On your own

So a couple different things have to come my mind for this next blog but I think the one were going to talk about today is the skill of doing stuff on your own. In my observations of people my age and younger (25 and under). I’ve learned many things, some good aspects scattered mostly within things I don’t care for. This is one of those things and as with any bad habit that you never knew you had its hard to tell where it really came from. Now I know for many generations before now its been the manly thing to do stuff on your own. Ya know take it apart and put it back together, anything worth doing is worth doing alone and never under any circumstances ask for directions, ever. But while I wont say that this mind set is the greatest kind to have I will compliment the fact that this type of thinking produces one inalienable skill and that is self-reliance. You see self-reliance when you go into the hardware store and see that guy who just through some invisible map knows where everything he needs is to be found even down to the tiniest screw. Its being able to build a fire with flint and steel even though you have matches. It’s the things you do that other tools and people can help you do but that you choose to do because you have the ability to. Its pulling out a map book to find directions rather than just typing it into your phone. This is what has stuck out to me as something that is found less and less in people under the age of 30.
So I’ve shown you a problem and maybe those of you who know more about the inner workings of the mind know exactly what is the cause of this but I want to know how to fix it. What can I/we do to bring it back and revitalize our future generations? I use for an example of self-reliance my dad who developed through mere desire and determination the rare, always intricate and often artistic skill of woodworking. This along with many other different skilled trades has declined in proficient workers here over the past decade or so. Now your free to draw your own conclusions, this is America and your allowed to be wrong, but I feel that this lack of self-reliance may be at least one branch at the root of this decline. Even to think about something as small as canning, back in the day you can everything cause in the winter when you ran out of food you couldn’t just run to the store. Nowadays repurposing things is sort of a fad but once again back in the day everything had more than one purpose. What im trying to get at is as a generation we have had an excess of convenience which has led to us relying on our selves less and less. Our country was founded, explored and built by self-reliant men and women and I don’t think you need to much foresight to see that self-reliance will continue to be needed if as a country and as individuals if we plan on succeeding in the future.
Ok I got off on a tangent I apologize so now back to how being self-reliant is a skill backpackers and outdoorsmen & women should have. I meet more and more people who have trusted a GPS their whole exploring career and when asked to simply orient a map to north are unable to. Or their friends who know only one way to do something: finding north, building a fire, cooking a meal ect. A self reliant backpacker should be able to think outside the box when it comes to things like problem solving, buying gear and even new and improved ways of practicing LnT. Now I know when I say have skills in bushcraft, survival, hunting, foraging and what not the first thing that comes to many a mind is “oh hes talking about doomsday prepers that doesn’t apply to me and backpacking” but in actuality they really do. For those of you who have read about John Muir and don’t just quote him on occasion you’ll find that he along with many of the original outdoor enthusiasts who revitalized getting outdoors all possessed these very skills that we kind of scoff at today. Yet each of these and many others are skills found in a self-reliant outdoorsy individual.
So you’ve heard me rant and you’ve listened to me rave now let me make a request. Next time your faced with a challenge big or small, tackle it, wholeheartedly and to completion. And then the next time you have a great idea, tackle that, and make it happen rather than just letting it gather dust. Do more. Try more. Now when you do these you will also fail more but in the end even in failure you have taken one more step towards that true freedom, to be able to say to yourself “I choose to ask for help but I don’t need it”. I guess I should input here that I don’t at all think asking for help is a bad thing, I just think we do it to much. Challenge yourself, so that when you next face whatever challenge nature throws at you can say “I got this”
As always thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments or questions
        Also i'm doing a bit of a survey so i'd like to know traits ors skills that come to your mind when you think of a self-reliant person? throw as many as come to mind into the comments below! thanks!
Hope to see you on the trail
Seek the wild
Luke


 this was my office for writing this blog!

