“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery — air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’” Sylvia Path
This weekend was what I like to call an “outside” weekend.
Friday night was spent staring at a campfire, which might just be one of my favorite things to do to wind down a crazy week.
Saturday we got up and went to Black Creek Park where we spent hours doing volunteer trail work with #TrailsRoc. We stoned up a huge portion of constantly wet and mucky trail – We helped build a 150 foot long walkway over rotting logs and swampy stuff – We cleaned up garbage and trimmed back over growth. Then we packed up all the stuff, drove over to Durand-Eastman Park and got in a nice long run before heading to our favorite bar down by the lake.
Sunday we got up even earlier – Drove to Letchworth State Park and introduced a bunch of people to one of the most scenic parts of the Many On The Genny course –
Then we changed out of running clothes and into rafting clothes and then hit the Genesee River for a 2 hour rafting trip.
We got muddy, cut, wet, cold, sweaty, and hot. We spent the day outside, in nature, with people.
Whenever I have weekends like this they seem to fly by and I don’t ever recall any moments of stress, anger, resentment. I may talk about those things while out there, but the feelings themselves seem to go away.
I don’t want to “disconnect” or “get rid of facebook” – I do however feel refreshed after weekends like this. It’s almost like spending that much time outside serves as a giant reset button on my gaming console.
If I didn’t like how I played that last level? His reset, get outside, and try again. I love being on the river, in the woods, and out with people. Let’s do this again soon!
Emerging Trail 