Technology to Get to the Primitive

“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”― John Muir

I always feel particular close to nature when my wife and I hike the Pictured Rocks Lake shore, an annual endeavor of ours each summer. Even though this wilderness area has vast stretches of primitive trails, it still takes technology to get close to the trail heads we hike. Technology such as roads and the cars that travel them. However, even smaller technology plays a closer role on the primitive parts of the trail during hiking. Water bottles take the place of an animal skin to carry our water. Yet an animal skin water container was to primitive man advanced water-carrying technology, necessary to survival between water sources.

Being alone is less important to me on the trail for me to experience the wilderness, than is having silence. My wife and I are of similar nature and appreciate silent moments filled with wilderness sounds. We have stood and listened to what surrounds us: birds, bubbling brooks, waves, storms, and whispering trees. We find joy in silent, observant, and appreciation of what surrounds us on a trail snaking through the wilderness. How my body feels on the trail—fatigue, invigorated, refreshed. However, even the hiking shoes that are technology over our ancestor’s bare-footedness leave the occasional blister or hot spot on my feet.

Perhaps if I never had shoes I would not miss them on the trail. That is how the human mind seems to work at times, seeks solutions to what it sees as a problem. How to make it easier to hike a trail? Invent footwear.