If you're thinking of hiking up Slickrock Creek Trail in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness, I have some advice for you: don't do it.
I'm pretty sure that hike was the most miserable hike of my life. I'm also pretty sure I'm going to have scars from that hike. The trail was completely overgrown with rhododendron and blackberries and briars and my legs looked like they were the loser in a fight with some barbed wire. My arms weren't much better and I think my feet will never forgive me for that day.
I was never this worried before about venturing into the wilderness. I wasn't sure if it was because everyone else's fears of the wilderness were seeping into me, or if it was because my general anxiety about the world was increasing, or if it was just that I was venturing into wilder and more remote places and, honestly, that's scary.
When was the last time I'd backpacked alone? And I mean really and truly alone - no Ryder pup, not even other hikers nearby. I was out there in the wilderness and I felt completely alone. I was acutely aware of every noise in the forest around me and I realized I was never this worried before about venturing into the wilderness. I wasn't sure if it was because everyone else's fears of the wilderness was seeping into me, or if it was because my general anxiety about the world was increasing, or if it was just that I was venturing into wilder and more remote places and, honestly, that's scary. But I had to take this leap of faith. I had to prove to myself that I could be alone in the wilderness and that it would be alright.
Raising active, curious, outdoorsy kids
I can't exactly say I grew up outdoorsy. I grew up loving the outdoors in a house with good acreage. I had field guides and knew the names of all the trees and the underbrush on our property, and at night I lay in the long grass of the old horse pasture and connected the stars into constellations, but I wasn't the type to pack trail mix and head out to the mountains on the weekends. Most of the outdoorsy people I knew spent their time in a deer stand, or else they were outdoors all the time for work and so there was no point in spending any leisure time outside. I didn't figure out that I craved to be out on the trail until after college when I nearly went stir-crazy cooped up in a cubicle. From the trail to the rock wall to the race course, I've found my best moments are the ones I spend outside, and now my friend Emily and I want to share that with her children.
