Two young college students who grew up in Berkeley wrote a small book in 1963 called ON THE LOOSE. It is about their adventures growing up in the East Bay hills, the SF Bay and the Sierras, and what they learned about themselves through these outdoor experiences. It is as relevant today as it was in 1963. It summarizes important lessons in life that you get from immersing yourself in the outdoors which can be as close as the Lafayette Reservoir or as far away as the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Of course you need to get unplugged first!
See the excerpt below:
“Have you ever dropped your sleeping bag in the ocean by mistake?
Have you ever left your insect repellent behind on a rock?
Have you ever walked 50 miles? Or walked 41.3 miles with blisters for glory?
Have you ever slept on a cobblestone riverbank?
Have you ever started a backpack trip and hit a storm on the first pass and spent 24 hours under a wet plastic tarp drinking lumpy icy chocolate?
Have you ever floated a lake shore at night groping for a campsite amidst rock and cactus?
No, I reckon not all of them, maybe. But that’s how we’ve grown up, Ren and I,
That and a thousand little glimmers on the water,
A thousand red streaks in the sundown sky,
A thousand puffs up the trail.
…I would not trade any of it. It has meant a lot of good humor.
It’s meant a few flashes of almost unbearable beauty which I can only call religious experiences.
Fitness, experience are all part of it, too.
Most Important:
Is an imperishable attitude
a philosophy if you like,
a way of laying out the world and of planting ourselves in it.
Now we know what is trivia and what is real!”
From “ON THE LOOSE” by Terry and Renny Russell,February 6, 1963
Knowing what is “real” and “really” matters in life is so important for our campers to learn as they navigate through life, and form values to guide them into a meaningful and successful adulthood. This is why we are an outdoor camp!
