An Ordinary Odyssey

This week takes me up to the Green Bay area for a work conference on Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning. I’m the type of person who will take literally any opportunity to squeeze in travel, hiking, and adventure! So I immediately opted out of carpooling with my co-workers and booked myself a campsite at Point Beach State Forest for Sunday night. I drove up at dawn on Sunday morning and spent several hours walking the Point Beach Ice Age Trail Segment and other trails in the park, sitting watching the pelicans out on the water by the lighthouse, and chilling in the campground with my book. Monday morning I got up bright and early again, hoping for a sunrise (sadly, hopes dashed!) and then meandered my way north to Green Bay, stopping to hike the East Twin River Ice Age Trail Segment and explore Maribel Caves County Park.

We’re still in the shoulder season for prime camping and outdoor activities in Wisconsin, so Point Beach was very quiet, both on the trails and in the campground. I didn’t see another soul for the first 2.5 hours I was out there and the silence was a rare treat. I spent a lot of time on my hike thinking about silence. I work at a spiritual retreat center and our branding often invokes the power of silence & solitude, rest & renewal. As the one in charge of marketing, I certainly use it all the time. But like most things in the marketing & social media world, it’s a message I share far more often than I embody. The truth is, my actual job isn’t quiet. It’s full of emails, social media posts, staff meetings, zoom calls, being on the phone with donors, grant deadlines, board committee meetings, troubleshooting IT problems. I believe deeply in the mission of creating space for silence, but I have to leave the building and get out into the woods to actually live it myself.

And when I do, when I finally give myself permission to slow down and be still, I’m reminded just how much noise we carry without noticing. Not just the digital noise (though that’s part of it) but the mental chatter, the constant planning, the subtle pressure to always be “on.”

Lately, I’ve been thinking more about what it means to do just one thing at a time. I’ve noticed how often we, myself certainly included, fill up the small pockets of silence with sound and distraction. An audiobook while making dinner. A YouTube video while putting away my laundry. Scrolling social media in line at the grocery store. A podcast or playlist every time I’m in the car. None of it’s bad, but it adds up. And sometimes I wonder: what am I afraid I’ll hear if things actually got quiet?

Here’s the thing though. I do know what quiet offers. I seek it out on purpose. I hike alone, as often as I can. I head into the woods not to escape life, but to find it. To strip everything else away. I’ve never found the sacred in a church pew, and while I love the mission of the retreat center where I work, I don’t find it in the building either. But outside — especially alone, in the trees, by the water, under the wide sky — that’s where I feel it. That’s where I remember who I am and start to piece together what my place is in this world.

Still, it’s easy to forget. Even on the trail, I sometimes catch myself reaching for distraction. Snapping a photo, posting a story. I did it a lot this weekend. I let my mind wander to my to-do list. I even checked my work email while sitting on a bench by the cutest little stream. I stopped to enjoy the sound and eat a snack. But I got distracted, so quickly! There’s a discipline to being present, even in the places that feel most inspiring to you. A practice of coming back, again and again, to stillness.

Training Check-In

Well, I finally bit the bullet and invested in a new pair of hiking shoes, the Topo Pursuit 2. Price tag? $150. Yeah, that’s WILD for me! I went in twice to REI, hoping to get properly fitted like I did with my backpacking bag & daypack, but but both times the sales associates were basically useless. Very different from the backpack area, they didn’t really ask me questions or give pointers, just waited for me to ask to see a shoe. I got frustrated and never bought anything. After that, I started ordering a handful of cheaper pairs online, hated them all, and sent them back before even hitting the trail. They were so uncomfortable or not sized/shaped as advertised. These new shoes have some quirks and while I like the zero drop, it’s sure gonna take some getting used to! They feel better than my old ones for sure but for sure need breaking in yet. That 11 mile hike was a bit much for a first true hike in them! Whoops! But, my feet still held up fine.

I’ve also been upgrading the gear I carry on hikes. Got a phone pouch that attaches right on the front chest strap of my pack which makes it easier to access to look at the map and take photos. (Maybe not the greatest for my silence & solitude goals though, on second thought.) I also tested out a hose attachment for my water bottles, too. Didn’t bring it on this hike as I didn’t feel like I needed the electrolytes, but I like it and think it’ll work. When I hike, I find I don’t eat or drink much, especially if I have to stop and take the pack off. So the electrolyte mix in the bottles get ignored and I just drink the water in my camelback.

Speaking of eating, reorganizing my pack has been a big help too. I rearranged the hip pockets, transferring most of what I keep there into the main pouches of the bag and dedicating one of the hip pockets to snacks. Not much storage there, but if I have a bar, fruit leather, and hard candy there I am more likely to eat it. Every time I do stop to rest and take my pack off, I check to refill or move things from the main compartment to that pocket. It’s forcing me to eat more consistently, which will be crucial for the Grand Canyon.

Car camping continues to be my favorite way to travel and train. For my upcoming 10-day trip to Colorado in June, I’m purposely cutting my gear in half compared to the last time I did this drive. I love the ease of having minimal stuff to manage. On previous trips I was constantly moving stuff around, from the back to the front, from the passenger seat to the back, and storing things on my bed. No more! By switching my fridge to a cooler and taking different food (still healthy and abundant, just less fancy!), making more of a capsule wardrobe, and downsizing my cooking & cleaning stuff I think I can make it so nothing ever has to get stored one place and moved to another in order to do all my activities (driving, sleeping, eating, relaxing, reading, watching a show, hiding from the rain etc.).

One unexpected win has been investing in WeatherTech window covers. They’re not the prettiest, they have that silver tin-can vibe I don’t like because one side is reflectix, but they’re incredibly functional. Way easier and quicker to install than the two sets of DIY covers I tried to make myself. They stay put better, too. The shades I made were and photo worthy, but it was the most annoying part of my set-up by far. Not anymore!