Camping Like A Boss

When I was growing up, we went camping every summer. It was always the highlight of my year, when I was a kid and into my early teens Things were always calmer when we went away. Life was just easier, more enjoyable.

I loved sleeping so close to the ground, with just some canvas between me and nature. It's where I felt, safest.

So yes I have a deep love of camping and that love has had a huge affect on my life, from the way I live, to the connection I feel with the natural world.

If you don't enjoy camping, you most likely. wouldn't really enjoy staying with me. You kind of have to enjoy, roughing it a bit. Getting dusty and putting your bare feet on the ground.

Instead of a tent, me and my girls are in a house truck, quite an upgrade, but it still feels wild to me. Wild enough, to make me feel content.

But I still find myself yearning to be out in the proper wilderness, with just a sleeping bag and/or tent to rest in.

The last proper camping trip I was on, was six years ago. When I went on a two month trek, with my then two kids, a friend, her son, two horses and a dog. We walked high up in the mountains and camped out under the night sky, far away from civilisation.

I loved it. I felt so at peace.

We would walk anywhere between 5 to 25km each day. Depending on whether or not we needed to reach water, or just found a stunning spot we wanted to camp at.

One night, we camped close to a waterfall and during the night, I awoke to the sound of a quite a large herd of wild boar, running past us. Male boar can be very aggressive, if they feel threatened. So I just had to grab my two girls a little closer to me inside our tent and hope that they did not get startled by something. Causing them to bolt.

It's crazy the things that go through your head.

But, that was the only time, that I felt unsafe, the entire time we were camping in the wild. I just loved how peaceful it was at night. Just the sounds of nature, to lull me to sleep and the sun waking me up as it hits the tent.

I loved, the simply rhythm to our days, up, wash, eat, pack up and then walk. With my girls coming up with the most amazing games, whilst I walked with Solas, the wonderful Horse, that I had the pleasure of bonding with.

Sometimes, we would decide to stay for more than one night in one place, because it was so beautiful and because we could. We had no where, that we needed to be. Oh such freedom. Such glorious freedom.

When you are outside all of the time, your body falls back into a natural balance, a natural rhythm. I was the healthiest, I have ever been. Walking almost everyday, carrying everything me and my girls needed to thrive. (with the help of Solas of course).

We really, do not need much, in order to really live.

Life is simple really, it's when you throw in ownership and governance, then it gets complicated. Getting so tied up in the system, that you forget how simple it can be.

Collecting your own water, foraging for food. Making shelters. Building fires. That is how I like to spend my time. It is when I feel most content. Leaving nothing but my foot prints and maybe a few offerings on the land.

It's the things we have that tie us down, but that's okay too. Having some things, enable us to enjoy our lives even more. But when they take away from that pure joy, then they are more like heavy burdens.

This is my response, to the lastest Kiss Blogging Ideas, writing prompt, from the wonderful Minimalist Community. Where we had to write about a camping experience, where we were a boss.