Childhood Outdoor Experiences

[king tut]

I grew up in the early 80's(born in '79). At that time, there really weren't that many indoor(i.e. videogames) things to do. There was koleko vision(how did you spell that?), but all you could play was games like Pong. So I spent a lot of time outdoors w/ my friends and relatives. One of my earliest memories is of hiking the knife edge on katahdin on a very windy day when i was, i believe, 6 years old. Scared the crap out of me.

My family also did lots of skiing and camping. So i spent most of my time outside. Camping was a great way to see lots of places on the cheap as a young family. I was told that i almost went over the cliffs at somes sound in Acadia when i was a few years old as well, when i wandered out of my tent that was perched near the cliff. I guess i was the expendable 2nd child.

I also did the cub scouts thing for a few years, which helped build some outdoors skills. I was probably one of the world's worst cub scouts though. I couldn't tie any knots or build any toy cars or boats.

I got away from the whole outdoors thing while i was in college. But after that, i slowly got back into the outdoors as i spent the next several years couped up inside a building w/ computers.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Growing up in the North Country

I was a fortunate son. I grew up in the North Country in Berlin (some may say that was not so fortunate). One street from my house was the Trident Col trail leading 2.1 miles to the shelter, and the AT. I literally could hunt in my backyard, and the brook behind my house held some small trout. When I was a bit older and all my friends got snowmobiles, I could only ride in the back to the top of Mt Carberry where they'd drop me off and I would ski untracked powder back to my house where they'd pick me up and we'd do it again (back then I felt underprivileged, but I smile now). My Dad was a Boy Scout Leader, and I grew up in a Deer Hunting family (my brother and cousins still use the "hunting camp" each year for a 2 week hunting trip, and I use it for an annual Fly fishing trip). My Dad was also an avid fisherman, and we've fished pretty much every inch of every named and unnamed brook along Rts 16/110/26/2 in the area. Good memories. As a grew older and more rebellious, and my Dad became more involved in local politics, my jaunts become much more with cousins, and eventually many solo trips.

I have a few memories that stick out. My first trip to Trident Col when I was about 7 with my Dad. My first hike up Goose Eye, a "real" mountain when I was 8 (or maybe 9...), the first time I crossed into the Great Gulf "Wilderness" when I was 10. My first climb of Mt Washington with my uncle Eddie Labrecque, and seeing the AMC Guidebook for the first time. In 1972, he gave me my first copy, which I still have. I literally could feel the world fading behind me on all of these, even just reading the book.

One humorous memory has stayed with me a long time. We heard tell of someone catching huge pickerel in Dream Lake (not true, I'm sure). I was 12 or 13 at the time and we concocted a plan to carry our "tent" up to Trident Col. All we had was a heavy canvas army wall tent. It must have weighed 50 pounds! We wrapped the tent around the poles, and took turns carrying it by the poles. There was a lot of logging going on at the time, the beavers had been busy, and it was basically a 2+ mile bushwhack carrying this enormous tent with us. We finally made it, set the tent up, but never hiked over to Dream Lake to fish. Instead we explored the peaks surrounding the col, got way too high climbing some ledges, and had a great time. We had placed the tent basically in the only spot that we could, sort of in the middle of the spur trail. By then no one ever used it as the trail from Berlin was gone, and you only caught the spur for the last 150 feet before the shelter. In the middle of the night we were awoken by the sounds of a large animal trying to get into the tent! Seriously! People weren't using the trail anymore, but moose were! One of us turned on the flashlight and there it was, head in the tent! We all jumped out of our sleeping bags, and ran like hell: no lights, no shoes, no idea where we were going, like scared little rabbits! I'll guess none of us went more than 50 feet, but then we were in the dark, with some wild animal running around. We eventually found our way back to our tent by yelling to each other in the dark. In hidsight, real comical, but we got no more sleep that night Adventures like these have made me the mountain man I am today

And I've loved every minute!

