My boyfriend and I spent 27 hours hiking and camping in the back country of central Colorado this past June. 27 hours may not seem like a lot of time, especially if you've done it before but it was my FIRST time, and definitely not my last. And I realized that every part of those trips, each of those trips, is different for it's own reason. And you won't know until you go. The hike in was different from the hike out... The evening was different from the morning after. The temperatures, the smells, the thoughts in my head. Changed as the hours changed.
I thought about calling this post "Scared of Bears" but perhaps needed to get out of my own head. Our trip that weekend was kind of a gut and gear check for a longer trip we took to hike around the Beartooth/Absaroka Wilderness in Montana a few weeks later. And nothing to hide here: bears outside of a zoo are new to me. I'm confident that's true for many of you. You can laugh all you want but tell me how you feel when you come in contact with one. I've yet to do so. (Or had yet to do so at the time...) On our way back to civilization the next morning, we hiked near a large clearing north of Boulder Lake. The sun was high, the evening cold burned off quickly without a cloud in the sky. I saw two movements (brown, if I had to be specific) out of the corner of my eye. Without identifying what they were, my heart instantly jumped. I stopped, looked over at Jason and asked, "Honey, did you see that?" He stared off into the distance in the direction of my worry, paused, and said, "Yes, it's those two people we saw yesterday. They must have camped across the way." It was two people, hiking back out of the woods, just like us. No bears, no threat. Nothing to worry about. It made me think of often we allow ourselves to assume we know something and then take action based on false or missing information. It's our human instinct and our brains trying to be efficient by filling in the blanks with information we've learned (and perhaps never used!) and/or past similar experiences. And in the most dire of circumstances it helps us survive. In most day-to-day situations, it doesn't help us though. Have you considered getting curious next time you feel certain? What if you asked more questions (in your head or out loud) vs. making more statements? Share what happens. See you again soon.
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