The Warm Heart

The Warm Heart-
So I read recently a story about Lord Horatio Nelson and in this story he was standing on the quarterdeck of his ship during a storm without any kind of coat to shield him from the weather. Now when his midshipman came and tried to give him a slicker he refused saying "my love for queen and country keeps me warm enough". Now when i first read this i kind of chuckled thinking hes just saying that because hes this great war hero and he has an image to maintain but then i read and learned more about the man and what i learned was very interesting. At the end of my readings i came to the conclusion that Lord Nelson wasn't really full of it, i felt that he said this because of a deep burning passion towards his country and a all encompassing love of the sea. Because of these two things he truly felt a warmth when he had the chance to display his passion and love. Now before you lose interest and start thinking what does this have to do with the outdoors just hang in there its getting better i promise.
So this past weekend I had the chance to go camping in the Black Elk Wilderness of South Dakota which reminds one more of Emyn Muil from the Lord of the Rings than of a South Dakota landscape but this is where i ended up. Now going into this trip i knew 3 things: 1. it was going to be raining when i got there 2. that it was going to get very cold in the night and 3. that when temps reach a certain degree rain turns to snow. So needless to say i was a little hesitant to venture out but was determined to test my gear and maybe myself as well. So after a very long and cold night learning that hammocks might not be the best shelter in the cold i wake up just as it starts getting light out. Now in that moment as i peer outside my brain registers 2 things 1. that there's about an inch of beautiful snow and 2. that i'm no longer cold. Now this lasted for only a brief moment but in that moment i realized what Lord Nelson was speaking of. See very few things in my life have i been more passionate about than i have for the outdoors and its wandering. I have loved a ridge line framed by a sunset for just simply being there and sharing that beautiful view with me more than a good many people who have stepped in and out of my life. In the end it was this passion and love that decided to show up and warm my heart on that cold morning, reminding me that nothing beats doing what you love!
So I guess the point of this little snippet is to encourage you to seek out the "ridge line"  that warms your heart, those vivacious excursions  that prick your soul and make you feel more human and alive than any amount of likes on your social media page. Seek out the battle that each and every human wants and desires deep down, the battle that will tell one his or her true worth. The fight where the only challenger is the wild and the ref is God and His creation. Seek out the answers that can only be discovered in a valley with a river running through it or on by seeing whats on the other side of that peak. The original outdoors man said it best in Matthew 7:7 "Seek and ye shall find...". Get out there, warm your heart and seek the wild.
thanks for reading
Luke
"There's no better companion than the trail. It doesn't care what your reasons for visiting are. It gladly waits and gives generously to those who seek it. It can serve as confidant, counselor and ferocious teacher all at the same time. The trail overflows with discovery, breakthroughs and epiphanies not the least of which is the simple feeling of freedom"

A easy skill to learn!

Circumspect- To be watchful and aware of your surroundings.
This was a word that was described to me as a young man in church actually. It was used in reference to always walking with your head on a swivel, always turning your body to be able to see all that was around you. As i got older and started venturing into the outdoors more and more I found that this concept of walking circumspectly was one that i could also apply to my backpacking life! I began learning to trust my feet and bringing my gaze up from the ground to the scenic views around me. I also began noticing more safety hazards and potentially dangerous scenarios before they could materialize. I credit this new mindset for keeping me in the outdoors, when there were so many distractions and things that tempted my friends and I to not venture out, I was drawn back again and again because i had learned how to truly see the outdoors in its stunning entirety.
So for years i had the opportunity to sort of develope this viewing habit, knowing what sounds in the woods meant animal or human, noticing cloud patterns and the weather that tended to accompany them and how to analize campsites for potential hazzards and so on. These skills began to develope more and more and then one day i had the opportunity to begin to share them with others. At Philmont Scout Ranch, heaven on earth to many, you have thousands upon thousands of young men and women traveling through this beautiful landscape every summer. Yet when they get home and their moms would ask them what all they saw many would reply "well i saw timmys buff and joeys kelty, and dads keens". going through a whole week of trekking and only seeing the back of the person in front of them. It was here that i realized that so many of our youth don't know how to be aware of their surroundings. They don't know how to trust their feet and raise their gaze. I can t tell you how many times i have gone out and set up my broght colored hammock on the side of a popular trail on the weekend and sat there and watched as kid after kid walks right by without seeing me. how does this happen?  They don't know how to walk quietly to be able to catch that elk crossing the trail or the bear eating berries. They arn't aware that in many regions the woods that they are hiking through could burn down within the next year or weeks and to enjoy the view, to soak it in cause they could be the last to see it in such splendor. They don't walk circumspectly.
So how do you make someone more aware? Do you stop them everytime you see something that they should have seen? Do you tell them to walk slower or to spread out more? Well as with so many things in the outdoors i let the woods and the mountains do most of the talking. My favorite plan of action is to keep my eyes out for a really great vista through the woods something you really only can catch just a glimpse of and i call everyone back to look at this view. Now i tell them that these little glimpses are the real gems of a hike, these are the views and moments that you'll truely remember. A moment you might not share with anyone else. A moment just for you. And then I encourage them to seek out these moments that the wild has many things to offer each and every person they just have to be looking for it!
So these are the things that I try and teach, this act of viewing deliberatly, on purpose if you will. I try an teach it to as many of the younger generation as i can and am writing this to hopefully encourage those of you with that indefatigable spirit of adventure that undying love for the outdoors to pass this simple lesson on when you get the chance. Lets teach the next generation how to  be aware of their surroundings, how to look for the little things that make each and every hike unique and great! Lets teach them how to trust their feet and raise their gaze!
Thanks for reading
Seek the Wild
Luke