 

[Dugan]

I too grew up in places where I was lucky enough to have large swathes of forest for a playground. We bordered on one particularly large tract which must have been at least thousands of acres - some of which was untrailed Audubon land. I spent lots of time exploring the area while I lived there, between the ages of approximately 6 to 16. I went out almost every day, sometimes for several hours, in all seasons, and all kinds of weather. Had no clue what a map was or how to use a compass. I remember following natural (streams, ridges) and man made features (old rail road grade) to increase the span of the area I knew. I also taught myself some tracking that way - see an animal pass, go look for the track it left, then kept going back to see how it looked as it aged.

As I type this, I gotta wonder - yah, I always made it home safe, but what were my parents thinking?!?!?! An 8 year old out alone in the wilds for hours in the dead of winter, no map, no compass...

Later, when I was 14 or 15, my Mom somehow got involved with hiking in the Whites. She started bagging the 4k's. I finished 'em at 16 or 17 because I tagged along with her list. It was then that I learned about the AT and decided to hike it someday. That was the first and only time we spent time together doing outdoorsy things. I don't recall either of my parents ever coming along on my childhood explorations. No family camping, fishing, or anything.

I went to various summer camps as well. Some day, some sleep away. All with various outdoors activities, none taught wilderness skills.

I'm not sure why I think it's good for children to spend time outdoors (learning that you're part of the world, a sense of self away from technology, ...). I can think of some reasons, but I can also think of reasons why an urban setting might be good (greater social interaction, exposure to museums, ...).

I don't know if one is necessarily "better" than the other. I'm guessing that if this question were posed in a setting where participants were more urban rather than outdoor oriented, we'd be seeing replies that urban is "better".

 

[Mad Townie]

Sherpa, great laugher on a Friday afternoon when I should be working! I had to shut my door.

I also grew up about as close to the woods as you can get. We didn't really call it the woods, because it was just up at the end of the street (and the area was pretty agricultural, anyway). My folks have pictures on their walls of me in the canoe on the Allagash when I was 3 or 4, so I did get out early, I guess. Lots of snowshoeing in those early years, and what we now call backcountry and cross country skiing (then we called it getting to the good hill!). As with many here on VFTT, the outdoors was a part of my daily life as a child. We lived a respect for nature and enjoyed it.

When I was 12 I went to Boy Scout camp (Camp Roosevelt, East Eddington, ME) for the first time, returning 3 or 4 times. Learned a lot about trees, how to trench a tent , etc. It was more of a summer camp experience than an outdoor experience, though.

I have owned 4 houses in my adulthood, and every one of them has had woods out back. I look for that when house hunting--I need that connection that I get just looking out the windows, particularly because all of those houses have been in suburbs, not rural areas.

My kids haven't gone to summer camp, but they've been in the woods and mountains with me. My daughter loves it, my son is indifferent to it, but each of them has had the experience and knows enough about the woods to be able to handle it OK. Let's see what happens as they get older.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I grew up in a large city, but started playing in vacant lots as soon as I was old enough to get away from the house. When I reached the age of 7, I would take my bike, and ride to "Pee Pond" (really, it was called that!), and play in the woods around there. By 8 I was going to Alley Pond Park, and would explore all over the woods, trying to get lost. By the age of 9 I had learned how to read a map, and, along with my bicycle, visited every wooded area within 12 miles of my place.

Nobody in my family liked doing things like that, nor did any of my friends, so I would always go alone. For a grade school graduation present, I got my father to take me camping for a weekend.

I was never able to join the scouts, because of "The Incident", but I did get their manuals, which i read thoroughly.

At teh age of 16 or 17, I took a bus to the Adirondacks (alone) and went on a 7 day backpacking adventure.

Always alone, because I couldn't find anyone who would go with me.

I started taking my kids camping before they could walk, took them climbing peaks and backpacking when they were 4. I did things with them, that I wish my parents did with me. I think the psychologists call that 'Transference"

Still, I think it's good to expose them to the outdoors, but in my experience, enjoying the outdoors is something inate, not something which is learned. I think I inherritted it from my long lost uncle, who I never met, but heard that he hiked and stuff.

