If you are reading this blog not long after I posted it, I am currently in Ontario for my annual backcountry fishing trip. When I return home, I’ll probably write about some of the highlights of the trip, but for now I am checking out my fishing gear and loading up my backpack.
Several of my fishing buddies on the trip (we are now up to eight people – six old guys and two sons of old guys) enjoy the preparation almost as much as the trip itself. For a month before we head to Canada, they are emailing back and forth about changes to the menu, innovations in group gear, and recent videos about catching walleye. I, on the other hand, wish that I could just snap my fingers and be at our backcountry campsite with a fishing pole in hand. I have a tinge of guilt for not doing my share of the prep work, but I am also happy to benefit from the extra effort these guys put in.
I do not know whether my aversion to planning is a personal quirk or a result of organizing too many trips when I was teaching outdoor recreation to college students. Even though I am now retired, planning trips for myself still feels like a busman’s holiday.
Just as well. My friends do a more complete job of preparing than I ever would. We eat better, we sit around the campfire more comfortably, and we know more fishing techniques than if I had a hand in the planning. I am happy to work my butt off in camp (e.g., set up the campsite, gather firewood, fillet fish, fetch water, wash dishes), but I am a bit of a freeloader right up until the moment our boats pull up to our campsite.
When I think about some of my best trips as a young man, they are the ones when I just grabbed my backpack, tossed in some food, and took off. Trips to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Isle Royale come to mind. Today none of those trips would even be possible without considerable planning, as backpackers now need to apply for backcountry permits up to a year in advance. For the Yosemites of the world, spontaneity is no longer an option.
In terms of preparation for our Canada trip, I do meet with one of the guys a few days before the trip to repackage the food. He will have already purchased all of the ingredients, and we then bag them up according to each meal. Usually he has the job half done before I arrive, and we spend most of the time discussing our favorite Lake of the Woods fishing holes.
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