Hike Your Own Hike

Have you noticed how some people are either threatened or critical when others choose to do something differently from how they do it? It apparently matters not what the topic is; just look at any online forum for examples.

My mind keeps going back to a conversation I had in our local Starbucks last Friday. I was paying for our drinks, and the gal at the register asked if we had any plans for the weekend. I replied that we were going camping. Innocent, meaningless, but friendly chatter. The dude making the coffee asked what my "definition" of camping is. This probably should have been a sign. I explained that we are pretty varied campers, we like backpacking, but that we were taking our tent trailer out that weekend.

snort "If it has wheels, it's not camping. It has to be at least a tent." Perhaps a tad aggressive if he's wanting me to come back and spend more money at the Evil Empire, but whatever. I'm feeling good, and we're on our way out of town. The gal at the register asks if we're making s'mores "because you have to have s'mores!" I pass this test (for this trip, at least). Phew. But no, according to the dude, the essential item is dutch oven peach cobbler. I fail again.

This is a prime example of the pitfalls of thinking that our own way is the only way to do something. DH and I enjoy DO cooking. He has plenty of experience eating it from his packer days, and while I didn't grow up with it, I'm always willing to try something new. So some of the time we cook in dutch ovens while camping. We have only ever done this when camping with our PUP. That kind of trip, according to the coffee dude, isn't "camping," because although we're cooking in our DO, our shelter has wheels. The trips that might meet his definition based on shelter certainly wouldn't based on cooking method. I am dumbfounded that a backpacking trip using our Whisperlite couldn't be considered camping using his standard. Some, of course, might not consider our stove choice that of a "real" backpacker (and I freely admit I'm a wannabe!).

Luckily, my life doesn't grind to a halt due to lack of approval from the coffee dude. Mind your own business, do your own thing; hike your own hike.

We returned from our trip to Australia last July to find that 2700 acres of open space behind our house had burnt in a wildfire while we were away. The Hawken Fire was determined to be the result of a grinder being used on a construction site without water available on site. Our mountain view has been somewhat less scenic since then. I often walk in the hills behind our house in the evening, and have been thrilled recently to see the wildflowers blooming in the ashes.

According to an announcement this afternoon on the emergency alert system, we are expecting temperatures 20 degrees higher than normal this weekend. The kids are getting in the spirit of the warm weather!

We are heading out camping tomorrow. If I'm allowed to call it that...