Winter’s coming…or, I can’t get out as much as I’d like

Sorry Jen. I've sure been there. I just plan the next one….

Lots of places, the state parks and other public campgrounds are ghost towns after Labor Day. I did a lot of campground camping and day hiking last winter. Not wilderness, but outdoors with plenty of solitude. An option for you? I don't know what the public land situation is out there.

paint your apartment walls to look like the forest. set up your shelter in your living room. open all the windows. then close your eyes and pretend you're out backpacking.

I find multiple doses of single malt help too…..

Take that spare hour or two that you must have somewhere in your busy days, and go out for a good hard power walk, fantasizing about some remote Sierra trail that you long to do, as you go. At least that way you can maintain a fitness base that you can leverage into serious hiking when things get back to normal. If you can find a dirt path and a hill or two to do it on, so much the better. It'll also improve the taste of the single malts afterward. It's what I used to do when I got stuck in Amsterdam on a contract long ago. The Netherlands are extremely crowded, and that kept me going AWOL.

A saying attributed to, I think, St Augustine, puts it quite succinctly: Solvitur ambulando. It is solved by walking. Worth pondering, and maybe taking to heart?

When for an extended time I can't do major adventures, or even three day hikes, I find some small thing that I can look forward to each day. For me, it's a question of finding something other than hiking that I can love/obsess over. And so classical guitar–a newish passion; and swimming; and maybe hitting a nice day hike on the weekends.

Any good canyons nearby? Kayaking? Obviously snow sports are out.

And of course, there's always good ol' Southwest Airlines gotta get away fares.

Yeah..backpacking is my obsession and passion too. I read so much about it and it takes me to my happy place. Plan another trip tomorrow for the future. .A month or 2 ahead..and mark it on calender and try best make it happen. Take a local day hike and don't lose hope.

" For me, it's a question of finding something other than hiking that I can love/obsess over. "

+1

You've mentioned wanting to get back into distance running – maybe find an event to train for?

"I used to just buy gear all the time if I couldn't get out – not good, but at least fun!"

Yikes! I resemble that remark, or at least I have in the past and – ahem – I'm trying to be better. Living in Colorado, I'm surrounded by inspiring scenery, and yet work, family and other responsibilities conspire against me getting out for more than 3-4 days at a time, and usually those trips happen just 2-3 times a year. What gets me through the downtime between these "longer" trips are quick overnighters, whether they are solo sub-24 microadventures, or just overnighters with my son a mile or two up from the trailhead. For me right now it's more about being outdoors and away from day to day pressures than working on my bucket list.

I dunno where you live, but here in the Bay Area, there's no need to stop going out in the winter. Snow camping in the Sierra plus trips to Big Sur and Henry Coe keep me almost as busy as the summer season. The nights are long, so I bring a book to read, but it keeps the cabin fever at bay.

I live in the SE, am actually most active through the winter, and should be out for ~40 nights from November through March.
When I can't be, due to family obligations, occasionally having a personal life, or pounding out overtime, I plot and plan. I carry books and maps around, gear lists, search online for new destinations, etc. Lots of dayhiking and mountain biking, too.
Also daydream a lot. Even at the gym. Elliptical, bike, especially the Cybex Arc trainer("up the mountain, up the mountain"), I might have headphones blasting rock music, but a lot of the time I can't hear it, 'cause I'm somewhere else.
In my free time at work, I'm currently reading "Shades of Gray, Splashes of Color", a book about thruhiking the Colorado Trail.
I've ditched my other hobbies due to lack of interest, and stay fairly immersed in this stuff…
Oh, and LOTS of gear shopping and testing, too!

Was talking with a friend today and she agreed that this time of year (near the autumnal equinox) where the shortening of the length of the days is the fastest is even more of a psychological bummer than mid winter. I have a kit from tenkara bum to braid a flyline out of horse tail hair. Yep, I'm sure that will keep me occupied during the winter.

…

"It is solved by walking."

That's the best, and simplest, thing I've heard in a long while, Tom. Thanks for that!

To Jen, if it helps, you have a lot of company, muddling through life's commitments, wishing we were outside more.

BTW, assuming you are still in Austin, the winter there is beautiful. Explore the hill country as bit. Not as epic as you are used to, but the food might be better. Also southern Arizona is a great possibility that time a year. Close, by Texas standards at least.

