The first outdoor adventure I really remember is when my girl scout troop (Maryland 1001, woot woot!) went camping around Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Most of the girls abandoned the tents to sleep in Volvo station wagons and I remember that the things I cared most about packing were several shades of lipstick (to play dress up with after hours of course). I probably had a pink Barbie sleeping bag or something, but I remember that I was required to have a mesh bag to string up my dishes in and that my parents bought that bag from Hudson Trail.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself at Hudson Trail a lot. Mostly because I was kind of a hippie and wanted to look like I could live in the wilderness at any moment. Yes, it might be third period geometry class, but I wasn’t happy unless it looked like at any time during the lesson, I could run out and live like a young wolf on the Appalachian Trail. I also frequented the store for actual products I could use while trekking, like my trusty Vasque boots (still going strong on my feet since 1995).
This weekend, I threw down several hundred dollars at Hudson Trail buying things like $50 Gore-tex hats that I hope keep the leeches from feasting on my head. That’s right, I’m heading to Nepal during the height of leech season. I also bought a lot of pink fleece, waterproofer, 100% Deet, a travel pillow that folds into the size of a tissue, and those ever so fetching zip off pants. I know, sounds like a Miss America check list.
What I love about Hudson Trail is that it feels like a store for real outdoors people. The ones who eat bark and summit Everest backwards. None of this soccer mom who likes to do yoga in the backyard nonsense. No, they cater to the real deal. And I’m definitely not saying that’s me, but I like to pretend it is when I’m buying leech blocker.
I'm the one in the raft with the bug net on my face, thus it looks like I am the girl without features. And yes, even in 1995, I was buying my bug nets at Hudson Trail.
I don’t know where my love of adventure travel comes from. Certainly some of it comes from my international parents who have both traversed the globe. And a part comes from plain old curiosity. But I attribute a lot of it to Deer Hill and my amazing leaders. I did Deer Hill (like Outward Bound or NOLS but cooler) when I was in 10th grade and trying very hard to figure out life. I was pretty sure the meaning of life was freedom, the Grateful Dead and cute boys, but I couldn’t be too sure. Deer Hill helped me realize that life is also about community, playing with dirt, and having fun!
Of course I also had this really hot counselor named Jason who wore a cotton shirt sleeve on his head, sun bleached shorts and carried an ice pick. I basically thought he was god. So that hot boy thing continued to ring true.
There were so many things that surprised and inspired me during my Deer Hill days. One, was that after a month of living, I only had a ziplock bag of trash. Now I take out a Santa Claus sized sack every week. Then, I had a tiny handful after a month. Amazing. I also learned that mountain goats love to lick pee. I learned that one the hard way of course. I was innocently heeding nature’s call behind a large rock when I was basically violated by mountain goats. But I recovered.
As I get set to go to Nepal in less than a month, I hope I can travel with the same curiosity and gung ho attitude I had when I was half my age!
Here I am cliff jumping from god knows how many feet. I was screaming loud enough to kill an entire village during that fall.
That speck on the left is a very tan 15-year-old me with a really big and heavy backpack. We're on the Continental Divide and I think I forgot the word shower at this point, but it was such a blast!
Jason, the man I thought could walk on water when I was 15.
![[del.icio.us]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Technorati]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://nakedthanks.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
