New Years in the Great Outdoors

Want a change from the run-of-the-mill New Years celebration? How about hitting Nature’s reset button and getting in touch with the real foundation to this life? Spend your New Years in the Great Outdoors. An ultimately peaceful star-filled sky on a crisp winter night along a river bank in the Ozark wilderness is a lesson in solitude that can be learned nowhere else. You have to feel it to understand. After the midnight buzz dies down, the children turn in and the wilderness becomes deafeningly quiet. If not for the sound of the river forever surging on, the occasional lonely coyote in distance, and the crackling of the campfire, one can almost feel the utter stillness of the winter wilderness. But make no mistake, the wilderness is not asleep and old man winter will, more than likely, throw some cold yet refreshing chills your way.

This is not a camping trip for the ill-prepared or faint of heart. The elements, like Nature itself, are beautiful yet completely indifferent to the comforts of man. With children it is easiest to use a camper with a furnace; however, in years past I have taken friends and family along in the wall tent with a wood stove and managed to stay very dry and warm. It is a tremendous effort but it is also a tremendously gratifying experience to be able to barter with Mother Nature on her terms. Sleeping bags are best if rated to 0°F. Army Surplus Extreme Cold variants are very adequate for this type of camping. An air mattress to get you off the ground is also a great way to insulate yourself from the heat-draining ground. Clothing needs to be worn in layers. Warm underclothes under layers of wool or modern thermal insulated clothing are best. Those layers of clothing will keep your backside warm after midnight as you sit at the campfire breathing in the crisp night air, searching the star-filled sky and contemplating worthy New Years resolutions.

In Nature’s Economy, tuning in the Designer on New Years provides for resolutions that seem to have a higher calling with deeper meaning and more far reaching personal and worldly impact. Likewise, vivid understandings of powerful quotes jump into the conscience, such as a line in a quote by Dean Alfange, “I refuse to barter incentive for a dole, I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm utopia.” While written to apply to man’s economy, in Nature’s Economy it is just as applicable. A camping trip on New Years Eve is as much a challenge as you will find in the Ozarks. And it is rewarding beyond your imagination. Not to mention fun when you consider the outdoor activities you might pursue. Trapping, hunting, and fishing are all on the menu through the New Years holiday. With children, a two or three day camping and fishing trip is generally the easiest and most fun for the kids. Not to mention the fact that the cold part of the year is the best time to catch a big trout in the river or lake.

This year I encourage you to try something new. Get out of the New Years rut and open yourself to Mother Nature’s New Years party. It will bring pause to the soul that is constantly exposed to the hustle and bustle of society. Start a tradition for a young child away from the video games and TV. Expose them to the foundation of life and society in Nature’s Economy. I hope to hear many wonderful stories from children who got a change of pace and a new experience on the eve of 2010. Good luck, be safe, and get a big one.