My relationship with athletic activities is complicated. I do not dislike them. I like them, in principle. However, I excel naturally at a few things in life (talking too much, exasperating my wife, and so forth) and athletic activity is not one of them. I am also naturally flat-footed, which is unhelpful when hiking and running for any length of time. “Liking” and “enjoying” something can be very, very different.
My youth sports career was…unremarkable. In the Stamford Little League, I was limited to occasional stints in right field and drawing a few walks because I was lefthanded and the pitchers were afraid of beaning me. For the good of all concerned, I retired from football, basketball, and track after junior high. Yet, I am forever grateful to coaches who did not treat me as nerdy unathletic kid who was the butt of jokes. In another town, I might have that kind of coach. Instead, Stamford ISD had men like Johnny Garcia, Casey Pearce, the late legend Bill Anderson, and Eddie Richardson (among others) who spent my entire athletic career encouraging me even when I finished last, because I still finished. In the story of the tortoise and the hare, the experience of the tortoise resonated with me.
Last year at the Strenuous Life Retreat, I did not finish the hiking excursions. I made both hikes part of the way, but I turned back before I reached the end. I personally vowed that I would come back this year and complete both hikes. Over the last 11 months, I did not train as much as I intended, but I undoubtedly got myself in better shape. Swapping 90% of your television-watching for gardening will do that, as will kayaking, better running shoes (Team HOKA) and a few other life changes.
This year’s hikes were the same as last year: a seven-mile roundtrip from Great Sand Dunes National Park up to Mosca Pass and a 10-miler along Zapata Creek to the alpine Zapata Lake and back. 17 miles of hiking in two forays is a challenge on any course, but Stamford sits at approximately 1,600 feet above sea level and these hikes start above 7,000 feet. Mosca Pass requires about 1,600 feet in elevation climb, while the Zapata Lake trail starts at 9,000 feet and peaks at 12,000 feet. Hiking uphill at high elevation will tax you in a manner that you cannot replicate in the lowlands.
And I did it, dadgummit. I brought up the rear both times, but the Strenuous Life Retreat is about a group of people pushing themselves together, not competing to finish first. I’ll not lie to you. There were a few times on the Zapata Lake Trail where I questioned whether I could finish, but I was too far in to quit. When I crossed over the last rise and saw the lake in front of me, it was one of the most rewarding feelings of my life. The sandwich I ate on the lake shore rivaled any sandwich I have ever eaten (and we all know that sandwiches taste better outdoors). I might have wanted to luxuriate in the accomplishment, but I still had to hike 5 miles back down the mountain to the trailhead.
This essay is not about rural revitalization. Or maybe it is. Rural revitalization is hard. I hear far too often that rural America is beyond saving. It would be a lot easier to pack it in and move to the suburbs where the infrastructure is new and the chain restaurants abound. But we can do hard things in life. And we should. I will write more about this next week, but the entire concept of Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Strenuous Life” speech is that challenging ourselves will make us better humans and make the world better.
Revitalizing rural communities is a challenge. But if I, of all people, can hike uphill in the thin mountain air for miles on end, then frankly, anything is possible.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and the Rural Church and State and West of 98 podcasts. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to him wherever podcasts are found.
Your appreciation of Wendell Berry was what drew me to you in the first place, James, but I've got to tell you that you have a wonderful power of expression of your own. I love this essay.
Often adventures are about the sandwiches you'll never forget! Proud of you for gutting it out dude!
Buck