When I was attending UC Berkeley and working full time, there were some weeks I couldn't get away. In those times, it was helpful to keep my backpack packed and right by the front door. Knowing that I could grab it and go made it easier not to.

-15F is the bottom of my fun meter, so sometimes there are weeks on end that I don't do many miles outside. Then I'll do the most inefficient routing as I shop in big box stores, the Supermarket, etc, striding quickly from one corner to the other. 30 minutes later, I've walked 1.5 miles without frostbiting any sensitive body parts.

Reading you yahoos whine about bumped items, etc, is more tolerable if I'm going up and the stairs in my house for 10-15 minutes before my morning shower.

I've got my laptop set up in front of my road bike on a wind trainer. Some document review and e-commerce works fine while pedaling away.

But best is to just go hiking away. Even though I'm "supposed" to be doing something else. Even though it is fricking cold outside. I've got a clearer head when I get back. And the dog much prefers it.

Go trail running! Gets you trail fit, get to smell the woods, and all compressed into a 1- or 2-hour block of time. AND you're ready and confident when the time comes for the trip you've been planning.

Best bang for the buck IMO!

See, this is why I love this site!

There are a ton of great day hikes and canyons and such here in Austin, but I've had some nasty family issues come to a head this month (my mom is now living with me…) and so I've LITERALLY not been able to get outside – I have to come straight home from work and stay with her…

I've already cancelled two weekend trips in the past month – my fall getaways – and it's SO hard because here in Austin the weather is now simply perfect for getting outside. And I can't.

It's nice to see so many others with similar conflicts and inability to do what we love – I'm starting to fantasize about the Colorado Trail next year – thanks P Mags! I bought the guidebook! – and I'm working on making my own pack…something I can do sitting next to my mom.

I will get back out, I know this is short-lived and I'm being a great help to my mom right now, and for that I should be grateful.

Thanks everyone!

Maybe I'll go join that thread about gear swap bumping…..

" I have to come straight home from work and stay with her…"

It's like being grounded. Stay in your room, no TV. , lol…

Hope Mom and you do well. Lived with my Mother-in-Law for years.

Hugs.

I still get out in the winter, as it's my favorite season to backpack as long as there's snow on the ground.

Otherwise, I brainstorm about trip possibilities, or using different clothing or gear options. As in:

* Maybe if I pitched my tarp this way….

* Maybe a bivy only wouldn't be so bad in the rain if…

* I'll try a day hike at a local park and pack as if it were an overnighter, maybe cooking lunch on a stove to make it more realistic.

* Making gear, although I don't like to sew that much

I also try to constantly learn and practice bushcraft skills, such as:

* Making a fire with various devices and tools (or no devices or tools)

* Make a pot support to cook over a fire

* Wood carving: tarp stakes, and I hope to do a spoon and cup

* Using a hatchet or ax and saw (important in the winter when not using a stove and all water sources are frozen and all down wood is buried under feet of snow)

* Wild edibles

* Nature awareness

Other than that, I focus on other hobbies and interests.

Well, there are some real quality threads over in Chaff right now. Perhaps check out the Ebola thread or the Engineering Majors vs. Liberal Arts Majors thread?

Having a fresh voice come and add some hyperbolic statements, straw-man arguments, or links to evidence that nobody will read might be nice.

Don't worry; whatever you write will be forgotten in a day. And if it's ever brought back up against you, well, you didn't want to hike with those people anyway.

How mobile or not is your mom?

You live in a music mecca. Dive in. Between Tex-Mex food and the music scene… man I'm envious.

Plan a grand trip. Do research on it, train, fiddle with gear. Go watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. Work extra to save money for your next great adventure. Write. Practice an instrument. Take something apart that is hard to put back together :)
That's my plan at least.

Chaff…..why not…Some go there to fight, some to provoke, some to inform, some to whine about chaff, in chaff ;) some do a bit of all of the above.

Ha ha! My goodness Craig! Bravo!

"Take something apart that is hard to put back together :)"

Yup that's one of my projects this winter. Purchased a $25 hard tail MTB off of Craigslist last week. Hoping to YouTube my way through it. I plan to disassemble, re paint, and then rebuild it this winter.

Even if I end up screwing it up and end up throwing it into the recycle bin, the bike has already given me $25 worth of enjoyment.