I grew up in a self-proclaimed outdoorsy family, but in reality we were much more interested in gardening than camping. My only exposure to the outdoors as far as hiking and camping was concerned was with my incredibly sporty cousins, and best friend whose parents took her backpacking on the weekends. I always enjoyed the views and picking wild mountain blueberries along the trail, but the slog of hiking in between was definitely not my favorite. I was ashamed of my heavy breathing after a steep stretch of trail, and did not enjoy being cold when I inevitably wore the wrong thing. I felt like an outsider- I didn't know the rules, and was embarrassed to ask. As a result I did not seek out outdoor recreation, and only went when I was dragged.
In college I got into the theory of the outdoors, learning about the importance of nature in human development and mental health. I was also becoming more interested in ecology- the study of how organisms interact with each other and with nature. I understood that in order to be taken seriously in ecological research and to understand it better, I would need to actually go outside. Unfortunately, the way I went about this was to exaggerate to people about the amount of experience I had hiking and camping so that they would invite me on their outdoor adventures. Before a trip I would do a lot of googling to prepare and to keep up the facade of knowledgeability: “how to backpack” “what to wear when camping,” and “hiking lingo” were absolutely searches that I did. While I would not recommend this method safety-wise, it did allow me to get the actual experience needed to be comfortable outdoors.
One of the reasons that I actually enjoy camping and hiking now is because I was able to find my individual interests within the monolithic seeming activities. I've found that I love planning trips around wildflowers and berries, memorizing plant names so that I can slow down my fitter friends with a fun fact or two, and stopping at viewpoints to watercolor. A good trail relationship is someone who is on the same page with me and if their big goal is to hike 20 miles in a day- they can go ahead and do that with someone else.
I realized It is important to seek out a variety of trail buddies; some who hike for the views, some for the exercise. Sometimes I do want to hike for a mile then sit by a river, other times I want to sweat while a friend goes on about their most recent breakup. One of my guiding principles for outdoor recreation is this thing my friend said to me on my second ever backpacking trip after I apologized about needing to stop and take a break. “I came out here to spend time with YOU, I don’t care how quickly we get there.”
My big advice for learning to go outdoors is to do it- if you know someone who loves hiking ask to go with them. If not, see if there are any guided hikes in the area, or post on a hiking forum. While there is some elitism and gatekeeping, there are also people who are incredibly interested in teaching and sharing their knowledge- and if all else fails, there is always google.
Cecilia is part of the 2020-2021 full-time cohort serving at the Squam Lakes Association. A PNW native, she studied Biology and Conservation at Gonzaga University. You can learn more about Cecilia here!