So, in the last article I discussed my breakup with alcohol. This week I wanted to perform a marriage between a raw life and outdoor culture. Here’s the question: Can you really enjoy the culture surrounding hikes, camp-outs, backpacking trips, or bike rides without brews? Here’s the answer: Yep, absolutely! I’ll take a bruise in its place, how about that? 

It’s not easy, disassociating from modern, popular culture with its countless justifications, but it can be done, and your life will be better for it. 

I don’t really even know when the great outdoors became another space intertwined with drinking culture. Like, obviously nature has hosted countless inebriations since fermentation was discovered, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the modern day backpacking trip or the necessity to stop at a microbrewery which happens to be mountain-themed on the way back down to town. How is it that alcohol has permeated every crevice of our society and beyond, down to what’s supposed to be our healthy escape from civilization?

Have you tried sparkling water before? People love jumping on trends and the next elitist thing (I know I do to some extent- and come on- so do you, be honest), and we could totally do that with sparkling water; even more so than what has been done before. Who’s with me? 

Or, we could get tiny samples from each alpine lake and have a tasting event. Picture this: We can advertise that we’ve filtered the water to perfection, you can swirl it around in a tulip glass, speak of its texture and rhythmicity as it travels down your throat, and pet the golden retriever someone brought to the event that has somehow appeared at your side. When we’re done praising the satiating sips (pretending we notice a difference between water samples) we can chat about the new Backpacker Pantry meals that just hit the shelves at REI and our unique dreams of living in a van. Please note: I will be wearing my brimmed hat and my hiking sandals, take a great picture for instagram, and compose a caption celebrating how awesome we feel. Shameless humor, I know, and I’m not that sorry. 

 My dear reader-friend, I hope you’re chuckling, especially if you’re from Fort Collins. In Fort Collins, where I completed my undergrad, biking, hiking, and breweries were so normal I almost had a stroke when I left. And I wasn’t even the number one participant! Breweries and outdoor-themed bars, in general, were a huge part of my identity, or so I used to believe. But let me tell you, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t the beer. It was the people. Even if I poke fun at the brewery goers, I still love them because, generally speaking, they’re some chill people. I’m just saying that the beer isn’t what made them chill, though, and we should start normalizing a beverage for the outdoorsy people to partake in that doesn’t result in addiction or depression (I’d even be fine with N/A Kombucha). That’s all I’m saying. Instead of a summit beer, what about a summit sparkling water?  Legitimate safety concerns aside, summit beers aren’t actually a great celebratory substance to down when we crush a peak. 

…alcohol didn’t make me pretty or make me enjoy the outdoors more. It took away from it, and it was a while before I realized that. 

Since I’ve been on my personal prohibition, I’ve started noticing a few things. Vegans are no stranger to combating the conventional narratives pertaining to health, and that’s partially why questioning alcohol’s place in my life was a fairly natural progression, and even inevitable, looking back. But as I scoffed at health magazines advertising healthy cheese-based dishes, so too did I start chuckling at their advertisements of ‘best wines’ to have while in a weight loss program, or when legitimate public speakers would suggest it as a great way to relax. We’re like Alice, trapped in a marketing Wonderland with literally everything saying “drink me” at every turn, and for every event. It’s a simple justification for a bad habit, that’s all. It’s got the world hooked. Say what you want about alcohol being “fun” but don’t even try to say it has health benefits, we all know it’s literal poison. 

When I was at CSU, the picturesque image of a beautiful, athletic gal having a couple of “well deserved” beers after a marathon, backpacking trip, or whatever excursion she went on was the goal. But, I’ll tell you, that’s actually not a reality. I know it was especially not my reality.  I could nail the beers, but not so much the picturesque image. Why? Well for one, I’m a dork, but even so, alcohol didn’t make me pretty or make me enjoy the outdoors more. It took away from it, and it was a while before I realized that. 

In my willingness to embrace outdoor culture, I fell for the material things so fast. I’ll be the first to admit that I love the archetype clothing brands of the industry, and will promote Colorado Casual until the end of days; I’m so proud of us for having our own look. But I no longer see, and refuse to accept, the other material assets that are rising in popularity, the breweries and beers, as part of outdoor culture. Beer and bear country do not, and never will, go together. But instead of taking you down a spiral of despair, blaming good marketing, pretty beer cans, and peer pressure for the devastating infiltration of the outdoors and health culture (trust me, we could go that way very easily), I want to talk a little about what nature is like without any substances whatsoever. Hint: she’s beautiful. 

