I was so happy when daylight savings time kicked in yesterday but it's a cloudy, rainy week in the San Francisco Bay Area so I'm having a little trouble kicking the winter blues. Yes I do know that people do ride, hike, and camp out in the rain — my friends and family in the Pacific Northwest, in Canada are giggling now because they don't let it stop them — otherwise they'd never get outside.
And I also know that a backcountry experience will help boost my mood and my creativity. I just spotted this article in Backpacker Magazine that may spur me on: Top 3 Literary Hikes: Thoreau, Hemingway, and Kerouac all went into the backcountry to find the right words. Here are the three tours:
Fox River, MI
From Hemingway's "The Big Two-Hearted River"
In this Hemingway standout, a war-weary young soldier named Nick Adams spends three days hiking and fishing in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Matterhorn PK, CA
From Kerouac's The Dharma Bums
Seeking enlightenment, Jack Kerouac attempted an ascent of Yosemite's 12,279-foot Matterhorn Peak with poet Gary Snyder and friend John Montgomery in 1955.
Mount Greylock,MA
From Thoreau's A Week on the Merrimack and Concord Rivers
Not long before heading to Walden Pond to build a cabin, Thoreau climbed this whale-shaped hump of a mountain in the 10,000-acre Mount Greylock State Reservation.
Read more about these Top 3 Literary Hikes.
I'm heading up to the Sierras this weekend to help celebrate my friend Carol Levow's new book Dare to Paint. If it's not really storming I'll ride the Guzzi up there a day early, find a place by the river, pitch my tent, cook a meal, sleep with the sound of the water and the night to clear my mind.
Hey Carla,
Good for you … get out … catch some wind, eat a few bugs, enjoy the wafts of spring! Here on the East Coast spring is a full month early … and I have to admit that it is catching me off guard … I’d rather be outside than working on taxes … but, it gives me incentive to do the necessary paperwork. By the way, I picked up a 2011 Ural Gobi Gear Up last summer, and I have been breaking it in a few miles most every day this winter (not much of a winter to be sure) and I don’t know what it is about this simple 1939 BMW Clone that makes me smile and have fun, but it surely does. It’s slow, clunky, and certainly gives a good upper body workout, and I love it. Thanks for the literary inspriation. Take care and hope your upcoming ride gives you all that you seek. Doc Rogers
Loved this post Carla. Having spent time in the U.P. and now being retired in Arkansas I can so relate to just heading out and finding that quiet spot for reflection and rejuveniation. Nothing like camping next to running water to calm the senses.