Essays

Wild On The Prairie: Learning

Camping Philosophy
July 4, 1999

Many people take vacations in the summer, travelling to the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado to see greenness, to feel cool fresh air, and to hear the rumble of early afternoon thunderstorms. Camping and other forms of ecotourism are big business.

A number of Trans-Pecos ranchers have begun to offer bed and breakfast accommodations to visiting amateur naturalists. People regenerate by kicking back, hiking the ranch roads, and learning more about the natural world. In such a setting, many miles from town, with only one or two lights visible in the far distance, a person can experience the amazing feeling being strangely alone, surrounded by a hundred square miles where no one else is present.

Camping on public lands of the West can take a person still further into the sense of solitude. Camping out exposes one to factors beyond human control. Heat, cold, lightning, wind, mosquitoes, poisonous snakes… why would anybody WANT to camp?

The answer is a personal ecosophy. Some camp in emulation of our forefathers – Native American and pastoral or agrarian settlers. Practicing self-reliance in a “wilderness” landscape is great fun, enabling the intrepid adventurer to act out fantasies of life in another time. It is part of the appeal of hunting and fishing, river-running and rock-climbing, and also of backpacking, llama-packing, or horse-packing.

Camping gives us a different view of the universe, a chance to forget our everyday tribulations. By paying attention to weather, terrain, and the dangers associated with the wild we necessarily refocus. A camping trip helps us with commonplace normality by teaching us new ways to see and think upon our return to “civilization”.

June 10 to June 15 brought ideal camping weather to the southern Llano Estacado. Cool, sometimes chilly wind gusts, fearsome lightning explosions, and Bierstadt cloudscapes blessed us all with montane freshness. The vegetation glistened, glowing from within. Toads sang in the daytime – how unusual! Rainbugs trundled about, termites and ants soared in mating swarms, tarantulas teetered about, millipedes slinked along, rainlilies sparkled their lemon stars… WOW!!!

Camping alters a person’s time-sense, moments slowly passing as days stretch… and stretch. Hours gained in this way are a perfect time to read, lying in the shade, iced beverage in hand. Because of the new surroundings, the mind is already aware and awake. Rather than reading the latest Jackie Collins soap opera (or similar fare), it is a good idea to take a type of book you normally would never read. For example, read what the 1650s poet Chang Ch’ao wrote of long summer days: by “consciously enjoy the summer dawn, purposefully indulge oneself in a nap, and enjoy hours of stimulating conversation in the cooling hours of early evening.”

Lin Yutang wrote a book in the 1930s entitled “The Importance of Living”, outlining many ways a person can enjoy his or her life to the fullest. One exercise, presented in this work, trying to classify the sounds of water, is difficult for droughty Llaneros. But with the recent rain… it is not so difficult… think of the percussive sounds (rain hitting metal pails, or taut canvas, or leaves), think of the sound of water gushing out of gutters, and indeed, include the music of the toads singing as a water sound, too.

The origin of the following parable is unclear, but it seems applicable to this essay:

A man spoke to God and complained that this planet was not good enough for him. God pointed out the moon and asked him if it was not beautiful, beautiful enough to inspire poets and lovers. The man shook his head. God then pointed out the petals of beautiful flowers and asked the man to touch gently their velvet texture, and asked if the colors were not exquisite. The man said no. God then took him under a shady tree and commanded a cool breeze to blow and asked him if he did not enjoy it, and the man said he was not impressed. God took the man and showed him mountain lakes, stalactites in caves, geysers, deep canyons, snow-capped mountains, and each time the man was not satisfied. God then asked the man if He, God, had not done everything possible to make this planet beautiful enough to delight a human’s eyes, ears, and stomach. “This planet is not good enough for me” said the man. “You arrogant, presumptuous, ungrateful child! I, therefore, send you to hell, where you will not hear gurgling brooks or see flowers blooming gaily,” and so sent the man to live in a city tenement.

Lin Yutang points out that the natural world is a sanatorium. If nothing else, it can cure humans of megalomania. We are always put in our place against the backdrop of the natural world. Not only does it make foolish ambitions ludicrous, but the natural world makes many of our worries seem unnecessary. We love the ocean or the desert for its infiniteness. A person’s heart may truly grow big alongside nature’s enormities.