 

[Neil]

My formative years were spent having the beejeebers scared out of me by my big sister. She was a middle child of three and I think this gave her a need to escape something or other. (She became a shrink so that prooves she was a bit nutso) I was her unsuspecting outlet and learned that bears at the cottage routinely came up to the outhouse door wanting in. (At least it happened to her all the time). Strange men lay in wait to do unthinkable things to my 4 year old body in the woods by the river in our Manitoba town. Rabid dogs stalked children regularly in these same woods. I was pretty gullible at age 4 and it's a wonder I ever ventured outdoors but I did. The town cops had to look for me when I wandered off to those same woods of rabid dog notoriety.

At age 18 with shoulder length hair and a vague dream of getting "back to nature" I hitch-hiked alone to Alaska and other points, started canoeing and bushwhacking in NW Ontario and Manitoba, taught myself how to winter camp and worked for a number of years in the CDN Rockies etc. etc.

My family has no idea where I got my interest in the outdoors from.

 

[kmac]

childhood memories : )

I have to agree with Double Bow and Pete Hickey, it's not something you learn to like, you just like it. It's something in you that finds peace and pleasure in being outdoors, something not everyone can relate to.

As I recall, I don't really think I had to much of a choice, I had to go out and play, my mother was a firm believer in getting plenty of fresh air and excerise.
I would spend hours climbing trees, catching frogs and exploring our woods around our house and neighborhood. And living on a lake we could fish and swim anytime we wanted to, it was great. I can remember setting up our tent down by the lake and spending our weekends fishing and camping throughout the entire summer.

It was wonderfully fun : ) when I became a Mom and I was able to share with my children all the things that I loved doing as a child. I still love climbing trees : ) and catching an occasional frog : )

Thanks for posting this thread I love reading everyone's responses, and I especially love that it sparked my memory to go back and reminisce on my own childhood.
kmac

 

[alpinista]

There was koleko vision(how did you spell that?), but all you could play was games like Pong.

I think it's "Coleco" -- if it was the same company that used to be based in my old junior high school in Elmwood until it went bankrupt. Pong was a great video game ...for its time!

 

[Head]

The WMNF just plain makes me happy - some people go to therapists or barrooms - I "run to the hills" ...all I know is that before, during and after a hike I am very content.

I couldn't have said it any better myself! As a kid, I spent alot of time in the woods. My Grandparents lived in the heart of the Tug Hill Plateau and I spent most of my childhood out rompin around on the 'Hill'. Did lots of hiking, fishing, hunting and whatever else a youngster does in the woods. Getting out there still makes me feel like a kid! It also helps bring out an inner smile

 

[Artex]

I grew up in Florida, so I guess that's why I love and appreciate the mountains so much. But I was always active as a kid. I lived on the outskirts of Gainesville, which at the time was a relatively small college town and I was fortunate to have thousands of acres of woods in my backyard. My friends and I explored and played in them constantly, catching snakes, looking for deer tracks, playing a variety of made up games... good times.

When I got older, I started to so a lot more boar hunting at my uncle's ranch and adjacent property which was about an hour away. We'd ride horseback, traveling through the same swamps, prairies, forests that Seminole indians once called home. I still wish I had the arrowheads and pottery fragments I collected from those days. Their encampments and burial grounds were everywhere.

All really neat memories, but I find the ones I'm continuing to create are just as important. I think I'd go insane if it wasn't for hiking and running.

 

[Maddy]

