Going Camping!

Going camping is, fortunately for me, a phrase and activity I get to engage in more than the average human. I also get to take other folks out camping more than most, which is a good thing considering I enjoy sharing the love of nature with other people.

I’m presently in the UP of Michigan. (That’s short for the Upper Peninsula, for any non-Michiganders among us.) And I’m preparing to go camping with about thirty other folks for a week. Working with the Lead Feather organization (offering journeys in leadership and personal development), I’ll be helping lead their Family Journey program for 2012.
Yesterday I  hiked the Chapel Basin, along Lake Superior, in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Chapel Falls, Chapel Lake and Chapel Rock were three of the highlights. It’s great to see the greenery and water of this lake country, contrasting so starkly as it does with my southwestern dry homeland, though both landscapes are experiencing the drought now parching much of the U.S.
There will be no drought of laughter or joy on this camp out however. We’ll be on a lake’s edge with canoes and kids. And though the ‘kid camp out’ thing is a bit new to me, I’m looking forward to the education.
I figure I’ve accumulated over 6,000 ‘client field days as they’re called in the wilderness education arena and I guess it’s time I went out with some experts in creativity and play.
I admit though, threat of the ticks have me a bit nervous, what with them being so small and so potentially potent with Lyme Disease. I tell folks I’d rather hike in rattlesnake country…but then it is nice, I admit, being out in the woods with all this north country green.
So where ever you are… go get out in the green of the woods or the earth tones of the desert or…blues of the water country or… just get out! Go camping if you must. It’s good for the spirit and soul. Stop reading this blog and just go.