I've returned from my camping experience that I described in my
previous post. It has been a wonderful and horrible experience at
the same time.
It started with me burning my fingers on my left hand pretty badly. Not
a huge deal, but an inconvenience when you're aiming to spend the
days out in the woods as much as possible to be sure. Mostly, it has
been fine though.
I rented a cabin in a nearby place, higher up in the mountains, and
from there I usually started hiking early in the morning, and went
back to the cabin after dark to have a shower and read a bit. So it was
kind of doing it in "easy-mode". That said, I spent much of the time
outside, and the idea was not primarily to hike, but to get a pause
from all my internet and smart-phone usage, and focus on the simpler
things for a while. In that regard, the trip has been a success. I
thought it would be harder to not use my phone while out, but I had
no trouble doing that. Hiking just came as part of the deal because I
needed to get to the various locations around the woods where I would
spend a few hours cooking on my Trangia, or sit and read for a while.
March has been pretty warm for this year, so I didn't have much issue
with the cold. The problem though, is that the paths running through
the woods were very soggy and muddy, and it impaired my movement-speed
quite a bit. That, in combination with the fact that I was lugging
around a backpack with far too much stuff in it made it a bit of
a challenge.
I was really worn out when I got back, but in a good way. I feel like
I should do this kind of thing more often from now on.
In other news, I finally donated 36$ to the SDF for a ARPA-level
membership. I figured it was worth it for the service that is provided
and the benefits you get from it.
