B.F.T.

 I'd like to begin my story by sharing some words from the noted author/hunter/conservationist/poet, Steven Rinella:

......"Nobody goes to an amusement park and several years later says, "Remember that roller coaster ride, that was fun." This is because that brand of fun was easily earned. You stood in a line, then sat down. Real fun must be earned, and often times the highest brand of fun is attained through intense struggle. Those earned experiences are the stories told for lifetimes......"

The Black Forest Trail first made my radar about a year ago. At the time, Kris and I were considering it as a trip for the two of us. The weather and  Providence had other plans and the trip never happened. Fast forward to the present day, and the trail continued to call. In need, perhaps selfishly, of some hardcore distraction, I began the process of preparing to have another go at it. This time, Aiden was on deck for the adventure. The short story on the BFT is rather simple.  It boasts 42 miles of legit back country terrain with the added nuance of 8,000 feet of elevation gains/changes. It is often regarded as the most rugged hiking available in the eastern United States. The internet has no shortage of information on it, so have at it, if you wish. How hard could it really be, right? People do this. YouTube is littered with videos detailing every aspect of all manner of people completing this hike. If they can do it, so can I. Maybe I wanted to test myself.  Maybe I wanted to test the trail and see if the hype was well founded. Either way, I found things I would have missed anywhere else. I witnessed strength, maturity, and wisdom uncommon among humans. None of it having anything to do with me.

Our plan was to complete the trek somewhere between 4-5 days. If it took six, so be it. Planning to be off the grid for any amount of time can be tricky. Add in the notion of being a parent, toting your 12 year old along, and things get considerably more complex......at least for me it did. I value the opportunity to place challenges in front of my kids, but surely there is a line of safety somewhere that shouldn't be crossed, isn't there? Kris reassured me we were not there yet, so off we went. What I'm not here to do is give you a report of what we carried, what we ate for dinner, and where we slept. I'll simply say we each carried just over 30 lbs of gear and hiked for just over 4 days. The finer details of the mile by mile journey belong solely to Aiden and I. 

For the first two days I held my own. As you might expect, I handled the strategic decision making; when to eat, where to sleep, where to and where not to walk. Yadda Yadda. While these may sound like minor details, I assure you, out there, a mistake can lead to dire circumstances very quickly. At some point, probably halfway through, subtle shifts began to take place. Aiden began to be more than my son or even more than my travel companion. He started to assert his opinions and began making sound decisions for the both of us. It truly became a collaborative effort, a partnership. He demonstrated superior map reading and navigation skills. He successfully procured water in difficult circumstances. He displayed an uncanny ability to understand remaining hours of daylight relative to distance(s) needed to be traveled. Around camp, he pulled his own weight sharing in all the chores and tasks that needed to be accomplished night after night. He truly became a force to be reckoned with. One that would not be denied success. 

In the end, I needed Aiden with me more than any map or piece of gear. I say with confidence that I would not have made it without his encouragement and ability to think clearly and communicate properly in a stressed moment.

The BFT belongs to us now. No one else will ever understand our unique experiences out there. Our struggles that created fun can never be erased. Perhaps the real beauty of this place lies not in its rugged reputation, nor in its rattlesnake dens or extreme mountainside descents or bear encounters. Its real majesty was making father and son into friends. Odd.....no YouTube video or trail review site mentioned that part.

The Yellowstone We Wanted

For more than a year and a half we planned. Phone calls, saving money, assembling gear, reading endlessly. We were seeking a set of experiences we could call wholly our own.

To find them, we would cram into a rented car and drive across nine states, into the 2.5 million acres of Yellowstone National Park. Whenever possible, our plan was to avoid the areas typically visited by roughly 5 million people a year. Most of whom see only what is visible from their vehicle.

 I'll tell you what is hidden here...intimidation.
Spend any amount of time in the back country and you quickly learn your meager place. I distinctly remember my first walk away from the roads and towards a body of water to capture an image. The immense silence a place like this brings to your ears is stunning. All around my feet were the signs of apex predators and evidence of consumed prey animals was often easily found.

You can read about bear attacks forever. You can bring along bear spray and be proficient with a firearm. It all goes out the window when you show up to your trail head and find this sign. Even more chilling with the hand written dates of other adventurers decorating it. I am proud to report of my family, that bearly (pun indented) a second thought was given to the task at hand. Into the back country we went! We were rewarded with amazing views, hidden mountain ponds, and not another soul for miles. We hiked this trail smack in the middle of the scribbled dates.

