As we glide into summer with warmer days (even hot days inland!) I have been reflecting on my springtime excursions. I have a few lessons learned:
1. Camping on the fringe of summer (in this case springtime) in NW California National and State Parks, before these campgrounds are swamped with summer visitors, can truly be sublime as these are undeniably beautiful areas. After Memorial Day until Labor Day there are entirely too many other campers for my liking (and it does not meet the parameters of my book!). So visit them early or late in the camping season.
2. Bears are very active in the spring. Every place I camped had recent signs of bear activity. Because I noticed these signs each night I would lock all my food and anything that remotely smelled like food in to my car with the windows closed. This felt ridiculously apprehensive. On one of these excursions when a bear snuffled through the camp and huffed at the tent during the night it was validation that it is better to be ridiculously apprehensive than to feed a bear!
3. Fear is a Beast that needs to be tamed. Camping alone with no phone (cell or landline) and no other campers around can arouse the Beast Fear. It is inevitable to feel a little edgy & vulnerable; you are exposed when camping. The goal is to stay calm and not to feed the Beast. Check in with your intuition. On one occasion I pulled up camp and left before nightfall because I did not like the “feel” of the campground. In that situation I honored my instinct. There were other situations where I just needed to calm myself down. A moonless night in an unfamiliar place can feel pretty darn scary. It felt so empowering when I did calm the Beast and I went on to have amazing camp outings.
4. The best thing I learned was from a Slug…BE WHERE YOU ARE!
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