Category: philosophy

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wandering Boracay, Philippines

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

How long can a hiker lie around on a Beach before getting bored?

Not long.

Boracay is an island of the Philippines located approximately 315 km (196 mi) south of Manila …

The island is approximately seven kilometers long, dog-bone shaped with the narrowest spot being less than one kilometer wide …

Once a day I’d take off jogging wherever tourists do not go.

I checked out the dump. Excellent. And watched how trash is collected. Very efficiently.

Bottles are recycled.

Here is a tourist attraction, a Zorb run. Unfortunately the Zorb doesn’t roll unless a group arrives together, pre-booked. Otherwise I would have signed up.

On another lonely road I found two new born goats. Mama nowhere to be found. When I jogged back a half hour later, they were still there.

The highlight was navigating narrow alleys where the poorest folks eek out a living. I didn’t take any photos, but it looks something like this.

Actually, the people looked surprisingly healthy and happy. The animals sickly and pitiful. In fact, I saw an emaciated cat in it’s death throes, ignored by one and all. There was no way I could put it out of its misery.

Very best of all was arriving at a new Mosque being built by the minority Muslim population. Clearly it will be the pride and joy of the community, once finished. They asked how it compared with Mosques in Canada. Equally grand, I told them.

… It was always good to get back to my inexpensive hotel for a shower and a rest.

Before the long rest.

See more photos or check my Boracay holiday posts.

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why we hike – the research

In July 2010, researchers Marni Goldenberg and Briget Eastep caught up with the “herd” of hikers near Mount Shasta to discover the benefits of long distance hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Known as the “Research Girls,” they hiked for four days, interviewing a group of 37 male and 19 female hikers between 20 and 66 years old. The hikers participated in more than 13 hours of interviews and had hiked a cumulative 78,382 miles on the PCT at the time of their interviews. …

Female hikers appeared to gain self-respect, esteem, or confidence from their Trail experiences, especially through hiking and interacting with other people.

Male hikers appeared to enjoy warm relationships with others through their new perspectives gained from hiking, the new experiences and opportunities the Trail provides, and being in the wilderness or outdoors.

While the experience of long-distance hiking on the PCT is truly different for each hiker, the experience does offer numerous life values including a sense of belonging, self-fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment, appreciation, self-awareness, self-respect/esteem/confidence, warm relationships with others, fun and enjoyment of life, and transference of benefits of other areas of one’s life.

read more on Trail Space – Why do we hike?

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Camino De Santiago – the movie

Do you know the Way of St. James (Camino De Santiago)?

… the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.  Martin Sheen did a great job depicting the experience.

I’m more likely to bike, than hike.

(via Gadling)

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Snaefellsnes volcano, Iceland

Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth starts at Snaefellsnes volcano.

photo by corscri

Earlier Icelandic sagas are set here, too.

Mystics and spiritualists oft list this as a ‘Power Place’ of sorts.

Another story tells of a slam poetry contest between a great Icelandic writer named Kolbeinn Jöklaskáld and the devil. The devil lost the duel and had to throw him self to the bottom of the sea near this spot (north of Hellnar).

I scrambled up and left a Summit Stone on the stark volcanic outcropping.

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Ultralighter than Thou

Ryan Jordan:

Ultralight, simplicity, minimalism – these are not the goals.

So you get your pack weight down to five pounds, your possessions down to a count of 99, and your debt down to zero.

So what.

Now what?

Shouldn’t “going ultralight” be a prerequisite for some sort of greater end? I’ve read all the minimalist books, and followed all of the minimalist bloggers, and most of them seem pretty confused about the role that minimalism should play in their lives, and in the betterment of the world. …

read more – The Futility of Going Ultralight for Ultralight’s Sake

photo by Sam Haraldson on flickr

… I post this photo assuming some of those are Granite Gear packs, my choice too. … We’re cooler than you, I’m just saying. 🙂

_____

If you’re still hiking with a 7lb expedition pack, you need not read Ryan’s post. Instead find religion here:

Alastair Humphreys – Travel light, live cheap

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#whywehike

An exercise proposed by Tom Mangan:

Why we hike?

… something off-the-cuff, the first thing that pops into your head, so you don’t have time to over-think it. Give yourself 15 minutes to write it, five minutes to double-check your work, then post.

• health benefits
• relaxation of disconnecting from the world and internet
• beauty of the great outdoors
• hiking is relatively inexpensive
• it’s a fitness hobby I can do into my old age
• travel

I’ve been to 50 nations already. If I live long enough, I just might just get to 50 more.

… Much more eloquent than a bullet list are my hiking photos:

click thumbnails to see the photo set
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poem – The Morning

My breath still a mist
in the cold crops air.
My hands through my gloves are numb.

The axe that I hold
weather beaten and old
my sole companion this morn.

I walk all alone
down this road I have known
so very many mornings
before.

’til I come to my land
so majestic and grand
The place where I am reborn.

The song birds are singing
in the high tree tops
but the scampering squirrels
scold me.

I feel a slight morning breeze
and streaming down through the trees
the sun is just on its way.

On soft, spongy carpet
I walk through the woods
and I never have felt so
at peace.

So i throw down my axe
and lay down to relax …
I’ll not cut any wood today.

~ Rick McCharles

I wrote that in a 1973-74, a Language Arts option High School class.