I was adopted at 11 days and often reminded by my parents that they "did not know where I came from!" My bike was a "horse". When I first learned of Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, I longed to be there. My favorite song was "Give me a home where the buffalos roam." I did not hesitate to sing it with great gusto in the house for all to hear. I pretended to be native american and dolls were the bane of my existence. I camped for one weekend only as a girl scout and still vividly remember my first river. In my mind it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I longed to climb the small peak that I could see from our kitchen window. It was as tall as Everest to me back then.
There was no love of hiking, camping, etc in this family. My mother always believed that there was a "boogyman" out here somewhere, perhaps even "BIGFOOT" just waiting to grab us. (I'm not making this up!)
So.....as a young adult acquiring my first VW bug I followed a road that led me to VT! I could not even read a map but now I knew my way "out of town". Yippee!!!! Fort Dummer State Park here I come and I have never looked back. I even got a dog and he was as wild for the woods as I was. WE expanded our horizons and when my mom was in her 80's and I took her on a few day trips to the "green mountain state" she was as appalled as ever that I enjoyed this life and couldn't wait for me to drive her out of this "godforsaken state." I was so convinced that I could show her how truly beautiful it was but she shunned it as much as I loved it.She was even more appalled at the fact that most of my adventures were solo. I would always respond "I refuse to grow old in my rocking chair waiting for someone to be interested in sharing these great adventures"!
I think the desire to do the things we do is often deep inside of us when we emerge from the womb. If you have the good fortune of having parents who can cultivate this in you perhaps your life will be much richer because you can follow your dreams early on. I had to struggle for it and listen to tons of negative input that I learned to ignore. I not only heard the "call of the wild" but I am so grateful that I had the stubborn determination to follow my dreams and yes....eventually my map!

 

[TJ aka Teej]

What an interesting thread! I was lucky enough to grow up on 30 acres in Kennebunk - exploring, tracking, playing, snowshoeing, camping, fishing- always something to do! But some of my earliest memories ('59? '60?) are of a campground in the Whites. I can remember cooking trout for breakfast, playing on boulders behind the tentsite, cooking hotdogs on sticks, and seeing my first backpackers. Three bearded guys from New York City were hiking the A.T. and my Dad gave them a ride from the Trail crossing up to the campground. We picked up hitchhikers!! My Dad sewed up the tent they had with a big curved sewing needle, two things that really amazing me. They camped next to us and I remember all the grown-ups stayed up very late, laughing and talking loud. Decades later I sought out our old campsite with my bride, and years later returned to it with each of my kids.

 

[Camel]

Nice thread.

I was born and raised in a Boston suburb. My dad did a pretty good job keeping the family active outdoors, even with being away a lot for work. We canoed, biked, skiid (crosscountry more than downhill), and hiked a bunch. My mom enjoyed most activities too, but wasn't too kean on the overnite trips. She stopped coming on the overnites as my brother and I got older.

I lost interest in outdoor activities when I started driving and working in high school. Then regained interest very late in college.

Now I'm off on a 6month to a year cycle tour from Europe to Asia in about 5 weeks .

 

[Periwinkle]

Tough choices on the poll vote -- I went for "important for kids to attend camp" rather than "attended summer camp", simply because "atttened" might imply that I was shipped off to camp every summer. Not the case....

I got lucky once, and that was enough. When I was eight, my sister, the local beauty queen, was struck by a serious illness. The powers that be in our part of Boston arranged for her to recuperate for two weeks at a summer camp in Maine. She wasn't having any of it. I was included to entice her to go.

A week later at parent's weekend, she was begging to go home. I wasn't having any of it. I was staying. I loved it.

To this day, I still feel the same way about the woods -- an innocent, childlike wonder.

 

[Grumpy]

As a kid in Vermont and teenager in New York State my earlier outdoor experiences came from several directions.

Fishing and hunting with my father from a very early age. Many of my outdoor jaunts (non-fishing or non-hunting) were self-initiated, alone or with friends as I grew older (but still well pre-teen). Boy Scouts was a strong influence, right up through high school, and I continued to hike and share other outdoor adventures with old Scouting buddies right on through college . . ..

I also loved reading, playing and listening to music, working with my hands on craft projects, writing and making pictures (and still do). Importantly, my folks always encouraged and supported these activities. That comment probably reveals my own feelings about raising youngsters.

Structured experiences -- as in “summer camp” -- may be just the ticket for some kids. More personal and less structured exploration with good parental guidance may work best for others.

G.

 

[Roxi]

Great thread!

