neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
|
|
|
Jan 24, 2010 - 08:55pm PT
|
hey there ricky d... say, as to this quote..
Do what I do when I take youngun's into the wilderness...
I tell them that Cheetos grow wild for the picking on some special trees.
But we will have to walk a while to get to them.
It's an adventure coming and going.
sounds like the tactics one of my sons used recently, in another field...
*think their kids DO like the greatoutdoors... it is supper that is sometimes that hard adventure... :)
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Jan 24, 2010 - 09:07pm PT
|
It's odd, really, that my father put so much effort into introducing me to the wilderness when he wasn't really all that "outdoorsy" himself. Or at least not in the yuppie way we use the term now. He grew up dirt poor on a farm in northern Canada and came of age just in time for the great depression. But by the time War II was over and he'd settled down and started a family he was doing okay. My mother was a city girl, and really wasn't interested in what the dirt had to offer, but my dad really did make it a priority to give me as much of the outdoors I could handle.
Dunno if it backfired, or what. But by the time I was fifteen I was a paddling bum. Which changed to mountain bum once I discovered the mountains. But I am forever thankful for what he gave me.
|
|
Banquo
Trad climber
Morgan Hill, CA
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 07:42am PT
|
We were always outdoors.
Dad was a field topographer for the USGS in the western states. We typically moved twice a year to tiny towns in the middle of nowhere. I attended something like 26 different schools. Places like Island Park Idaho, Rosette Utah, Gila Bend Arizona, and John Day Oregon.
When out of school I spent time with dad driving 4WD into the boonies, lugging theodolites to the tops of peaks and hiking out trails while marking them on aerial photos with pinholes.
Dad grew up in Fernwood Idaho and joined the Air Corps late in WW2. He served in Egypt and India. After college he worked on the Alaskan Highway before joining USGS.
He did a stint in Antarctica as navigator (by sun and stars) on a surface expedition. He has a mountain range named after him down there.
|
|
Evel
Trad climber
Slartibartfasts Newest Fjiord
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 11:11am PT
|
Dad was absolutely the best when it came to being in the woods. I had my first trap line when I was 8. Sold the pelts for gas to put into my dirt bike. Dad wanted to settle in CO after the Marines but mom said no deal. Compromise was a month every summer to climb and fish. Mom was no slouch either. Taught me how to shoot well enough to go on to USMC Scout/Sniper. Also a semi-pro water skier way back in the day. All said my folks were the best. Miss 'em both every day.
|
|
Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 11:44am PT
|
My family wasn't the least bit outdoorsy, liked to travel but picnics with friends were the closest we ever got to outdoor activities. But maybe that was enough, since as far back as I can remember I was attracted by the outdoors despite an urban/suburban upbringing. I remember as a very young child driving through northern Westchester, NY past reservoirs(Croton, for those from the area) surrounded by low, forested hills, thinking that it was just incredibly wild and wanting to get out there and wander. No one in the family could figure out where in the "genes" this came from. Probably Moses and that Mt. Sinai thing...!!!!
|
|
seth kovar
climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 02:02pm PT
|
Me and my Great Uncle, Dave Craft, in the Badlands in '78 or '79...
At this part of the trip I took on the role of Lawman (much to the dismay of Dave, I'm sure), and searched the campground for the notorious and elusive Black Bart...
My memories of the trip are vague, but the awe of it all still lingers.
Much thanks to Dave for opening my eyes and heart to the beauty of this country and instilling in me a love and respect for nature...
note: survival, thanks for the redirection
|
|
Anastasia
Mountain climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 03:42pm PT
|
To the horror of my parents, I was a six year old with a knack for wandering into the Sespe Wilderness. That tracked enough dirt into my life to keep it permanent.
|
|
14re3
Boulder climber
Twin Peaks ,CA
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 09:12pm PT
|
Brutus of Wyde brother here.
Army brats raised in alaska. OUR mother was the inspiration. Moose creek camping with mom & her friend (also female) while the army officer husbands worked. Mom also worked at the alaska native hospital as an RN. Winter survival camp for us while in alsska.
She had me & my next younger brother in a scout troop that hiked 50miles of John Muir trail ea summer. Mt whitney, Mt san gregonio (greyback) Slushy medows. joshua tree/ zion / She became a desert lover in her last years!
|
|
The user formerly known as stzzo
climber
Sneaking up behind you
|
|
|
Jan 25, 2010 - 11:08pm PT
|
Somewhat. Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts at first, then summer camp. Climbed a lot of trees. Learned to rappel at 14. Now I smile about it. At the time, the objective was simply to rappel - no climbing or caving involved. I suppose it had something to do with the camp being owned by a former SEAL ;-). I suppose it's also why I just kinda dig rapping instead of walking off :D
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
|
Jan 26, 2010 - 12:24am PT
|
11ish, I got the intro to Josh rock toproping. not sure if we had backpacked san gorgonio by then or not with the scouts, but regular outdoor trips with the scouts was definitely part of my upbringing...
backpack san gorgonio
canoe Colorado flat water sections
road bike to oceanside
backpack to New Army Pass
car camping to Oneill regional park with capture the flag night sessions
but all that was couched in what I thot was a suburban hell and disneylandification of every day living, so not so off the grid. as a teenager, I would exploit this urban environment by bouldering on the traverses on underpasses of freeways.
|
|
Allen Hill
Social climber
CO.
|
|
|
Jan 26, 2010 - 01:51am PT
|
|
|
tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
|
|
Started apline skiing between my dads legs when I was 3. I did a fair bit of tree climbing in my folks yard up pine trees. My folks had a condo in Squaw Valley in the 80's and it seemed we'd be up there a couple weekends a month year round, and for most of Christmas break. I got in alot of downhill skiing in my adolescent and teen years. In the spring and summer I'd hike up to the various peaks. The granite cliffs below the first tram tower always captivated me.
