Jon didn’t grow up camping. In fact, the closest thing he knew to camping was when he was a kid walking in his parents’ backyard. And yet, here he was - a full 33 years old and hiking the Himalayas - literally.
His first camping trip happened when he was 28. A few friends of his had grown up hiking and trekking through the woods with large backpacks and they invited him on this trip. It was a simple weekend - 4 friends and 2 tents - at a local campsite they had booked on Hipcamp just 2 hours away. They had been waiting for months to see if this campsite was going to get shut out because of coronavirus like so many national park sites had been closed a few weeks ago.
That simple trip made all the difference. He figured he was so tired of being inside that he might as well try something new instead of baking his 50th type of bread at home. Coronavirus had kept him and his friends locked down for way longer than they ever expected and if that had never happened, camping would have never seemed remotely appealing to him. And yet, here he was!
He peered out into the vast mountain range of sun and snow, he recalled that era of COVID and lockdowns so many years ago, with an odd sense of gratitude.
The beauty around him was so unending, so full of depth, that somewhere deep inside, he knew there was no way he would have ever made this happen, if he had never gone on that first trip so many years ago, when COVID hit.
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