I heard on the news today that the AT (Appalachian Trail) is closed and other outdoor destinations are closed or closing, areas already greatly impacted by human traffic. Officials are asking people not to hoard there. I have no car and will not be using one for Mountain Tea. They spoke about trailheads as places where people congregate and outhouses as places where people touch things. I was disappointed they didn't encourage the public in other ways or give alternatives to self healing or talk about the environment and how we might heal it with our actions in the future. This is a time to be talking about how we access nature and how we return to life at large after the epidemic. How much fuel do we use to encounter the wilderness? What is necessary? Do we carpool? Do we drive to a park that is 10 minutes way to run? There are many isolated places where no one is walking and where it is safe to walk and where we will not bring harm to ourselves or others. I can walk to the trailhead. It is 10 minutes from where I live. There are National Parks across the US inviting millions of visitors in each year with paved roads that go thousands of feet up mountains to concession stands where you can purchase food in plastic. To me this feels like abuse and overuse. National Parks are in the business of selling nature to the public. It is how they pay their rangers. I was in a parking lot at a grocery store today in southern Vermont. There were 50 cars parked there and people coming and going. Three people had masks. Two people had gloves. I didn't go in. Last week I was on the WMT (Wantastiquet to Monadncok Trail). I saw 3 people in 6 hours. I passed one of them. We kept a safe distance. I do not have the gear I need. I left my camping gear with my mother in Pennsylvania in December and cannot safely go there to get it. I plan to stealth camp, which is what they call backcountry or wilderness camping in the east, because either no one does it or knows how to do it or because there are no wild places left to do it. I am skilled at leave no trace. I will be traveling lightweight with a bivy and a sleeping bag. I regularly seek wild uninhabited spaces to walk. I will carry my food. I have a safe place to return to. I will walk 4 days and camp 3 nights. I will rest 3 days and sleep inside 4 nights. My goal is to try to understand this time, this epidemic, in motion, in time, in body, tranquilly, with breath, to the rhythm of the I Ching. I will practice caution and not put others in danger. If I must cease this activity for any reason, I will. When I can, then, I will resume it. I will follow the flow as I is required of me.
I will camp 3 nights a week, stealth/backcountry camping, with a bivy, no tent, carrying all my food & filtering water. I live in a very small town. There are very few people on the trail, especially in early spring. Last week I did a 10-mile loop on the WMT and saw 3 people over 6 hours, 2 were having lunch on a rock, 1 passed me. We kept a safe distance. I walk to the trailhead. It is a 10-minute walk from my room. There are no outhouses. I will practice leave-no-trace camping.
