The list of activities includes bike rides, trail runs, hikes, rock climbing, yoga, disc golf, and chess. Accommodations include luxurious patches of earth upon which you may stake your tent or tie up your hammock. Weeks of increased duties at work and a long list of other stressors have me looking forward to a night under the stars with maybe even a fire to ward off the spring chill. Perhaps my dusty mountain bike will be dusty because I’m riding it in the dirt instead of because it’s been sitting in the garage, untouched for weeks. Perhaps yoga on the lawn will be the restorative elixir I need to decompress and find balance, literally, in my life. I’m looking forward to a weekend at Hazel Valley Ranch for Mayfest in the Mountains.
Since Joe made his first trip to the ranch last year, I’ve been anxious to see it for myself, admittedly in part because of these guys.
And this.
This will be one our first chances to break out the camping gear this year, but it won’t be the last. Our last night under the stars was spent spying them through the windshield of the truck as we slept at a trailhead rather than set up a full camp. Spring and early summer temperatures seem to make everyone yearn to drag out the camping gear and head for the wilderness or at least somewhere with enough trees to hang a hammock or two or three.
Some of us go in search of solace, some in search of solitude, some in search of adventure, all of us go in search of communion with our natural world. It’s time to pop up the tents, clean the dutch ovens, and get the kids who are growing too tall too quickly new sleeping bags. Backpacks will be packed and repacked checking for weight and balance. Meals will be dehydrated, maps will be studied, routes will be planned, and cars will be loaded with gear as we head out to the trails in search of whatever it is that draws us there.
