treeline

according to the lopsided clock in the kitchen of my friends the olsons' clear lake cabin, it's been 8:15 for over two years. i can't think of a better way to sum up lakeside culture than that. it's a welcome escape from the ins and outs of a typical week, with a deadline here and a schedule to keep there. i sincerely doubt that you would have an easy time finding an alarm clock that's turned on in a house that sits within 50 feet of this lake. while still remaining thoroughly plugged into modern life, living this way, even if it's only on the weekend, seems to be one of the few times we can excuse ourselves to be reduced to following our most basic human desires. you hungry? eat. tired? take a nap. need to poop? well, you should probably wait till everyone else goes out on the boat cause there's no ceiling vent in the bathroom. actually, wait. there' no ceiling at all, and the bathroom's right next to the living room where everyone's hanging out and shooting pool. so yeah, you'd better wait, cause the pine-scented lysol air freshener will totally give you away.

while lakeside culture is a quick, easy, and refreshing way to simplify your life for a couple days, the one real deal i've found for doing this is backpacking. granted, this takes a great deal more planning and prep than just throwing some clothes and a toothbrush in a bag and driving for an hour. but still, there's no better escape for me, and it's worth every second of planning and every expensive piece of gear that's necessary for such a trip. plus, you usually end up lakeside anyway, and where's the harm in kicking back next to a nameless mountain lake that's actually crystal clear? though the olsons are certainly great company and beyond great hosts, i'd choose that mountain lake anytime over the improperly named clear lake in flatland central iowa, surrounded by houses and filled with boats.

the simplicity of backpacking is beautiful. take a map, some food, water, and some shelter, put it in a pack, strap it on, and start walking. feel tired, hungry? stop. eat. set up camp. sleep. what time is it? well, the sun's setting, so it's roughly sunset. nothing can be more freeing for me than living my life for a week by the sun and my most basic desires. entire days can be decided by how many heartbeats you feel like spending that day. you look at a map, find something you want to check out, and you pack up and check it out. and the best part is how you get there. just walk. if it's too steep to make a path through the saddle between those two mountains, hey, just take the long way 'round through the valley. the sun's just come up, and we have until it goes down. there's no driving, no agonizing over what to queue up next on the ipod, and no pompous clear lake cops giving you a $100 speeding ticket 1/2 mile before you get to the lakehouse just cause you stopped paying attention to the speedometer for like a second and come on, dude, highway hypnosis is totally real, i just got off the freeway, dammit. there's just your own two feet, the pack on your back, and the trail ahead. oh, and need to poop? no problem. just walk out of sight, dig a hole, and fertilize the pines that freshen the air up here and make me so glad that my life can be simple for a time.