Strangely enough, the most consecutive days I have ever been outside have been in my youth. That was when I first formed a connection with nature; I was just a weird gangly kid riding a bike and building forts, rescuing worms from the sidewalk when it rained, and getting scraped up in every possible way imaginable. That was outdoor living. My parents knew they couldn’t stop me, and rather encouraged me to explore. I sprang through aspens and roots like a pronghorn springs over fences. I bounced from granite boulder to granite boulder like a chipmunk; chittering in laughter with such freedom and a carefree love for the world around me that I didn’t even realize that I was making powerful memories that would last a lifetime. 

And that’s the key, I think. It’s true what they say, memories are valuable, and I’ve realized the best way to have them for life is to live and embrace the moments as they come, completely as you are. In my youth I hadn’t even considered alcohol. I just took the world around me for what it was, and I loved it. I could smell the plods of the fallen leaves- a heavenly musk- the crisp mountain air, and the fire from the camp stove or ring. It was a complimentary scent. It was all I needed. 

When I got older and returned to my precious outdoors, somehow the scent gave way to vape clouds, a friend’s cigarette, and the toxic fumes of beer and whiskey. Too often the world would fade into a pallor, and I didn’t care about the things I did when I was younger. I solemnly sought a spiritual connection with my surroundings, but couldn’t find it. I was frustrated. But, looking back, I almost giggle at myself. How could I find something divine and all-consuming when every sense required to discover it was dulled to the bone?  Perhaps, the only fix I needed was returning to the state in which I first formed that connection. Substance free, just me. 

I’ve come to learn that nature can provide the clarity, the passion, and even the escape I used to seek with alcohol.

If you have a moment, just step outside. Even if you’re in a cement-locked urban city, can you look at the sky? Allow yourself to stay put for a moment. Whatever you’re dealing with, just brush it aside for a moment and just be. Just sit there. Isn’t it lovely? Are there clouds? Is it scorching? Cold? Night? Does the blue remind you of when you were a kid, just laying in the grass somewhere making sense out of nature’s puppet show? Does the black offer you serenity because it tells you the day is done? Do you understand that the gift you have to behold nature is awesome? Truly, it’s awe-inspiring. When we drink though, we allow distortion to enter our vision, physically and emotionally. When we consume any substance, we are taking away these raw moments that we were meant to enjoy. 

Many of my friends have told me that they feel heightened spirituality in nature. I’m no different. But when I’m searching for the Divine, it sure helps if my head’s on straight and my heart is actually present. Nature- and to me, its sanctity- has the power to cure all emotional ailments. As human beings we were meant to experience it. We were intended to thumb through crumbling soil, to grip granite with calculated strength exuding from our mere fingertips, and to force our feet to take us to new heights. We were meant to overwhelm our lungs with the pungency of pine and freshly rotting leaves, and we were meant to feel the tickle of wheatgrass and the tip-toeing of curious bees on our skin. The wind is supposed to steal our breath, and we are supposed to hear the beating of our hearts while we crave cool water, mineral in flavor. We are a part of nature, yet we allow ourselves to think otherwise. We’ve built up our concrete civilizations and distanced ourselves. Do we want to distance ourselves further by constructing emotional blockades, too?

It’s not easy, disassociating from modern, popular culture with its countless justifications, but it can be done, and your life will be better for it. 

Nature is the one place you can get away from it all, even the alcohol. Ask yourself if you truly want to be drunk off of a substance, or drunk with purpose. Maybe the exhaustion of exploration will quiet your mind, or the beauty around you will cause you to be still. I’ve come to learn that nature can provide the clarity, the passion, and even the escape I used to seek with alcohol. Perhaps the most staggering reason as to why, is because when I go into nature, it puts me in a unique situation: I am alone. It’s just me in that beautiful place. I have no choice but to see myself as a part of it.

It’s as real as it gets, and as raw of an experience that you can find. It’s hard, challenging, and tumultuous, but it’s also beautiful, encouraging, and powerful. 

Perhaps that’s what I love about the culture in its purest form. We don’t need fancy clothing, and we don’t need fancy drinks, we just need ourselves and the outdoors, and sometimes we just need to be reminded of this.That is the thick of it. That is what every person who has committed to the outdoors is after. The wondrous experience. Forget the material, and forget the substances, come as you are, and just be. 

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