On Saturday my wife and I hiked 17 miles on the Appalachian Trail, just South of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. After a few consecutive weeks of running and mountain biking races, it was refreshing to spend a little time outdoors in a different spirit. Ideal 65-degree weather meant that others had hiking in mind, so we passed about a dozen people on the trail. What I appreciate about trail culture is that it blurs social lines. Even though the 12 people we passed didn't look like the folks that we hang out with on a Friday night, everyone of them stopped to share a friendly word. To be rude or indifferent, like we all are everyday on city streets, is seen as strange on the trail. We chatted with an elderly couple, two African American women, and a businessman, who took a week off to backpack an 80-mile stretch. The conversations were comfortable and preconceived notions seemed nonexistent.
It's probably the vastness and vulnerability, but something about being in the woods allows us to drop our competitive urges and inhibitions and just see each other as equals. It's a simple, unspoken phenomenon, but it certainly can restore faith in humanity.
-Jedd Ferris
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