Two Weeks Deep and Loving It!

Maintaining a functional, organized life while living out of my truck has been a challenge requiring creativity and persistence. The truck-camping life has given me the opportunity to be in the outdoors for much longer periods than before. Consequently I've been enabled to wake up to hiking and climbing right out be back door (AKA my tailgate) and view daily sunsets over mountain peaks that would otherwise be hidden by drywall. 

This morning I woke up with no plans or obligations. As I sat in my camping chair eating breakfast and drinking coffee I gazed at the nearby Mt. Sopris that looms over the Roaring Fork Valley. Struck by a feeling of spontaneity I decided to set out on a hike up the mountain.

Mt. Sopris

After a morning session of yoga and casually collecting my camping and hiking gear I drove a couple of miles up the road from camp to the trail head. Rather than pursuing a goal oriented day of charging up the mountain I chose a process driven outing by savoring my time on the trail. Accepting the good and the bad, refuting discouragement as I post holed through soft springtime snow for miles. With dark rain clouds approaching I settled into camp below the summit slopes with hours of daylight remaining. As rain pattered against my tent's cover I found equanimity in the warmth of my tent, stuffed full of insulation bearing resemblance to a squirrel's nest. 

I awoke in the morning to rain water saturated snow, which would have been incapable of holding the weight of my ultra light ice axe, let alone my body weight. Gazing at the miles of trail to the summit socked in with loose, wet snow I wrote the trip off as a character building outing and set off down the trail in peace. 

Spring time on Mt.Sopris

I believe the type of life I have chosen to live for the past four years or so which encompasses living for the moment, accepting the vagabond mentality, and finding solace in the light at the end of the tunnel has showed me what I care about. I have found that the most important commodity in my life is time. By whatever means necessary time undoubtedly trumps money. Money is a vital resource in our society but the trick to happiness must be finding an intelligent strategy to spend, not spend, earn, and not earn money. Food consumption is an excellent analogy of money. We need food to survive, but eat too much of it and you'll find yourself unhappy and weighted down with problems you've acquired through over consumption. 

Some may say my perspective of simple living is made possible by my young age and lack of obligations. Which is true to a degree. I don't have a family, overwhelming debt, or a business. However, I have made the conscious decision to live out of my truck to free my already independent life, and simplify my already uncluttered life. I foresee my life becoming increasingly complicated with age. However, in comparison to the average joe my life will still be one rooted in basic clarity. 

The crash pad on wheels

-watch for a youtube video I'm going to post soon touring my humble abode

Feel free to comment, dispute, argue, praise, or worship my socially unacceptable life below.

Background and foresight

The only other period in my life that I found thought provoking enough to warrant writing a blog was over one and half years ago. At this time I had quit my job, and set out on a trip to Asia. After burning through all my savings I came back to the United States eager for the next chapter in my life. I attended my first college semester, while working as a handy man in boulder. I was planning on going to Colorado University for Environmental Engineering. I was also planning on the continuation of my climbing habits day in and day out.

However, on December 15th, 2013 I had a life changing event. I rappelled off the end of my climbing rope into 25 feet of open air beneath me. After suffering serious head trauma I was lowered out of Eldorado Canyon by the Rocky Mountain Rescue Team. The following week of intensive care and continuous family distress has completely escaped my memory bank. My reintroduction to the world, as memory serves, was my first day in rehab. I have a clear depiction thinking,"Woah, what the hell happened?"

Rescue in Eldorado Canyon

This surreal experience was, ironically, to me a very inspiring, positive experience. It forced me to re-evaluate my life and introduced new trains of thought into my perpetually evolving mind. After much consideration and research I've decided to abandon my pre-accident goals of living in Boulder and obtaining a degree in Environmental Engineering. It turns out this field is for those happy behind the walls of an office building. A respectable career, suited well for others, but not myself. I would prefer field work and exploration.

A school in Carbondale, Colorado called the Colorado Mountain College seems to fit my requirements much better. They offer degrees in Environmental Science and Sustainability which could take me to those far corners of the world I crave to see. As a long term event this is obvious to me as the right choice. But also as a short term, it's going to be a life suited to me much better. Rather than paying obscene amounts of money for apartments in Boulder I can simply live in my truck in the peaceful Roaring Fork Valley while attending college.

The roaring for valley. Home to Colorado Mountain College.

CMC or Hogwarts?...Obviously CMC!

I haven't been this excited for a change in my life since I went to Asia. I've allowed the idea to consume me with anticipation. I've spent  hours and hours re-modeling the bed of my truck to live out of. This move will undoubtedly silence the noise in my life and reign in a new era of adventure.


MEN THAT DON'T FIT IN

"There is a race of men that don't fit in
A race that can't stay still
So they break the hearts of kith and kin
And roam the world at will
They rove the fields and range the floods
And climb the mountains crest
Theirs is the curse of gypsy blood
And they don't know how to rest."

-Robert Service


That passage from Robert Service's poem describes me quite well. However, he goes on in this poem to explain how the type of man he describes comes to realize what a sad, hollow, mistake his type of life was. I can certainly understand the very basic reasons why Robert Service would make this accusation of men who have more experiences with the physical world and less with relationships. However, I have to argue that my way of life has brought me an abundance of happiness that could not have been found in a rooted life of lasting relationships.

Some people find their kicks in life out of the people they interact with and loving memories they cherish. Which of course hold weight with me as well. But when I look back and remember the happiest, fullest times of my life I was almost completely introverted, in the moment of strange and wild lands.

Each of us has to find a source of joy in the world, but I have undoubtedly find mine.

May 8th, 2014 I'll be setting out on another venture into the unknown to camp for an indefinite period; living simply with the land. This is the introduction to a new chain of events that will show how clarity is achieved through simplicity. A lifestyle to this extreme is not for everyone. If we all lived the simple life it would cause an economic disaster and in reality does not suit today's developed society. I'm not trying to preach to the audience or give direct examples. Rather, I'm showing what makes me happy. How you use and interpret my point of view is up to you. It's your vehicle of consciousness :)