Been reading a book by a couple who purposefully overwintered in their steel-hulled sailboat in the ice in Antarctica (Time on Ice, Deborah Shapiro and Rolf Bjelke, International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 1998). A good read for those interested in polar stuff. But what got me going was their reaction to "rejoining" the human race. They were so "detuned" by their isolation that they found even print ads in newsmagazines too much stimulation. And, it was so unique to speak face-to-face with members of their own species when the thaw began that they had a fresh perspective on the human race (not entirely favorable!). Anyway, this set me to wondering to what extent similar stuff happens to others when they are out alone (or, in small groups) in wild areas. I think I change when I have been out either solo or with one or two others for a couple weeks. I slow down. I contemplate more. I look at things around me with more care. I listen better to others. I become a nicer person, I think (he said, immodestly!). What about the rest of you? I know many others on this list have spent weeks as a twosome (the Dempseys, for instance) or a fewsome, anyway. What changes for you? I'm curious, because the value to me of wilderness travel is part the adventure, but also the "retreating" aspect, and until I read Deborah and Rolf's book, I had always thought it was the wildness and the adventure component of wilderness travel which attracted me the most. But, maybe it is "retreating" that is the real attraction. So, how does wilderness travel affect YOU? I'm curious. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger asked: > So, how does wilderness travel affect YOU? I'm curious. I've done a couple of trips that exceeded two weeks in length and have always had some difficulty returning to the "real world", paticularly the frenzy, traffic, instant and constant news and communication, and rampant commercialism. Once, I refused to read a newspaper for two weeks (during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal) after I returned, because I not only didn't care, but didn't want to know anything about that stuff. It's hard to stay isolated, though and I always gradually return to something of an appreciation for my fellow humans. It's almost like I've just had a religious experience and can't figure out why everyone else is still acting the same old way. I'm personally a much nicer person while I'm out on these trips than I am in everyday life - probably because I don't handle the stress of this busy life all that well and it's a lot easier to stay focused on just a few things when away from it. For me the "retreat" aspect of the trips is probably just as important as the "adventure" aspect. Roger Voeller Brookline, Massachusetts *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Things ( excuses) which I once believed: "Self-reliance".... while heavily armored and equiped with the synthetic wherewithal of the petrochemical industries back home.(My plastic canoe, Goretex parka, maps created by satellites, deposited in the "wilderness" by a floatplane which will be back in 6 weeks, if I don't activate my EPIRB beacon ) "The unknown"...to my chagrin I have found that some of those "blank-spots on the maps"which I have hungered to see since childhood, look a lot like places I have already seen (the central Barrens look suspiciously like western Nebraska after a wet spring). "Solitude"... well we did get 20 days to ourselves in Northern Saskatchewan. It made me wish for 200 days, though I was beginning to dream of a cold micro-brewed beer toward the end. "Becoming 'disconnected' from the daily prattle of modern life....well, it's not much comfort knowing that it will all still be there when you return"...like a 36 hour pass from prison. Excuses that I still use: Beats work. Rather spend my summers in northern Canada now. My retirement can be spent sitting in a urologists office, wearing diapers, while discussing treatment options for a malevolent prostate. Excuses that I use with co-workers: "Hell, you have to admit that I am less "grim" in the weeks AFTER Canada, than the weeks BEFORE." :) Rich Dempsey *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
After a 5 day solo hiking trip in the Sierra's last summer, I thought I was going to have to park the jeep and have someone come and get me, as I got back into Los Angeles. I was in the right lane, doing 50, and terrified of the cars passing me by at 60, 70, 80 or more, changing lanes, tailgating, no turn signals, etc. It only took me 5 days to get desensitized to the brutality of a L.A. freeway. White knuckled, I made it home, but a nervous wreck. Seemed to negate the positive effects of my 5 day trip. -Nick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 03:57 AM 4/19/00 -0700, Dave Kruger wrote: > >Anyway, this set me to wondering to what extent similar stuff happens to others >when they are out alone (or, in small groups) in wild areas. I think I change >when I have been out either solo or with one or two others for a couple weeks. >I slow down. I contemplate more. I look at things around me with more care. >I listen better to others. I become a nicer person, I think (he said, >immodestly!). I've been thinking about this as the thread has gone on through the day. On some trips in the past, I've found myself slowing down and becoming much more receptive to the peace and environment, and have a difficulty readjusting to a normal pace and information flow. It doesn't happen every trip; I can have a full dose of it after a solo daytrip. On the other hand, a week on Isle Royale last fall mostly left me with a feeling on needing to get on to the next thing. For me, I think that the size of the group, and the dynamics of the group have a lot to do with it; the group that I went to Isle Royale with last fall, while fun, was a little too talkative and diverse for me to open the psychological door to the backcountry. >I'm curious, because the value to me of wilderness travel is part the >adventure, but also the "retreating" aspect, and until I read Deborah and >Rolf's book, I had always thought it was the wildness and the adventure >component of wilderness travel which attracted me the most. But, maybe it is >"retreating" that is the real attraction. I'm quite certian that it's the "retreat" aspect that draws my attention. Being out in the natural world brings me down to a level of basics that I need every now and then. Adventure, in terms of adreneline pumping is near the bottom of the scale. The problem is that I can rarely get out solo long enough to test myself. I have the dream of doing a major solo trip somewhere, before I get too old. I don't know where, and the dream keeps changing. Last winter, I was thinking down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans (the draw of the warm weather is obvious.) But that might not be the final solution, and I don't know where I'd find the time in the next fifteen years short of quitting my job. But I'm not looking for a high adventure sort of thing -- but for the retreat factor. I sure envy the people that can make those sort of trips. -- Wes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
