This past weekend I went on a two day walking and camping journey, never leaving the city of Northampton, but feeling miles away.

I started with one destination in mind, about an hour’s walk:

After crossing an abandoned beaver dam, I ate lunch and took a nap under mosquito netting.  I had purposefully not set a goal beyond the first stop.  I could stay where I was and do nothing, explored the area or continuing walking for the rest of the day.  So I asked myself, what do I want to do?  And nothing came back.  I didn’t know.  It was painful to sit there and second guess my desires, and just not feeling like doing anything, but know that that was doing something anyway.

Finally I decided to stash my pack and follow the deer trails.  I got turned around a couple of times, found a great spot to camp, and found myself observing more, less concerned with what to do and just doing it.

I found a beautiful spot to set up a hammock on top of a boulder, strung up between two trees that I had to climb high up in to secure the ropes!

I left the next morning more able to pay attention to the forest and follow my interests.  On the walk back I stopped in unannounced on two friends and reconnected!