The Call of the Wild and Recreation

For whatever reason, I have been spending a lot of time studying both the book and film, "Into The Wild". This is the story of a bright, college educated (Emory University) and relatively privileged young man who died at the age of 24 of starvation in the Alaskan bush near Denali National Park. Christopher McCandless (the young man) was an idealist and had rejected his family and disappeared into the vastness of the American west after his graduation from college.

He spent two years travelling as a "foot tramp", working odd jobs and camping mostly on the fringe of small cities and towns. He made occasional treks into the wilderness prior to his "Alaskan adventure" but did not really do any serious long-term ventures in the wilderness. Although it depicts him kayaking in the Grand Canyon in the movie, if you read the book (Jon Krakauer), you will find that his travels were in an aluminum canoe in the flat lower stretches of the Colorado river and eventually in the Gulf of California.

He read Thoreau and Jack London amongst others, who both championed the wilderness and man's experience of it. Thoreau's approach was based upon his direct experience and philosophical, whereas Jack London wrote romantically about Alaska while living a sedentary life in California. I will write again about Chris McCandless and my take on the lessons to be learned from his life stance and misfortunate accidental death but in this blog, I want to elaborate about wilderness.

Why does this story grasp me? I have always loved the wilderness and the "west". I used to imagine living in remote Canada or Alaska when I was a teenager in suburban Buffalo, NY. My first camping trip to Allegany State Park in 1969 with my boy scout troop was a transformative experience for me. I worked five summers at Camp Ti-Wa-Ya-Ee and attended the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry as way to live and work in the outdoors. My first job after college was in the Adirondacks where I lived for almost six years. Most of my time in real wilderness occurred in the Adirondacks where I hiked, camped, skied and snowshoed. As my economic circumstances improved, I began to travel out west when I could. I have driven and spent time outdoors through out the Rocky Mountain West, Desert Southwest and Pacific Northwest.

The wilderness is both incredibly beautiful and life threatening at the same time. I remember being awake at night in my tent in Yellowstone in the early fall of 1997 and listening to large animals (Elk in rut mostly) moving through the campground at night. This was my first night of camping where all that separated myself from a Grizzly bear was a thin fabric. There was both joy and fear and living in the moment. When you are listening for Grizzlies your mind is cleared of lots of the usual garbage that takes up its time.

In Steven Covey's book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", Covey lays out the demands upon our time (and mental energy) on a grid that looks at importance versus urgency. In the quadrant where importance is high and urgency is low, you will find both "relationship building" and "recreation". Covey goes on to describe what he means by recreation and talks about the renewing or refreshing properties of real recreation. I believe that spending time in the wilderness is powerful because of its ability to leave us refreshed or renewed.

In the wilderness, whether it's a desert sky or mountain vista, it is easy to see the world without humanity and modernity. It is easier to see and experience the more elemental or basic needs of living. It is easier to shed, if even for a moment or two, the mental conceptions and burdens that we and others with our compliance have placed upon ourselves.

When you have been working hard at creating and it seems to be getting harder to make progress, it is often time for renewal or recreation.

My friend and business associate Evan Smith, used to regularly remind our clients of Abe Lincoln's wisdom on tree cutting; When you find that the cutting is getting tougher, it is time to stop and sharpen the saw. Do you take time to sharpen the saw?