If you have wine, why hike?
A week or so ago, when I was fiddling around with the latest meme, Why do I blog?, one of my fellow hiking bloggers, a decent chap named Rick McCharles, fired back his own query. Rick’s was a good question.
So why then, if I have wine, do I hike? In response, I must present a common mindset for me, the one I call the Wholly Imposed Self-Health Initiative (WISHI), which is:
I hike because I have wine.
I guess you could just attribute my WISHI mindset to my Protestant roots. If you’ve experienced much time at all with any Protestants (or, heaven forbid, Calvinists), you know all about their characteristically intractable ethic: work before play. True, Protestants are industrious and hardworking; I could wane philosophically all day about their puritan values.
(But for heaven’s sake, why??)
Of course, a discourse about Calvinist philosophy is not the point of this post. Suffice to say that I don’t believe much in Puritanism, but I’ll admit that I often operate on a principle of earning it before burning it. Quite simply, I get much more satisfaction out of rewarding my accomplishments - say, as opposed to rewarding myself when I don’t accomplish anything. Heck, if I reward myself too often without having earned it, I feel as if I’m just backslidin’. Why, it’s enough to make me pull myself up out of my latent torpidity, strap on my boots, and go hit the trail. Or tackle the dishes….
You Protestant-types (you know who you are!) know what I mean: When you haven’t earned that glass of wine, it just doesn’t taste nearly as fine.
Now tell me you don’t agree.
Gee, now that I’ve said all that, I’m suddenly rather thirsty. And yet just as suddenly, I see a hike looming on the next horizon. That, and the much more embraceable and Lavishly Acronymic Liquid Anesthesia (LALA) ethic:
I have wine because I hike.
But really, why hike at all? Isn’t wine enough? A loaded question, to be sure. Someday, after I’ve got a good hike in and there’s no question that I’m loaded, I’ll attempt to answer it. But I think you know the answer already.
April 23rd, 2007 16:35
If you have wine, why hike?…
To wine or not to whine: The winehiker presents ponderous yet perspicacious platitudes….
April 23rd, 2007 19:19
You muse your muse.
I am still disappointed I did not deliver a fine Canadian ice wine to you last year at Shasta.
Next time.
Amongst my hiking friends I am well regarded as he most willing to carry the booze. I recall the time I loaded two giant “bullets” (large soda bottles) with alcohol for a 6-day trip with 10 hikers.
Peasant that I am, one bullet was Vodka (with Crystal Lite) and the other Tequila.
All was very well … until I discovered that I had no water bottle!
(I worked hard to empty one bullet as quickly as possible.)
I’m no Wine Hiker, more like one of the Trailer Park Boys out on the trail.
April 23rd, 2007 21:50
Oh my, what a sad state of affairs to not view hiking (particularly in your beautiful countryside) an indulgence unto itself. Granted, hiking is good exercise and balances out the wine calories. And granted, wine (along with food, water, scotch, sleep) is far more gratifying after a good jaunt, but not just from the righteousness of earning it. We crave it more, so it is more satisfying. … but I digress… The luscious sights, smells, and general sensations make hiking a treat unto itself.
The journey is the destination!
~ CG
April 23rd, 2007 22:27
Cascadia Girl, it’s good to see you back here. I couldn’t have said it better! You hit the nail on the proverbial head. (That is, you knew the answer.)Â Yes, be not sad, for in spite of my tongue-in-cheek philosophizing, hiking was always my first indulgence - and still is - whether wine is ’round or not. Still, it’s kinda nice to have a second indulgence - one that I used to not be able to afford.
Rick, my Canadian friend, you a-booze yourself, but gosh, you always a-muse me. We’ll sip some icewine yet.