to me. Here are the pages from that notebook and some pictures from the trip.
2 responses to “A handful of days disconnected in the Willowa mountains”
What a wonderful Christmas present: reading your journal and enjoying the visuals of your backpack trip on Christmas morning! Thank you! And I love that photo of you and Ann at the end. Ann looks so relieved!!
It was a pleasure, Merry Christmas!