Into the Woods

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau

My husband and I are backpackers. Or, rather, he's a real backpacker, who enjoys long hikes and multiple nights spent in the middle of the distant wilderness. I'm more of a babycakes backpacker, who enjoys short hikes and one-night trips not too far from home.

My husband encourages me to travel light, but I have never quite mastered that skill. I think of us sometimes as Denys and Karen in the movie Out of Africa. He travels light; she, with her tables and chairs and clocks and phonographs and Limoges china.

OK, so there were no tables, chairs, clocks, phonographs, or china in my backpack. But you get the picture: that's the kind of gal I am . . . one who never travels light. I sometimes regret it in transit, but I'm glad when I get there, and start pulling comforts from home out of my pack like Mary Poppins with her magic carpet bag.

We both love the woods, and so we spend lots of time there, whether (occasionally) backpacking or (frequently) just day hiking. Either way, any opportunity to slow down the pace and commune with nature is a welcome one.

The weather was predicted to be lovely over the weekend, cool on Saturday and quite cold on Saturday night, followed by a warm and sunny Sunday. So on Saturday morning we packed up our gear, set up the automated feeder for the cat, and headed into the woods.

This is the path we started out on, before heading off a side trail into the deeper woods. Doesn't it look inviting?