For those of you who are more than mildly interested in the effects of long periods of isolation in nature, look into the many first-hand accounts of the dozen or so single-handed sailors who took part in the _Sunday Times_ sponsored Golden Globe race around the world, circa 1970(?). The idea was to leave Plymouth, England and round the the three capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn, without putting in anywhere; the first back to receive a golden globe, and the fastest to receive 5,000 pounds sterling. It was such a disaster that this race was never attempted again, to my knowledge. Bernard Moitessier could have pulled it off, but after rounding the Horn he was terrified to go back to the world of men, so sailed another half way around the world finally putting in at Tahiti out of necessity. Another (whose name I don't recall) slowly went mad and apparently just stepped off the rear of his trimaram; his boat was found with his very weird logs undecipherable (thought he was God or something). Loick Fougeron committed suicide within months of his return. Bill King never sailed again. The winner, Robin Knox-Johnston, was examined by a psychiatrist after his return and was pronounced "distressingly normal". Go figure. Most of them didn't have radio, and those that did found them unreliable, so most/all were out of contact of society for many months. Moitessier's account is probably the most poetic, but at the end of his book _The Long Way_ he gets very weird and is writing letters to the Pope. All accounts are very interesting reading and bizarre, even Knox-Johnstons, probably the only one in the race who came through it sane. I could probably work up a reading list if anyone is interested? -Nick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Oh I guess a few people might be mildly interested in the topic. Like pigeons in a winter's park clustering around the park bench guy throwing bread crusts. :) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Von Robison" <n.v.rob_at_deltanet.com> To: "Dave Kruger" <dkruger_at_pacifier.com> Cc: "PaddleWise" <PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net> Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2000 7:26 PM Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Wilderness: Isolation or Adventure? > For those of you who are more than mildly interested in the effects of long periods > of isolation in nature, look into the many first-hand accounts of the dozen or so > single-handed sailors who took part in the _Sunday Times_ sponsored Golden Globe > race around the world, circa 1970(?). The idea was to leave Plymouth, England and > round the the three capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn, without putting in > anywhere; the first back to receive a golden globe, and the fastest to receive > 5,000 pounds sterling. It was such a disaster that this race was never attempted > again, to my knowledge. > I could probably work up a reading list if anyone is interested? > > -Nick > > > > > > > *************************************************************************** > PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not > to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission > Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ > *************************************************************************** > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger wrote: > So, how does wilderness travel affect YOU? I'm curious. > Back in '89, after a grueling summer of far too much overtime, I took a long break. I started it with a one week solo canoe trip in Algonquin. It was early October. Snow almost every day (flakes only - only two days resulted in any accumulation and it was melted by noon.) Mostly cold, very high winds (forced me to shorten my trip in distance) and lots of rain. The middle three days I saw no one. On arriving at Burnt Island Lake at the end of those three days, I stood on the shore with my binoculars scanning the three campsites on the far shore that had signs of life. I felt comfort in just seeing someone. I found that such an extended trip in total isolation produced a _profound_ sense of lonelyness. That surprised me. I am more or less a friendly loner. I'd taken solo cycling trips before. However, cycling puts you in constant contact with strangers; it's not isolating. When I finished, I told myself I'd never do that again. Since then, I've taken only one kayak trip alone - three days/two nights in Massassauga Prov.Park in late Sept. (though I do lots of solo day trips.) Long trips with others are very therapeutic for me, both mentally and physically. Time away clears my nasal passages (there's something in the city that irritates or I'm mildly allergic to; ragweed and stuff in the wilderness seems to relieve that :-) In Nahanni, I found myself a changed person. I don't know why that trip had a greater effect on me than others. Most trips. like hiking in the Queen Charlottes several years ago, mellow me. But the Nahanni trip really changed me. When I returned, I felt really invigorated. I had lost a few inhibitions - singing, for example. I never sing in public. To ward off the bears,we were advised to sing, clap hands etc to make noise. I sang the Teddy Bear Picnic song - to the point that the others kept begging me to stop. After three days, everyone else was singing it. Maybe it was doing a trip that, to many canoeists, is one of the "ultimate" trips. Maybe it was the people I was with. Maybe it was just the spectacular nature of the area. Nahanni was also the last time I was in a canoe. The weekend after I returned, I bought my kayak. I guess I was fed up with dealing with the idiot in the bow (or stern) seat and kayaking a single freed me from that. Solo canoeing is a pain; solo kayaking is fun (mostly because of the wind). I long to get out of the city and into the wilderness. I sleep better in a tent on a Thermarest than in my own bed. Is it isolation or adventure? I've experienced the isolation and can't really deal with it. I need people. Travelling with others is an adventure, even if a small one. I just came back from a week in the Dominican Republic at a five star resort. Three days of scuba, some sailing on a Hobie Cat, boogie boarding, wandering on the beach etc. Didn't really like it(other than the diving). Not my style. Too many fat Canadian and German tourists in horribly unflattering bathing suits. Too many smokers and drunks. I'd rather be on the shores of Ellesmere Island planning the day's paddle to the next campsite. Forget the predictable tourist spots; give me the enjoyment of the wilderness, where I can rely only on myself and the few people I travel with. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:12 PDT