Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man: A Field Guide to Leadership in the Great Outdoors

This is the first of a weekly blog series that will focus on leadership in the outdoors and how to get the most from the least. Even though the title is called, “Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man”, it will hopefully cover topics that are useful to everyone.

Chapter 1: Life is too short to stay civilized.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease.”

-John Muir, Our National Parks

The human spirit needs exploration. It is not enough to read and learn about the wilds of the world, they simply must be experienced. In today’s age of urbanization, there is little need for leaving the city life or the indoor comforts that are provided. All of our basic daily needs can be met by local stores or online retailers. The need for wildness is weaved into our DNA by our Creator, and cannot be purchased. God could have created Adam and Eve in the middle of a modern-day city with all of the technology and comfort that would afford, but He simply did not. God understood the importance of wilderness and nature for His creation of man, and the need to have interaction between the two to for both to survive and thrive. Mankind was equipped by design to be able to deal with and learn from everything wilderness can throw at us. However, nature is not meant to be conquered by man, but to have a relationship built on understanding and love. Our inherent ability to problem solve, engineer and come up with solutions comes from our love and observation of God’s designed natural world. The further we get away from nature, the further we get away from God and His original creation. Almost all of the ills of society come through the technology we have designed and created to get away from nature and to make our lives more “comfortable” and “civilized”.

Sunrise over God's creation.

God didn’t design the other animals on this planet to need anything other than the tools He designed them with. God did give mankind the authority of the animals and most importantly the ability to problem solve and build complex tools. The problem is, the more complex our tools and problem-solving become, the less reliant we are on nature, and thusly God. We see ourselves as being a god and being able to create everything we might need. In fact, however, we cannot create and only seem to destroy the last remaining pieces of God’s original creation which is wilderness. Every man, woman, and child strives to build a closer relationship with God, and one of the only ways that can happen is to return to the wilderness.