Why Slow Travel on Forest Roads is Worth It
I prefer to travel where the pavement ends and my phone says, "No Service".
Let me also add, as long as I am in a high clearance 4-Wheel drive vehicle.
For the last four years, my step-father and I have headed out West to explore forest service roads that lead to spectacular ruins and scenery.
Today, four years ago, my mother died.
She loved the West, and we go to remember her and reflect upon her life.
We also go to unhook from our normal day to day life, and we philosophically explore what it means to live a good life.
Forest service roads are a way to feel fully human and tap into your sense of adventure.
You Slow Down...Literally!
You can't drive fast on a service road. They are usually gravel, with a lot of washboard road that makes you slide if you drive too fast.
Since you are going slow, roll down the windows and smell the air. All of your senses are engaged with your environment. It becomes a full-body experience, especially when traversing a high road with a devastating fall to your death if you're not paying attention. My step-father says we could roll several times and my ass would still be glued to the seat. But the view! It's worth the full-body sphincter experience, trust me!
No Service? No GPS.
Where we go, there is no GPS unless we invested in a satellite version. Our phones don't work, so old-fashioned common sense and reading a forest service map are needed skills. Or, just drive down a road for the joy of seeing where it goes. Some of our best experiences have come from taking the road barely traveled, and being rewarded with a view not on any social media accounts.
Nature Is the Show
Yesterday, we saw a marmot, bald eagle, black bear, trout and I found a 350 million year old rugose horn coral that somehow found its way into my gold panning apparatus while I was panning in a remote riverbed.
I mean, what a great day! I didn't find any gold, but somehow I found a fossilized portion of something that was once alive 350 million years ago when the land here was covered with a shallow sea.
Traveling this way connects you to the environment in a way highways and byways can't.
You Feel The Landscape
With windows rolled down, you notice the temperature changes as you drive slowly through the many micro-climates you encounter. I was walking near the waters edge of a high mountain lake yesterday, and the moisture from the lake, the rotting plant matter mixed with dead fish and elk shit was a smell you just can't replicate anywhere else.
I love it, personally. It means I'm in the landscape, not just looking at it from a car window in my air conditioned bubble.
There is a silty dust here that is different from most places I've been. Thousands of years of compacted mountain snow has transformed the dirt into something that is unique here. When it's windy, you really feel it as it enters your eyes and nose. I ate a lot of dust yesterday, and enjoyed commiserating with my step-father about the state of our mucus membranes.
It's About the Journey
When we hit the forest service roads, we have a general idea where we will end up, but it's more about the pull-offs when we see something cool, or the river that beckons us to stop and get our chairs out to soak in the beauty of the place.
We give ourselves over to where the landscape takes us. We discover things that aren't on any TripAdvisor list of things to do or see.
It's not for the faint of heart, and you need to be sure you know how to handle yourself.
There are tools to consider taking with you, like a shovel or a whatever you need to change a flat. I pack extra food and water for a day or so, and a blanket if something happens and we have to sleep in the truck.
Last year, we had a flat and had to wait 14 hours for a tow because the lug nuts were stripped and we had no cell service. But we were prepared, and we actually had a pretty good time waiting. Made me feel alive in a way that gets lost with modern life, and without any tech, we had to rely upon the people that helped us out.
And we always find nice people.
I hope you've enjoyed some of the highlights of this trip. I know I've enjoyed reflecting upon it and sharing it here.
Random fact about me: My favorite meal is Korean Hot Stone Bowl with the little dried fish as an accompaniment.