As a child I lived in a rural area. In my family, "attending summer camp" was for kids who didn't. I was told to "go outside and play, and be back by supper time." My dad is responsible for my love of nature. He often took me on walks through the woods, and pointed out different trees and plants. I wish I remembered all his info, but the important thing was that I loved being outdoors. My cousins and I would play in the woods, climb trees, and have all kinds of adventures. My mother gave me my adventurous spirit, and is the reason why I LOVE to explore, via hiking, bicycling, or whatever. She's the reason why I had the desire and the confidence to bicycle across two countries. I also agree with Pete Hickey though, that some people have an "innate desire" to be outdoors and hike/explore. The fact that I may be a little ADHD could also be part of it!

 

[arghman]

interesting thread.

my outdoors experiences as a kid were mostly low-key, usually just wanderings in nearby woods looking at stuff (and no, I wasn't into botany then, so don't picture a little kid with Newcomb's Guide in hand) while trying to stay away from people I didn't like, or just trying to stave off boredom.

Anything more formal/ambitious usually turned out badly, e.g. boy scout troop camping trips with social structures a la Lord of the Flies. My one major hike before I turned 18 was when I was 12 or so and went on a 10-mile hike in Indiana, on a rather boring trail winding around hilly terrain with no views, in the rain, with our scout troop. I went on two hikes to Mt Katahdin at the age of 21, but didn't really start hiking seriously until about 6 years later.

I hated summer camp, & did not enjoy "nature stuff" which usually meant going to some odd-smelling "nature center" building where they talked about fur and skulls and scat and various nondescript rodents, none of which held much interest for me.

I think in the end, that what's most important is being exposed to a variety of experiences; whether you like something as a kid vs. liking it as an adult vs. appreciating what you did as a kid, can each be completely different. There's some truth in that cliche about "building character" though.

I guess I would have liked it more (& I hope if I ever have kids that I'll learn from this) if someone had encouraged my outdoors interests, which were kind of vague at the time, rather than shoving them down my throat, or bringing me outdoors always as part of dysfunctional peer groups. Personal interests have to brew / stew / ferment for a while before they really get going & you can't really predict what kind of stuff people are going to be into, or whether they're temporary or long-term.

 

[jeanvabu]

Nature Girl from Suburbia

It's interesting to me that there are so many negative posts about scouts (girl scouting in paticular) and summer camp. I actually work in the outdoor program department of my Girl Scout council and consider my past experiences with summer camp and the Girl Scouts a huge part as to why I spend time and enjoy my time outdoors. Someone said earlier that they felt it might have been due to unimaginative adults who were leading their program. That's probably true.
I grew up Northwest of Boston and my parents did take me hiking and camping (rving). We had a large patch of woods in the back of our house that my younger brother and I often played in. When I turned 7 or 8 I went off to day camps (girl scout and others) and then moved on to residential camps (mainly girl scout). I learned about backpacking through my Girl Scout camp and in my troop I went on several "adventure" trips (canoed several rivers in the north for a week or more). Through these experiences I found friends who were interested in be in the woods like me and often made plans to get out together. As I said, I work for the Girl Scouts and my current goal is to put the outdoors back into the Outdoor Program Dept. (for a while we were catering for all types of kids but we decided that we could leave that to the other program departments). Now that the warm weather is definitely here I'm itching to be out every day.

 

[alpinista]

Jeanvabu -- you were probably lucky in that you were born later than me and some of the other women on this board. When I was growing up, the girl scouts (at least in my area) rarely did outdoorsy stuff. I was in the girl scouts for a year and the closest we got do anything remotely athletic was when we went bowling.

It could have been whomever was leading the troops but I have a sneaking suspicion that part of it was definitely the era (1960s).

 

[jeanvabu]

It could quite possibly be the era that people were in scouts. I do know some of the women in my office look at what I do and scratch their heads. They prefer a more comfortable style of camping. At the same time, I have recently sorted through our council's camp history and some of the things that those women did were amazing (dating back to the 1920's). I just hope I'm able to impress on today's girls that nature isn't quite so scary without your ipod, gameboy, and cell phone.