I spent about 5 hours traveling back and forth from Pittsburgh to Friendsville, MD yesterday to solve a problem. I didn't realize that this was the reason, but in spending that time with my friend, Jason, articulating precisely how each of us feels about the activities that we share led us both to the same conclusion. We like to create and then solve problems.And so, wearing this all-encompassing cloak, the activities that occupy both my professional and personal time fall into a comfortable category.
Last week I hosted a group of friends on a problem solving expedition to a cabin at Dolly Sods.In planning the trip, the problem to be solved had several constraints. The road to the cabin is impassible when covered in snow. The cabin has no electricity or plumbing and the cabin is heated by a woodburning stove. Food must be packed in. And, most importantly, it must be fun to endure all of these constraints. For months I badgered friends with tales of deep snow, high winds, and bitter temperatures. Email after email encouraged hearty participants to pack "layers, layers, layers" to stay warm and snowshoes or skis for efficient travel on the impassible forest road. I had loaded the cabin with three carloads of firewood in anticipation of the trip. Set aside weekends in February, I encouraged them; the snow will be there.
As it happens, the most limiting of that list would be voided by Mother Nature because there was no snow on the road and so we drove right up to the front door and unloaded our gear. In a trickle-down effect, other problems were subsequently voided and so we might as well drive in a few cases of beer, right?
With the initial problem solved, the group of 8 of us then began creating more problems to solve. The gas grill in the cabin ran out of propane and so we cooked on the woodburner. The trail we wanted to hike would end on a forest road, miles from both the car and cabin. We chose to hike it nonetheless, hoping the drivers could successfully hitch-hike back to the cars (they did). I don't doubt that the course of the weekend was dictated by the group's initial quest to come out of the trip feeling a sense of accomplishment.I like to organize another annual trip that involves summiting a 3800 foot steep and rocky mountain in Shenandoah National Park at nighttime. Held in the late fall when there are no leaves on the trees to block the moon's full brightness, we solve problem after
problem and then celebrate back at our rented cabin.To get to the cabin at Dolly Sods, we drove up Forest Road 19 from the Eastern side of the plateau prepared to stop at the first steep section of road that was iced over. Encountering no such sections, we continued to the cabin and began a hot fire in the woodburner and began to discuss where we'd hike. The Red Creek trail won us over and the rest of the day was spent in the woods navigating our way on the approximately 7 mile hike along pristine Red Creek to the Rorbaugh Plains rock outcroppings. In doing so, we forded countless small brooks, some which were sheets of fragile ice, each one a small, independent problem to solve. We even spent about an hour solving the very difficult problem of crossing Red Creek, where the powerful water was ice cold and most exposed rocks were coated with a sheet of ice. Once that problem was solved by a few members of the group, we all decided that the existence of a solution was satisfying enough and we proceeded up the creek without crossing.
Back at the cabin, Saturday night became legendary as everybody disclosed the foods that they'd brought for the group. Because no coolers were needed, the group had packed in a feast. Grease Fire even showed up, driving his RC car all the way up to mountain and across the meadow. But, we had fireproof gloves with us and so nobody got burned. Even the dogs will never forget that evening at the cabin.
On Sunday we hiked the most popular trail in the region to the summit of Seneca Rocks and saw only two other people there. The benefits of winter adventuring reveal themselves over and over. Because there was no paparazzi, we were able to shoot an episode of the Michael Burke Show, which continued at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas.Check out more photos here and here and here and here.
Git r' Dun.
