wilderness

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, a piece of legislation that protects over 750 wilderness areas from human influence.

People often ask me how I found my love of the outdoors. While I was born in NYC and spent my first several years of life here, my parents quickly realized that suburban life would be a better choice for a family. My dad tells a great story about the first time he took me into the backyard at our new home, my little feet wedded to the flagstone pavers as I stared in wonderment at the grass in front of me. I was a child of concrete and this weird grassy business freaked me out.

Several years later when my parents got divorced my dad had to find something to do with his little girl every other weekend and so he rediscovered his love of camping. I am not going to sugar coat it, when I was young I threw more than a few fits about what have become affectionately known as my father’s death marches. The key characteristics of said hikes are that 1) he tells you it’s a short walk 2) no steep inclines and 3) you realize that it is in fact a VERY long hike and will take you up the sides of cliffs and by about mile 8 you want to kill him. But we did have some amazing adventures and I have the best memories of s’mores in the Wisconsin wilderness, isolated lakes in the Rockies, a pack of wild Buffalo in South Dakota, the breathtaking scenery in Glacier National Park and the climb up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia (although better was bouldering down). I think his love for the outdoors just simply rubbed off on me and now I have such an appreciation for those rare untouched areas – they give me such a sense of peace.