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Are You a Risk?

Meditative Hiker
Meditative Hiker

“Are you driven to answer the beckoning call of nature –to totally immerse yourself into it, forgoing the comforts of home just to walk on some long winding, rocky, and hilly trail somewhere? When you feel closer to nature and strip yourself of much of the material comforts and barriers to being in nature, do you feel an inner peace, even momentarily or for extended spells, that you are closer to the creator? Are you making simple useful items instead of buying them? Have wondrous thoughts on the trail but really cannot translate them into words or choose not to as the task of describing them is huge and the vision may not be correctly captured? Reading book after book about others’ experiences in nature? Letting household chores slide some so you can get on the trail or canoe or kayak to some remote spot? Enjoy sleeping out in your own backyard? … These are all serious symptoms of a major disorder.”

I came across these lines on the Internet years ago, when I was just starting my near-fanatical love of hiking and they still resonate with me today. If you’re curious about their source, they came from a website called Risk’s Ultralight Hiking, which was (it’s vanished) a treasure trove of backpacking trip reports, MYOG instructions, hammock resources, and hyperlinks.

Savor that first paragraph for a moment. Are you a risk?

6 comments

  1. The household chores have definitely been neglected and I am reading this blog about someone’s experience in nature. I’m at serious risk and need help…I’ll go hiking this weekend!

  2. Ha…yup. I am a risk…I would much rathet be hiking than do chores at home.

  3. Hi, I’m Grandpa and I’d rather be hiking than working…

    and…

    NO, I DON’T NEED A CURE!

  4. Pretty ridiculous article. Just because someone has a strong desire to do something and ( oh my God! ) neglects their “chores” doe NOT mean they have a “major disorder”. I cannot wait to get back in the woods and to my beloved Backpacking adventures in NH.

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