My Wilderness Addiction

I'm already itching to get outside. 

I want to go hiking. 

I want to go camping. 

I will totally settle for just driving out somewhere wild and hanging out for a few hours. Preferably near a body of water that will trickle or flow or rush by in a soothing manner. 

The apartment feels too small, but even when I leave, I'm in such a city. Which is only partly a joke. Boise is more of a city than the suburb I grew up in, but there are other suburbs of Chicago that are more "city" than Boise. People, and signs of people, everywhere. Cars, houses, walkers, runners, cyclists, apartment complexes... 

The air is perfumed with car exhaust and so much food, along with occasional hints of dirt, grass and growing things, because Boise isn't that much of a city. 

But it's enough of one that even on the Greenbelt, you can hear the rumble of cars on nearby roads, and see houses and offices. One of my favorite parts of the hike up to Lucky Peak via the Highland trail is that there are parts of it where if you look to one side, you see a city, but if you look in the other direction, you could almost be in the wilderness. The mountains just stretch into the distance as if man had never existed. 

Maybe I'll hike Lucky Peak or the foothills this weekend. Still a lot of people, but more chances for being solitary with the outdoors. Breathing in that brisk air, untainted by those civilized smells. Hearing the wind in your ears. 

If there's only one workout for the first week of the CrossFit Open, then I might just do that on Saturday. Or maybe try a drive out towards Nevada on 51, just to see it. If I can't go out and hike, exploring by car would be cool as well, if it's a new area with potential for hiking later.