Originally Posted by
Calsun
My parents would take us to the beach at Laguna CA every summer but it was the first time that I bicycled along the coast highway at less than 20 mph that I noticed how much I had missed sitting inside a car. Same with bicycling the Avenue of the Giants in the redwoods where anyone driving along at 50+ mph sees far less and hears and smells nothing at all.
In past years when car camping in National Forest areas it was rare to see a young person without an ipod or phone who was listening to music or playing a game and completely oblivious to the natural sounds and smells and sights of nature. I can understand why Steve Jobs refused to buy these devices and computers for his own children.
When I was growing up I spent a great deal of time in the forests, the deserts, and at the beaches, and they were a place to get away from the city and to do a mental reset. Now everyone wants to have their digital umbilical cord and are addicted to their electronic devices and need a daily, if not hourly fix.
I have always been a city boy. My parents were not outdoorsy people at all. When I went away to high school in western MA, I fell in love with “the woods.”
I did my first self contained bike tour at age 34. That was in ‘99. No one except the tour leader had phones back then.
When I tour these days, I take a phone for communication, photos and mapping. It’s often off or in airplane mode. No laptop or GPS. (I still make paper cue sheets.) I prefer to stay in places like Forest Service campgrounds and places like state parks, where I am often more in nature than one is in a commercial campground. When the opportunity presents itself, I often take walks after setting up camp or just sit by a fire enjoying my surroundings.