We were privileged to spend a day with MacNeil Lyons of Yellowstone Insight and Emil of Yellowstone Wild
We were educated and ushered into experiences only a few will ever see.

After watching this mother nurse and feed her cubs for over an hour, I said, "how can it get any better than this?!" The wolves answered my question in short order.

                               

The struggle for simple survival was placed on grand display for us. No theater has ever been more elegant. This pack of wolves had been on the move all morning, and apparently all that running makes a wolf hungry.

Amidst all the pageantry I was able to see my boys grow. Aiden expressed an interest in fly fishing. Being among the more technically demanding of outdoor pursuits, I was hesitant to foster his interest within the confines of a vacation. However, his persistence won out.

Having never fly fished before, we has able to land four trout in just a few outings during our stay. This is a MAJOR accomplishment for any fisherman, much less at eleven years old.

Evan can be seen in the following photos carrying an overnight pack equal to his own body weight. At 8 years old, he can now lay claim to two overnight treks into the back country with full packs.


Our additional explorations included the Badlands, Devils Tower, and Custer National Cemetery at the Battle Of The Little Big Horn.

This trip was the experience of ten lifetimes for my family.
We have a saying in our home..."Learn to be comfortable while being uncomfortable"
This trip taught us there are great rewards to be had if we can live this when it counts the most.

Haunted Hunting

Yesterday, Aiden and I participated in Pennsylvania's youth spring turkey hunt. Being beginners in any hunting venture, we were guided by a friend with a vast experience hunting the land we were bound for. It is with profoundly mixed and confused feelings that I tell you our trip did not end with the prototypical grip n' grin that now litters the social media of successful hunters.

I can say with confidence, this shared experience has brought Aiden and I closer together.

I took great delight in seeing his face LIGHT UP at the cacophony of  music the forest provides in the moments just before and during sunrise. The thunderous gobbles that grew louder with each role call of approaching birds served to create a welcomed and amazing tension in the tight quarters of our hiding spot.

I'll never forget his display of maturity and discipline as the days events played out. From his handling of a weapon properly in a remote area, to making critical decisions in a highly stressed moment. Even in the end when it became clear our goal would be unmet, he proceeded with grace and reflected on the amazing experience that he now owns forever. 

Neither Arden or I have been able to shake the sounds of incoming Toms since yesterday. Their collective songs will surely haunt us until further notice.

Not 'Fer Nuttin'

I’ve been searching for an ideal way to express myself on the topic that will follow.

Expressing one’s self on a sensitive issue is not an easy thing to do these days. Odd as it may be, communication is easier than ever before in the history of mankind, but I’m not sure we do it well.

A person I admire told me long ago that this blog will serve as a record of how I feel on any given topic. This person mentioned such a thing will be priceless one day for my kids to reference. So in the internet latent regime of memes, Instagram posts, and Facebook rants, here is my contribution on a matter of current events.

Recently there was another mass killing event at a public school. Too many people simply going about their daily life were murdered for what is surely no good reason. Murder is a sad reality of life on this planet, and has been around as long as humans have lived in community with one another. Even in the Bible, you only have to turn a few pages before you read a story of one brother killing another. My point: murder has always been here. Clearly the matter is nuanced nowadays and with good reason. Mass murder is a horrible thing for sure, and when visited upon innocent children it becomes even more egregious and evil. For better or worse, it seems that society wishes to find the solution for this problem in one of two ways:

1.       Mental health (laws, policies, etc.)

2.       Gun control     (laws, polices, etc.)

These may be the perfect ways to approach the problem, they may be the worst ways. Perhaps the solution exists in a combination of the two. I’ll be honest, I have no idea. In spending time writing this I simply wish to make the topic personal, and express my own thoughts on the matter.

Thought # 1: Creating new humans.

It is generally recognized that the modern internet came into being in 1990. The first iPhone was sold in 2007. Think of all the change that has resulted from just those two realities alone. Its reasonable to say that the proliferation of the internet and communication such as it is, has changed humans more in the past 20 years than ever before on the planet. More than the wheel. More than the automobile. More than the telephone or printing press. People are simply being re engineered (or influenced) to think and behave in new and different ways. I believe it would be foolish to consider this is not having an impact on mass killings, visa a vis those committing them.  

