As I’ve delved more and more into the broader online community, I’ve been confronted with a bit of a crisis of identity. Like a teenager moving to a new town, I am unmistakably a part of the student body at my new school, and I’m pretty good at getting along with most everybody, but the cliques are apparent – and I’m not entirely sure where I belong. Ultimately, that’s quite alright – “Be Yourself” is good advice no matter who you are – but as someone who treasures the natural world, I’ve definitely been forced to ask myself “WHY?” and “Which community do I belong to?”.
There’s a broad spectrum of “outdoors” people.
Preppers / Survivalists: Some see nature as a test, a force to be overcome. These folks are focused on survival skills, and focus on the utility of everything around them, or what they brought with them. Nature is not a place to be entered into willingly, but the result of dire circumstances from which you must escape. To be fair, some survivalists are true lovers of the outdoors and communicate these skills as a necessary response to the unexpected, something you hope doesn’t happen, but understand might. Many, though, fall into the “prepper” category, developing a skill set for the coming collapse of civilization or a smaller “S#!t Hits The Fan (SHTF)” scenario, whether a natural disaster or the result of many possible (typically) Government conspiracy scenarios.
Bushcrafters: Arguably a subset of the survivalist community, bushcrafters are also focused on utilization, but have a more long-term mindset. These folks are less about getting out alive, and more about setting up homesteads and staying a while. I’ve been surprised to see how many of these people have built, or are building, what amounts to semi-permanent homesteads, where they base camp out of a shelter made of tarps and logs, and routinely go to cook and sleep. This strikes me as the adult equivalent of building a fort or hideout in the woods – and certainly it establishes a purpose and excuse for routine connection to nature. Many are well educated on uses of natural materials, edible wild plants, and the like. But in many cases I’ve seen tendencies to focus energy on knives and fire, only. There’s definitely an exploitative mindset here, about creating a fortress of solitude and comfort where there previously was none, but actual knowledge of NATURE is often (but not always) limited to knowing what burns easily, what fibers can be made into cordage, etc. These are useful skills, but I can’t help but cringe when I see somebody trek off into the woods and start chopping down trees to make a lean-to.
Hunters: Of course, there are also hunters. Hunters are by definition exploiters of resources, but I’ve got nothing against humans acting as predators. Folks who enjoy the hunt spend a lot of time outdoors as well, and in an attempt to understand prey behavior, actually develop more of a sense of the interactions between plants and animals, and have an easier time viewing nature as an ecosystem, than those focused on their own comfort.
Athletes: A good many people see nature as an unpredictable gym, and focus on things like how many miles to cover in a day, how high a summit they can reach. Unlike the bushcrafters, these folks – often by necessity – get pulled into the subject of “gear”. Efficiency is the name of the game, and carrying less and less to do more and more, quickly, becomes essential to the pursuit. There seems to be a constant focus on what’s in somebody’s pack, and how many ounces can one shave off. These are practical, necessary concerns for anybody looking at long duration, mobile adventures in the wilderness, to be sure. But I’ve noticed many long distance hikers who start to view the world, the trail, the next mountain, as something to be conquered, rather than experienced. People who don’t have the time to enjoy the view from a clifftop, because today is a 30-mile day, also seem to be the same people who drown their senses with headphones – passing through nature, but at the same time oblivious to it.
Explorers: Other people are interested in seeing as much as they can see, in as many different places as they can see. These folks are also driven by gear concerns, because optimization of load increases the ability to stay out farther, and longer. They may also tick off a checklist of conquests, but they tend to be around visiting places – mountains, waterfalls, historical relics – rather than achieving a personal best. In appreciating both the destination and the journey, there’s a great deal of the ecologist in many of these people.
