100 Peaks

The view from Black Mountain

On New Years Day, like most people, I tend to reflect upon the past year and on the year ahead and this year was no different. Another tradition is to get outside. In previous years, I hiked Woodson Mountain, went fishing at Lake Poway, and in 2009 I took a day trip to the snow in Idyllwild.

This year, we went to Hilltop Community Park in Rancho Penasquitos. It is a park that I have been going to lately because my daughter likes to play there. While there, I decided to make a quick trip up Black Mountain with the PD and TN.

I had a bit of the flu a couple of days leading up to New Years Day, but I felt  fine this day. The weather was incredible, compared to the rest of the country. I was happy to encounter a lot of people on the trail, and changed my usual “hello” to “Happy New Year.” I was so impressed by a woman who was obviously training for something intense by running up and down Black Mountain 3 times for a total of around 20 miles that I applauded her as she lapped me a second time.

Lately, I have found myself trying to find space on the calendar to get outside and go hiking. The weather here in San Diego has been absolutely perfect for hiking, biking, running or getting outside in general.

This time of year has historically been slow for me, work-wise. The good news is that my clients have been keeping me really busy, which is making up for a slow year. In addition, holiday social engagements have been taking up my weekends. The bad news is that I have fewer, if any, chances to make it outside.

As a result, the number of peaks that I complete may be slowing down.

I want to be clear about this: I am not complaining about having plenty of work and spending time with friends and family. It’s just that, like most of you, I have a strong urge to go outside, get some fresh air, and get away from it all.

The question is:

How do you balance your work and other commitments with your desire you go outside and run, bike, hike, etc? For those of you lucky few who were able to marry your passion for the outdoors with work, how did you successfully accomplish this?

I absolutely love comments and feedback.

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Shelton Johnson - America's Most Passionate Ranger

Saturday, December 05, 2009, 7:00 PM
The Book Passage in Corte Madera

Since I’ve had a lot of interest regarding the quotation from Lord James Bryce regarding American Haste, I thought I’d do a quick posting about a book signing of Shelton Johnson. He is the eloquent, frequently poetic gentleman who is about as passionate about America’s National Parks as one could get.

He has a book signing of his new book Gloryland.

From Amazon.com:

It sounds like an interesting read and he definitely is an interesting person. The book-signing is at:

I’ve been watching The National Parks: Americas Best Idea and have been delighted to see the passion and spirituality behind the individuals who championed the parks to those who could make a difference.

However, many articles and publications tend to focus on the athletic side of being out in the wilderness. We see how fast and high we can climb and hike. We try out different space-age fabrics and lab-designed drinks and energy bars. We communicate to each other about which shoes are lighter and faster.

When I was a youth, my external frame backpack was bought from Gemco (look it up) for around $20 and didn’t have all the bells and whistles. I hiked in blue jeans and t-shirts. I slept on an Ensolite pad (still do) and slept inside used tents.

I still made it to the top of Mount Whitney, among other places, and developed my lifelong love of the wilderness.

My personal feeling is that no matter how materially- or performance-oriented we are when planning to explore the wilderness, or however much we are overwhelmed by the complexity of our multitasking modern lives, we all become philosophers once our feet hit the trail or our hands start climbing the rocks.

The question is:

Who are you when you decide to step out into the wilderness? An athlete? A philosopher? A photographer? A blogger?

All of the above? Let me know what you think and what you become once you are out there.

I heard a quote while watching The National Parks: Americas Best Idea that I thought was great in describing some of us Americans:

“Gentlemen, why in heaven’s name this haste? You have time enough. [...] Ages and ages lie before you. Why sacrifice the present to the future, fancying that you will be happier when your fields teem with wealth and your cities with people? In Europe we have cities wealthier and more populous than yours, and we are not happy. You dream of your posterity; but your posterity will look back to yours as the golden age, and envy those who first burst into this silent, splendid nature, who first lifted up their axes upon these tall trees, and lined these waters with busy wharves. Why, then, seek to complete in a few decades what the other nations of the world took thousands of years over in the older continents? [...] Why, in your hurry to subdue and utilize nature, squander her splendid gifts? [...] Why hasten the advent of that threatening day when the vacant spaces of the continent shall all have been filled, and the poverty or discontent of the older States shall find no outlet? You have opportunities such as mankind has never had before, and may never have again. Your work is great and noble; it is done for a future longer and vaster than our conceptions can embrace. Why not make its outlines and beginnings worthy of these destinies, the thought of which gilds your hopes and elevates your purposes?”

Added 10/11/2009:

This is the most popular page on my website and I am sure many people have questions on who Lord James Bryce was and why did he write this? The full text is below in context of the whole chapter.

chapter 121: The Temper of the West – Viscount James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, vol. 2 [1888]

Lord James Bryce was a British jurist, historian and politician who felt the call of the western frontier in America and became a leading voice of the times, and later became the British Ambassador to the United States.

It seems that, at the time of this writing, there was an overwhelming feeling, almost a depression, about the lack of an unknown frontier in the west. Part of the excitement of living in this era was the existence of large areas on the map that were relatively unexplored. And part of the American Dream for many was to be able to get ones’ piece of the pie that was up for grabs for diligent entrepreneurs.

This American Dream philosophy still permeates our endeavors in the modern times. From those who cling to lottery tickets to those who bury their noses in their work, we are all striving for something better, sometimes at the expense of truly enjoying what we have in the present and what we may have in the future.