Hiking Crow Peak

So the other day i finally had the chance to hike Crow Peak. It seems like every time you go into the northern hills its just kind of taunts you, which makes people like myself want to bag it even more. Even though its not one of the top 10 tallest peaks in the hills Crow Peak is the farthest north peak in the hills and offers a commanding view all the northern hills.The trail head is pretty easy to find and once you go through the gate you immediately start climbing. My first impressions as i began the hike was the awesome state of the trail. Many other trails in the hills and i feel like trails with high usage have liter and graffiti throughout so when i see a trail like the Crow Peak trail without all these things I get pretty excited. On top of that the trail itself was a well built and maintained trail. Nice grade, no washouts and switchbacks a plenty. Putting all these together made for a great trail experience. Its a fairly straight shot to the top, only one trail branch you have to watch out for (just a 1/2 mile out and back spur with a nice little view) but if your focus is on reaching the peak sticking to the right at this spur will see you there. Around 3/4 of the way up you hit a nice little scree field tucked into a gully with a really neat view. From this point you have a couple steep switchbacks till you come to the ridge line which has a few great camping spots on it if you were interested in camping for a sunrise. The final 100 yards is just open air with a little ground cover and a huge grove of aspen which is really cool to see on a peak like that. Finally the peak, at 5,760 feet you've reached the top after a climb of 1,563 feet and 3.3 miles to one of the most peaceful peaks I've yet to reach in the black hills. From the top you'll see Bear Butte to the east, Spearfish Peak to the south east, Terry Peak to the south and to the west you have a clear view of the Wyoming portion of the black hills all the way to Sundance. Unfortunately I was unable to catch a glimpse of the bighorns from the peak which was one of my hopes but the view did not disappoint. All in all the Crow Peak hike was a great hike, fairly easy to access (I saw people of all shapes and sizes and a family with little ones) and one i would recommend to any visitor or first timer to the black hills!

Luke

Heres some directions to the trail head if you would would like them: You can get off of I-90 at exit 8 at McGuigan rd and head south. Go to the second rd which is hillsview and take a right (west). Your then going to go past 5 roads and then take a left on the 6th which is higgins gultch rd. Your then going to go appr. 4 miles till you see a turn off and a gate on your right hand side and then your all set!

Devils Washtub

Most of the time if someone had asked me to go hiking in the middle of February I would have scoffed and added another layer just for thinking of something so cold. But if the weather gives me a 65+ degree day in the middle of blizzard season i'm going to make the most of it dam it! So the night before I go I start looking at the map to find a good place to go and i'm thinking "find a good place to go spring turkey hunting" but thankfully i have a girlfriend who thinks "lets go somewhere no one really knows about". Thus the search for Devils Washtub begins. Going from different scraps of information we'd gathered from passing conversations with different local hikers we were able to figure out at least where to start. Heading south down spearfish canyon was pretty sweet considering the river was raging and the small waterfall along the cliff were still frozen. So many times i go through certain area in my travels and can't help think of the first people to pass through this area and what they thought when they saw what i'm seeing. Anyways i digress after passing Bridal Falls we traveled about 1.5-2 miles till we came to the first road sign we'd seen marked "Cleopatra rd" which we pulled onto and parked right before a bridge crossing. Now me being the comfort over practicality hiker that I am I wore shorts cause it was 65+ in Rapid but up here in Spearfish Canyon there's still a foot of snow and its a little chilly to say the least when your not in the sun. Needless to say I was a little skeptical getting out of the car but knowing a "zip up the man suit" from my girlfriend would come if I said anything helped me make up my mind that this was going to happen. So we take off and find the trail head just across the bridge and to the right and to our surprise its a pretty worn down and traveled trail even with all the snow on the ground. Now it didn't take long for us to realize that we'd stumbled on a gem of a hike. With the echo of the creek running under the foot of snow that still covered most of the creek contrasted with the stillness of everything else surrounding it this hike had the makings of being something you'd write in your blog about. So while she slipped all over the trail and I tried to capture what we were seeing with my camera we slowly made our way down this canyon. Going into this hike we really didn't know how far it was to the washtub so we were surprised to find it was only around a mile in if that. Now the snow in a way added and detracted from our experience because once we got to the washtub we couldn't really see the deep pools that it was known for but we did see other interesting things. The cliff wall that is right next to the washtub while pretty impressive and attractive for its climbing potential was also the ugliest part of our trek since it was covered with graffiti. Nothing is more frustrating than to see people who hardly leave a mark in our society feel the need to boost their self importance by leaving their mark on nature and we also saw on our way back down that many people had carved into tree's along the trail as well. Just sad to see. Anyways out and back only took us a little over an hour even with the slippery trail. Hope this is helpful to anyone who is looking for those little tucked away gems of the Black Hills!

"There's no better companion than the trail. It doesn't care what your reasons for visiting are. It gladly waits and gives generously to those who seek it. It can serve as confidant, counselor and ferocious teacher all at the same time. The trail overflows with discovery, breakthroughs and epiphanies not the least of which is the simple feeling of freedom"