Wild Trails & Tall Tales

- by Roland Cheek

 

GRUMPINESS PART OF AGING

Ever notice how folks get grumpier as they grow older? It's an apparently natural phenomenon, else Hollywood wouldn't have used the theme for popular movies starring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau.

Grumpiness seems more likely to assert itself with experience.

Attend a ball game or a concert during youth and one tends to be wide-eyed throughout the event, content to follow the lead of any companion who leaves an impression of familiarity. But become knowledgeable yourself and one winds up second-guessing event selections, arrival times, performance. Nowhere, though, have I discovered the onset of disgruntledness more likely to occur than amid the outdoors, perhaps because so many options are available.

Grumpiness is even more certain to float like an oil slick during extended adventure, such as a wilderness packtrip, north woods camping, or Caribbean sailing.

"You want to go for a ride to the top of Moonlight Peak? But today is the day I planned to fish for cutthroats in Slideout Canyon.

Or, "You want to search for fossils on Route Creek Pass? My God, man, when do we look for elk tracks in the Lick Creek wallows?"

One person wants to identify wildflowers, another visit Big Prairie.

One wants to ride through White River Park at dusk to better see wild animals, another would rather have a cocktail and enjoy easy conversation at sunset. One wants to relax against a yellow pine, another wants to scramble-climb a mountain.

None of the above scenarios are figments of imagination; they've all occurred. Having spent so much of our adult life guiding others to wilderness adventure, it was commonplace for my wife and I to yield to the needs and desires of others. Now that we've retired, however, we wish to indulge our own wishes. And we've found out how to do so while still enjoying outings with friends. It's a discovery I want to pass along so you, too, may avoid the image of senile petulance. The trick is really quite simple: split up. Let them ride to Moonlight Peak while you fish Slideout Canyon.

Try to build private days into your adventure in advance so there will be no surprises or wounded feelings. Lacy and Colleen showed us how during the dozens of wilderness hikes, packtrips and river voyages we've made with these Oregon friends.

Instead of complaining, they joked about the "forced marches" I've led them on. And on occasion they simply told us "Tomorrow we plan to use for ourselves." Their plan worked so beautifully Jane and I employed it during an adventure along the Rocky Mountain Front with two couples who've been friends for three decades. The first two days were spent exploring side canyons by horseback. When we arrived at camp at the end of day two, Royce asked: "Where are you planning to lead us tomorrow?"

I said, "Nowhere. Tomorrow is an 'on-your-own day'. Jane and I are planning to hike from camp with no destination or time frame planned. What you do is up to you." The plan worked beautifully.

And everybody was ready for more high adventure on day four.

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