My dad was pretty active in outdoor activities after he got out of the Navy post WW II and before settling down with family, he climbed, hiked, skied and scuba dove.
When I was interested in climbing, my folks took me to Tuolumne to take some Yosemite Mountaineering classes, I learned the basics of ropecraft, belaying, self arrest and moving over stone.
Then they got a cabin by Royal Gorge (sick of the drive from the bay area to squaw) and I got into x-c skiing in my college years, so I'd ski the trails in the winter, and mountain bike them in the summer.
I guess that qualifies as an outdoor upbringing.
|
|
Pate
Trad climber
|
|
I don't remember not being able to ski. It was just part of life. And I thought naively that all people had a ski background like I did, not only were we rope tow/kicker groms but we were a kick-and-glide-pine tar wax family too. Silent New England woods.
My grandfather put a fly rod in my hand and took away the spinner and KastMaster when I was 8, a heavy bamboo rod that wore me out within an hour, but I'd still swing it all day. Sunnies and bass in Ohio on his pond led to bonefish, tarpon and permit with him stalking the flats at his place in the keys. You could see tailing fish from the porch, put down your iced tea and sneak out and have a go. He'd glass them with his old WW2 navy binocs and say "Why don't you go out and show those fish who's boss."
Summer camp was all hiking and white water for a month every July. Frame packs and steep White Mountain trails. Saco and Androscoggin floats.
I'm not sure if they knew what they were doing to me as a child, but somehow they peeled me away from pop-culture and instilled a sense of wonder in me from day 1. And it led me to peaks, waves, reefs, powder, cliffs, rivers, deserts views and memories and a collection of rugged, wonderful friends, and a headful of realized dreams that make up my life.
I recently took my daughter down to Florida, to the same flats I walked with my grandfather 30 years ago, and I felt a profound sense of attachment and connectivity while standing out in that impossibly turquoise water. One of those rare moments when all that has been and all that will be are perfectly displayed, with me right there where I was supposed to be. A moment of clarity.
Looking down I hoped that I was doing the same for her.
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
nice Pate
totally understand, as I suspect most here feel that ring of truth in it.
|
|
tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
|
|
Pate,
It's a amazing what kids pick up, and how much experiences mean to them.
For his 4th birthday I took my oldest boy, now 13, on a "hunting" trip. It was a 3 day canoe/camping trip. We paddled out two the second of a long string of lakes, set up camp, and spent the time portaging and exploring the other lakes in the system. We did some fishing for rainbow trout, I don't recall if we caught any, and enjoyed warming our fingers in the frozen morning by the campfire.
Literally for the next 6 months that trip was the only thing he'd talk about.
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 17, 2010 - 07:38am PT
|
All the old slides have been scanned.
A treasure trove of images I've never seen, but remember.
Experiences like this helped shape the man I would become.
|
|
Leggs
Sport climber
California originally, Old Pueblo presently..
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2010 - 08:03am PT
|
I like the man you've become...
|
|
Dingus Milktoast
Gym climber
CALIENTE!
|
|
|
Dec 17, 2010 - 08:04am PT
|
Yes I was blessed to be the 2nd son of an engineer and outdoorsman who grew up during the depression. Like many of his generation my pop loved doing things with his hands and being self-sufficient.
He taught me to hunt, fish, use a chain saw, split wood, build fences, build spring houses, build houses, travel, camp, take care of equipment (a man takes care of the tools that take care of him, son).
He was also an engineer and metallurgist; an acknowledged pioneer of robotic welding techniques and in his later years in custom 'micro-welding' for medical equipment and other specialized tasks where tiny welds and exotic materials were involved (like welding aluminum to graphite....).
A man with one foot in the last century and one in the next.
He was of the kind, well, an old Aerosmith song may describe it best:
We all live on the edge of town
Where we all live ain't a soul around
People start a coming all we do is just grin
and say we gotta move out cause city's moving in
I say we gotta move out before city moves in.
He took us from rural New Jersey to even more rural Tennessee in 1973. The remainder of my childhood was spent on 30 acres of woods fields and hills, with a limestone cliff just down the bluff at Turnbull Creek. A thousand acre homestead ranch belonging to the Spicer clan backed my pop's land and I had the run of that place.
Had my own horse, chickens, cows, and learned how to take care of all of those critters too.
Now I am not my Pop. I roll a bit differently then he did. But I carry him and the skills he taught me in my heart, everywhere, all the time.
Cheers
DMT
|
|
drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 17, 2011 - 02:22pm PT
|
Take your kids when you go.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!