Ecologists / Naturalists: Those who share the ecologist mindset are in it for immersion into a world that normally doesn’t rely on human presence or activity. They tend to tread lightly, are supporters of Leave No Trace (as are many of these other groups, to be sure), and seek to blend in, and disappear, so to speak. Perhaps viewed a polar opposites of the exploitative tendencies of those I list early in this compendium, these folks are your stereotypical tree-huggers, often carrying an interest in science or mysticism bordering on animistic religious belief (or a mix of the two). For all these differences, they share a strong sense of escapism with the bushcraft community, a desire to get away from modern civilization.
Short-Term Visitors / Weekend Warriors: These are typically your fair-weather fans, folks who have neither the desire or the inclination to be long term occupants of the wilderness, but who love to visit and appreciate an escape from human civilization, so long as a car full of gear and a flushing toilet can be kept within a reasonable distance. This is the most accessible form of outdoor pursuit to many people, and for many, this is enough. I can certainly appreciate this, and don’t begrudge the short-term nature of these engagements. It’s all many of us can do – and even those among us who want to be outdoors for weeks can often only manage the occasional dayhike or scenic picnic. No judgment here, as long as the transient visitors also show respect and can do it without leaving a pile of garbage behind.
So, given all these facets of the outdoor experience, I find myself asking – what am I?
I don’t really know… I’m definitely an explorer. I enjoy long-term immersion in the wilderness, and backpacking is my sport of choice (with canoe-trekking a close second). But while I am certainly proud of myself when I reach a challenging summit, I enjoy the journey. I’m definitely a Leave No Trace advocate – I get a lot of satisfaction about my ability to make a comfortable, but temporary, home for the night, and then leave the next morning to explore again, leaving no signs that I was there. BUT, I believe a campfire brings out more in us, spiritually, and in human-to-human connection, than a cook stove ever could. I am an advocate of knowing bushcraft and survival skills, both for convenience, and for dealing with the unexpected – but I practice these things only when it doesn’t conflict with my LNT convictions. I’m a scientist, an ecologist – I’m just as likely to get excited by watching an ant colony or an unusual plant as I am to enjoy mountaintop views. And yes, I think our wild ecosystems need protection. Day hiking is enough sometimes, because it has to be – even a short adventure is worth the time, and sometimes an appetizer is all you can afford, while the obligations of the real world keep you from splurging on the main course you may really want.
So I guess I’m a little bit of everything, depending on the day, the place, and who I’m with.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter why we get out, so long as we treat the outdoors with respect. All of the practitioners I’ve described generally acknowledge and appreciate the outdoors as a resource, whether that be physical, spiritual, or emotional. Out of that respect comes a desire and motivation to not mess it up.
Sadly there are those who selfishly think the outdoors is a playground, and nothing more. They are graffiti artists, trash haulers, slash and burn party animals who’ll tear up anything to have fun or get the right photo, with total disregard not only for the nature they presume to be enjoying, but for everybody else around them as well. Preservation of outdoor resources is unfortunately a controversial topic these days, particularly as those who view all resources as targets of extraction and wealth gain power. It takes effort to leave things alone, ironically, particularly when even in the best of times, public lands have to be “policed” in order to be protected from careless users.
Many of us are losing access to wild areas because a few don’t know how to behave themselves. There’s even a movement to stop posting online photos, because beautiful locations are drawing mobs of people who leave destruction in their wake. I’ll be clear there – I don’t think the photographer is to be held responsible for the copycat who trashes the place. In fact, sharing experiences and an appreciation of natural spaces is more valuable to their existence than letting the population be ignorant of them, as it takes a collective awareness to care about preserving those places. Hiding them, or refusing to share information, or blaming photographers for making a spot TOO popular leads to a ludicrous elitism. The actions of wannabe social media stars who abuse nature to get the right Instagram photo are to be held responsible for whatever abuse they cause. The problem is not that nature is beautiful, it’s that a lot of people are careless, and downright selfish. In this regard, we all need a little more LNT education, which will be the subject of some of my future posts.
In the meantime,
Get Out There
Flying Squirrel Outdoors 