Call of the Wild

I’ve spent the last couple of months gathering quite the collection of camping and backpacking gear, getting ready for a summer filled with a lot of both. My shit is all top shelf, the very best equipment that you can get. Money wise my outdoor equipment is worth over a couple thousand dollars all together but thankfully I didn’t have to spend a dime. Everything that I’ve got I acquired through the barter system trading someone the things they required in exchange for the things that I required in order to be set up like a boss if and when I decide to go into the wild. I’ve got a really nice 2 man tent made by MSR. It’s super lightweight and although I haven’t used it the reviews all say it’s a great tent. I’ve got a badass sleeping bag that is also super lightweight and it’s rated to 0° so I will probably never have to worry about being cold, if anything I might be to hot. I can’t think of who made the sleeping bag at the moment but I know it cost $500 at REI. For underneath the sleeping bag I’ve got a $300 therm-a-rest sleeping pad. I’ve got no idea what makes it worth $300 but it was the best one available and it said something about it being geared towards winter camping so I guess we’ll see. My backpack is a Gregory and it cost like $400. It’s a 60 liter pack, which is super lightweight and as far as I can tell it’s gonna be pretty comfortable because the frame molds to my back nicely and the belt is snug around my hips. Only time will tell how comfortable it really is. I’ve also got a jetboil camp stove, a fishing pole which folds down to about a foot long and a handful of other camping equipment. One idea that I had was to go and get one of those national parks passes and travel around going to national parks all over the county and camping and backpacking all over. The pass is only like $80, or it was a couple of years ago when I got one, which saves a bunch of money if you plan on going to more then a couple of parks throughout the year. There are some pretty cool National Parks that I wouldn’t mind spending some time in, so that’s seriously one of my options. I would have to come up with some kind of hustle so that I could finance the whole thing but I’m a hustling motherfucker so I’m sure I could figure out something. Backpacking and camping is not really all that expensive so the main thing I’d need money for is gasoline for my truck and that’s gonna be an expense no matter what I decide to do. It would be nice to have a travel companion for this adventure but I have grown accustomed to being alone and the nice thing about flying solo is that I only have to take care of one person. If I was to have someone come with me then that would just burden me with another mouth to feed and another person to have to worry about, so it’s gonna be easier but lonelier. Regardless of whether or not I go into the wild the final destination is somewhere I can get a little place for me and my mom and a job I can sink my teeth into and which doesn’t make me want to swan dive off a building into the asphalt. Probably somewhere in Oregon but also possible in Washington. Or maybe Montana.