When most people in current society talk of roughing it, what do they mean?
In far too many instances, it means clamoring into the Winnebago (with an extra vehicle in tow) and driving down paved highways to modern state and federal parks replete with electricity, running water and maybe even a grocery store and/or restaurant nearby. It means scampering down paved paths or well laid out trails with maps and guidebooks in hand. It means traveling with a top-notch first aid kit, GPS device and cell phone[s].
THIS is what most people mean by roughing it.
I was thinking about all this as I continue to read about the final exploits of George Armstrong Custer and his men as they wound their way through the wilderness towards a grizzly death. When they set off from the Yellowstone River in search of "hostiles," they carried a solitary map in which more than one-half of the drawings were guesswork. If not for their Indian scouts, they quickly would have become horribly lost. To make matters worse, they twice traveled through the unforgiving landscape of present-day Eastern Montana in the middle of the night! All the while, they worried that they might be ambushed at any moment.
While modern campers can eat gourmet meals with freeze-dried food, the standard meal for frontier cavalrymen consisted of three things: coffee, bacon and hardtack. Doesn't that sound yummy?
Again, while modern campers sleep in beds in their RVs or trailers or on air mattresses or foam under their sleeping bags, Custer's men slept on the bare ground, possibly using their saddle as a pillow.
And while far too many of us are scared of our shadows and consider one hour spent completely alone to be sheer hell, couriers in the old Wild West would travel hundreds of miles alone through hostile territory, inclement weather and mind-defying terrain to deliver messages or letters to "on the fringe of civilization" frontier posts.
I have no great philosophical point to make here. My only observation is that very few people in modern western society have even the slightest clue what roughing it is all about.
In far too many instances, it means clamoring into the Winnebago (with an extra vehicle in tow) and driving down paved highways to modern state and federal parks replete with electricity, running water and maybe even a grocery store and/or restaurant nearby. It means scampering down paved paths or well laid out trails with maps and guidebooks in hand. It means traveling with a top-notch first aid kit, GPS device and cell phone[s].
THIS is what most people mean by roughing it.
I was thinking about all this as I continue to read about the final exploits of George Armstrong Custer and his men as they wound their way through the wilderness towards a grizzly death. When they set off from the Yellowstone River in search of "hostiles," they carried a solitary map in which more than one-half of the drawings were guesswork. If not for their Indian scouts, they quickly would have become horribly lost. To make matters worse, they twice traveled through the unforgiving landscape of present-day Eastern Montana in the middle of the night! All the while, they worried that they might be ambushed at any moment.
While modern campers can eat gourmet meals with freeze-dried food, the standard meal for frontier cavalrymen consisted of three things: coffee, bacon and hardtack. Doesn't that sound yummy?
Again, while modern campers sleep in beds in their RVs or trailers or on air mattresses or foam under their sleeping bags, Custer's men slept on the bare ground, possibly using their saddle as a pillow.
And while far too many of us are scared of our shadows and consider one hour spent completely alone to be sheer hell, couriers in the old Wild West would travel hundreds of miles alone through hostile territory, inclement weather and mind-defying terrain to deliver messages or letters to "on the fringe of civilization" frontier posts.
I have no great philosophical point to make here. My only observation is that very few people in modern western society have even the slightest clue what roughing it is all about.
You'd be surprised. I have a number of mates who live it rough pretty regularly. I've travelled with them on horseback into the wilderness for weeks at a time, camped in primitive camps (on the ground with a sleeping bag or bed roll, no tent).
ReplyDeleteI lived in Alaska for five years in a one room cabin with no electricity or running water. Think outhouse. Hiked to town at 60 below zero.
I lived in a teepee on the Gros Ventre River in Jackson Hole for two years. Open fire, blankets and furs, fishing from the river for breakfast.
I don't live that way now, but I still have my gear. Give me a couple of horses and a grub stake and I'll ride off into the hills anytime.
To be certain, there ARE a few hearty souls here and there who rough it quite fine. However, the majority of us have no clue. For example, when the average person goes hiking, they would never dream of leaving the marked trail.
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