{"id":2736,"date":"2021-11-11T18:25:56","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T18:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.packitgourmet.com\/blog\/?p=2736"},"modified":"2022-07-15T20:07:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T20:07:26","slug":"the-four-winds-a-photo-essay-from-the-wind-river-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/11\/the-four-winds-a-photo-essay-from-the-wind-river-range\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Winds – A Photo Essay from the Wind River Range"},"content":{"rendered":"

The four winds converged on us that week, uncovering & rediscovering parts of ourselves that are, to a degree, entirely ineffable.<\/p>\n

Often only manifested in tears, laughter, & visceral human connection, as men, these pieces of us are now more powerful than ever.<\/p>\n

Our crew of 7 (5 of which had never embarked on a multi-day backpacking trip) set off from the Big Sandy trailhead near Boulder, WY, a popular jumping-off point for the acclaimed Wind River Range.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And, although several of us were new to backpacking, it would be no stretch to say that all of us<\/span>\u00a0have carried the world on our backs\u00a0<\/span>at differing times of life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You know the feeling…that weighty-ness of life that, for some reason, you\u2019ve chosen to carry all alone; the incessant hustle and bustle of the city, the inner anxiousness of the mind, and the unmet expectations of unbridled ambition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so, we were reminded that teamwork truly does make the dream work and that no one deserves to carry that weight alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Map and compass work can be an excellent metaphor for life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With all the wisdom and intellect of the world available at our fingertips, and with no shortage of opportunities\/options, we often find our lives meticulously engineered like a well built compass, but lacking a sense of direction. A life that was never oriented, or that has lost its bearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so, we re-aligned ourselves with our own North Star, finding our bearing, and moving confidently from waypoint to waypoint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We were reminded that it\u2019s often the quiet, soft moments of life that prove most valuable, and most insightful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so, we grew to build in these meditative moments each day, allowing our minds to release tension and find balance.<\/span><\/p>\n

We were reminded that life is just better when you smile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, we built in moments of levity whenever we could.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the last evening of our trip, we set up camp at Big Sandy Lake, rounding out the loop we traveled, and something unexpected happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

A large and in-charge black bear made its way into camp, coming within 20 yards of us and commandeering one of our packs, reminding us of our true vulnerability in this life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Our decision to break down camp and move to the other side of the large alpine lake was unanimous and executed in a hurry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So we gathered for dinner that night (strategically with our backs to the water) while we watched three separate curious black bears tromp in and around our new camp. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nerves around nightly bear activity were high, but really, nothing could distract us from the transformative beauty we had encountered that week & the camaraderie that is spurred on by deep wilderness experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span>*Essay and Photos by: <\/span><\/i>Travis Perkins<\/span><\/i><\/a>**<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The four winds converged on us that week, uncovering & rediscovering parts of ourselves that are, to a degree, entirely ineffable. Often only manifested in tears, laughter, & visceral human connection, as men, these pieces of us are now more powerful than ever. Our crew of 7 (5 of which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[64,103,81,77,65],"class_list":["post-2736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","tag-destinations","tag-leave-no-trace","tag-national-forests","tag-section-hiking","tag-thru-hiking"],"acf":[],"avatar_default":"\"\"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.packitgourmet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}