the rantings of a slow trekker

I was just browsing through some TED vidoes, and saw this one on "In praise of slowness".

(Edit:: Everything I write down here is my personal opinion, not intended to offend anyone else. You need not agree with me.)

 I could connect instantly with the idea. My weekend activity mainly comprises of Trekking and cycling. I have been trekking for just over an year. We go in groups of 5-15 people. Sometimes they are my college friends and sometime i go out with new people, whom I meet for the first time on these treks.

Our treks comprise of hiking in the forests of Western Ghats, up and down over mountain ranges. From my first trekking expeditions, I have been one of the last trekker in the group. Mostly my fellow trekkers would be waiting for me and resting at some place. Well i confess,  I am slow, because my stamina is lower, I get exhausted quickly. But I dont get the point, what's the hurry.

Most of the cases we have a plan, we have to reach a certain destination before it gets dark. So there's a tight schedule, we dont have much time to waste. What happens as a result is that, we keep running. When you have a beautiful sight, some interesting plant, a flower, some bird, a snake, a waterfall, or anything that catches your attention, something that you want to observe, you want to enjoy, you dont have the time to enjoy it. Because 10 other people in your group are waiting for you, you are slowing down everyone else. Because you are wasting time, you are jeopardizing the plan. So you ignore it all and keep running.

Now my question is why do we trek. Just to run around, reach some destination, camp there, and again run back out of the forests. If you are in such a hurry to get out of the forests, why go there in the first place?

I have trekked in groups of 5, 10 and even 16. I find it comfortable to trek in groups of bigger size, because bigger groups move slower, and its easier to remain at the back of a bigger group.

From my first days of trekking, I have enjoyed walking slowly, mostly acting as the sweeper. The guy who's the last in the group and ensures no one's really behind him. This gives me an opportunity to be relaxed. To enjoy the experience, to observe the surroundings, to be slightly alone even in a big group. I am specially fascinated by forests. The infinite varieties of trees, the strangest birds chirping,  even stranger insect sounds, some distant gushing of streams. I have no idea how can I enjoy them, if I am running to reach my destination. When you are slow, you experience the quietness, the stillness and the calmness of nature. I have strange adrenaline rush whenever I am the last person in a dense forest, and I look back to realize there is no human being for at least 5-10kms behind me.

I am sure everyone has their own objective of trekking. Every avid trekker gets attracted to the mountain ranges and forests by some invisible force which is unique for him/her. But my 1 year's experience has one observation, everyone is racing to reach the destination. Any "slow" trekker is looked down upon. Guys slowing down are scolded and advised to speed up and hurry up. They are most likely to be left out during the next adventure trip, because they slow down the group.

Of-course we are bound by time. Every trek has a plan. We have to reach a camping spot, or get out of the forests, or reach a mountain peak before its dark, before sunset. We have to set up our camp, using tents or tarpaulin sheets. Fetch water, collect firewood, setup fire, start cooking. All these have to be done before its too dark. So obviously you cant be slow, and remain stuck inside a forest after dark. And in exploration treks, the risks are higher, you are not sure of the destination, you have to search the route, get lost, you dont know how far you have to hike and find a suitable camping spot. So its always a race against time.

Also every trekker wants to push their own limits. We continue trekking even when our legs hurt, the knee aches, the shoulders are paining by the heavy backpack. We are not afraid of getting hurt, getting exhausted or suffering pain. No one really can answer the question, that why do we trek? inspite of all the hardships, why do we trek? Why not just sit back on your couch and watch discovery or a Jackie Chan flick for all the adrenaline rush. Trekkers walk 15-20kms carrying 10-15kgs of backpacks under scorching sun, during heavy rains, with creatures like leeches trying to suck blood from all the exposed parts of the body.

I am sure everyone has their objective. But I fail to understand one thing, what's with the race to reach the destination. More so, whats the hurry to get out of the forest on the last day of the trek.

The trails we follow are not smooth paved roads. Sometime they are full of boulders, sometime waterlogged muddy trails, sometime slippery grasses or thorny bushes or even huge dead branches. Well whatever the kind of trail, you can almost never walk blind folded on these trails. You are sure to stumble and fall down if you are not looking down at where you are stepping. The point I am getting at is while hiking we are almost always looking down at our trail. We are not able to look at the beautiful nature around us, the forests, the grasslands, the strange flowers, the rare birds, the peak hiding behind the clouds. Whats the purpose of coming into the wilderness if we cant enjoy all these things. If I dont have time to look around myself, why am I here?

Then again, everyone is reluctant of going off the trail and exploring someplace not leading to the destination. I find it difficult to convince people to come with me and climb up and down a nearby small peak, or go up a small waterfall, or just down a stream, just for the fun of it. Rarely anyone's interested in going off the route just for the sake of exploring. Maybe because they think its a waste of energy and time, which they can use to reach the destination faster. Maybe they are already tired. Well I dont know the answer, but this is what I have experienced a couple of times.

One of my best experiences of trekking was when we were lost in Kabinale forest, and we gave up our quest for OG. As a result we were not bound by time, we were not looking at reaching at anywhere particular. So we were relaxed, walking slowly enjoying the river gushing in the middle of the dense forest. I realized we were more so enjoying the current moment, instead of worrying about reaching somewhere else.


Having said that, we should not be lazy, and hide behind the excuse of "enjoying the surroundings" , and give up the quest for pushing our limits and exploring the unknown. Its another extreme, when we are so relaxed and "slow" that we never try hard to reach our destination, we give up whenever we are tired. This extreme is when we are afraid of pain and exhaustion.
We have to be strong enough to reach unexplored wilderness, to cross great gushing rivers and streams, climb highest peaks and overcome all the obstacles. The journey of reaching our destination, usually lasts longer than the destination itself. So the experience during our journey should be cherished more than anything else.