A Trail Worth Remembering

Some trails lead somewhere. Others become part of who we are.

There are thousands of trails.

Some are famous. Some are forgotten. Some are little more than a faint path through the trees.

But every once in a while, you come across a trail that refuses to leave you.

Oddly enough, it usually isn't because of the trail itself.

I've walked beautiful trails that I barely remember today.

I've also wandered down ordinary paths that I can still picture years later.

The difference wasn't the scenery.

It was what happened there.

Maybe it was the first time I spotted wildlife I wasn't expecting.

Maybe it was a conversation.

Maybe it was finally reaching a viewpoint after wondering if the climb would ever end.

Sometimes it wasn't a single moment at all. It was simply the feeling that, for a little while, the rest of the world had become wonderfully quiet.

I've started to think we don't remember places nearly as much as we remember experiences.

The places simply become the shelves where those memories are stored.

That idea quietly found its way into Journeys Of The Crew.

As I developed the series, I realized I didn't want the outdoors to be nothing more than a backdrop. I wanted the places themselves to matter. Not because they were extraordinary, but because the characters slowly filled them with memories.

A fallen log becomes familiar.

A bend in the creek becomes a landmark.

A clearing becomes the place where something important happened.

Eventually, those places mean something because of the people who have been there.

I think that's true in real life, too.

Most of us probably have a place like that.

A trail.

A fishing spot.

A campsite.

A quiet hill overlooking home.

None of those places have to be famous.

In fact, they usually aren't.

They're simply places where life slowed down long enough for something worth remembering to happen.

That's one of the things I hope readers carry away from Journeys Of The Crew.

Not just a sense of adventure.

Not just a new outdoor skill.

But the realization that meaningful places aren't always discovered.

Sometimes they're created.

One visit at a time.

Because the trails we remember most aren't always the most spectacular.

They're the ones that quietly become part of who we are.

Continue the Journey

For more about the personal history hidden inside a landscape, read Every Map Tells Two Stories.

For a related reflection on discovering adventure close to home, read The Story Behind “Adventure Still Exists Beyond the Familiar”.