Thought # 2: Family structure

Families take on many new looks these days. No Mom, no dad. Step mom and or step dad. Two moms, two dads. And of course, any possible combination of all of the aforementioned. Its not for me to say where the right and wrong in these realities are, I’m simply saying such a varied approach to raising humans is a relatively new phenomenon in the spectrum of the family structure. One thing specifically I wish to point out…. Never before in American history have more families been required to send both parents into the workforce full time. With both parents working full time, at often 2-3 jobs, I have to believe this has a profound impact on the humans we are creating.

Thought # 3: Healthy minds and bodies

We are now living with the first generation of people raised almost exclusively on food grown in factory environments. Use of prescription medication of almost every kind is at levels never seen before for any age group you care to name. Cancer rates, obesity, diabetes, auto immune illnesses are all off the charts. In so much as we are quick to say anyone who shoots up a school is “sick” I believe the way we eat and medicate ourselves, is a contributing factor and will continue to be so.

Thought #4 Government intervention

Frankly, I don’t see the government as having a great track record with much of anything. From our nations budget, to homeless veterans, to wars that will never, ever…ever end, history seems to suggest that increased laws and oversight seldom leads to a beneficial outcome. Health care, prescription drug abuse, a failing education system that is increasingly unaffordable, the list goes on and on. People, in my opinion, continue to look to some form of governmental body to solve problems. I believe society almost never benefits when this happens.

Thought # 5 Nerfing the world

We don’t like hardship. We don’t like pain. We don’t want disappointment or to struggle. We want everything now, from an app on our phone, in 30 seconds or less and we want a trophy for every small accomplishment. Every generation has sought to make things better for the one that follows. Our grandparents fought wars and went through the great depression. In turn, they wanted to ensure their kids went to college and could afford their own homes. Fast forward a generation or two and every teenager needs an iphone and has to play on as many sports teams as possible 5 nights a week. I believe this is creating weak people with poor problem-solving skills. I suggest this is also a factor in the increasing amount of mass shootings.

 Thought # 6 Various headlines

1.      Gun control and/or the 2^nd amendment

I’m glad the constitution and our founding documents exist. I do recognize they were written almost 300 years ago when people wrote with feathers and wore wigs all the time. Clearly much has changed. I don’t believe our current system of government on any level is effective in today’s modern world. If I were forced to debate the 2^nd amendment specifically, I would say thematically it was written to keep government reach at bay.

         Bump stocks, large capacity magazines, and the like.

Just about any of these things can be 3D printed for almost no money by anyone with an internet connection. Therefore, outlawing this or that is pointless and simply costs you and me more tax dollars, writing laws that are not enforceable.

3       Arming teachers

Listen, my mom was a career educator.  I assure you, she should never be given any weapon under any circumstances. I’m a definite NO on mandatory arming of someone/anyone who does not wish to carry a weapon.  However, in the event that a teacher wishes to be educated properly and carry a weapon, have at it! Let’s face it, there are thousands of teachers across this country who own weapons already and are quite proficient with them. I’m OK with such people bringing their guns into the classroom.

Have you ever met a navy seal or other special forces operator? These people are critical thinkers of the highest order. They are routinely paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach and coach leadership principals every day. How can we attract some of them into the role of professional educators?

Maybe parents should be given a choice. Do they want their kids in a school staffed with armed teachers, or unarmed. 

Hunting rifles and handguns only

A regular theme is that guns are fine, up until a point. People often express that rifles for hunting or handguns for self defense are fine by all accords. Some only object when a weapon has a "high capacity"magazine or can fire at a rapid rate. In my opinion just about all discussion around topics like this are pointless for many reasons. What is "high capacity" is it 10 rounds, 30, rounds, 9 rounds? Is killing nine people less evil than killing 30?  How about that handgun you have no issue with for self defense? How many rounds(chances) does that gun owner deserve to protect his/her kids in a moment of extreme stress? I assure you, from experience....one or two shots is almost never, ever enough to hit a target. Many people speak on the topic of guns having vast experience(s) with them. An equal amount of people, however, have never put one in their hand or been within earshot of one being fired. Yes, everyone has and should have an opinion on the matter. Being passionate about a topic and educated on the same topic are two very different things.