I’m known to be an outdoorsman. When I walk through the hallways, people whisper and point at me, saying “did you know that Ian King is known for being an outdoorsman?”. I like to camp, fish, go outside, and not use technology (I’m known for not having a smartphone, too). These things are complex, so I must give you the details so that you can truly understand what it feels like to be an outdoorsman.
My friends and I will go on vacation to West Virginia. Cabo? Hawaii? Florida? No, everyone’s going to West Virginia these days, haven’t you heard? Here is the thought process my friends and I had behind this trip:
“Oh, spring break? We’ll make plans soon” → “Wow, spring break is approaching soon, we better figure it out” → “We need to pick a destination… what has a lot of nature, is a comfortable drive, will be inexpensive, and won’t be insanely popular/busy?” → “Let’s go to West Virginia” [YOU ARE HERE] → *actually making the Airbnb reservations and getting some sort of itinerary plus checking if everyone’s parents are okay with it*
A light pollution map of WV. Our Airbnb would’ve been in the blue zone, i.e. the area with the least light pollution.
We’ve gotten some sort of idea of trails we might want to go on and other things we may want to see in and around WV. You’d be surprised how cheap Airbnb’s are, too— for five people, it’d be around $100 a night TOTAL, that is $20 per person per night. For a week, this would be $140 per person. Gas would be about $200 round trip (thank you, Prius), so about $40 per person. Food would be about $80, let’s say (a complete guess), so this brings our total to $260. Throw in another $80 for miscellaneous expenses and this trip will cost about $340 per person, which we’ll round up to $400 for other costs I didn’t account for. This is a pretty decent price for what will be a fun trip with friends. Two of my friends and I are definitely going, one is probably going to go, and one potentially won’t go, so I think it’ll actually happen, which is pretty cool. [UPDATE FROM A COUPLE DAYS AFTER I WROTE THAT: this trip isn’t making it out of the groupchat]
Recently, I went to Nike Park and played some football with my friends. Since I didn’t want to scuff up my shoes, I chose to forgo them all together and play barefoot.
Barefoot is good for you, probably
The feeling of the cold earth and mud against my feet was amazing, and I built up some decent calluses from it. There’s this trend of wanting to hide your dogs, being scared to wear sandals, and not feeling comfortable with your feet, but I will take a strong stance against this: LET THE DOGS FREE. Modern shoes have completely changed the way we walk; humans weren’t designed to heel strike. The most natural way of walking is barefoot. I have an inclination that I might go hippie in college and just walk around barefoot. I respect people that live a barefoot lifestyle. Society HATES when you go barefoot, get your feet all dirty, and make the people around you uncomfortable because they don’t want to see your feet.
We went on “a little fishing excursion,” as Max would say
Oftentimes, I go on fishing expeditions with my friends. It usually starts at Walmart, buying worms and then ends at a random pond or river we decide upon. Some days we catch a lot of fish and sometimes we don’t; some would say it is great training for the difficulties that life brings, but I would say that it’s pretty boring. I really dislike fishing— the monotony of casting and reeling does it for me, as on a good day I could probably fish until the forty minute mark where I’d have to start doing something else. Even when I’m with friends, I still find it boring. I’m also quite poor at fishing, so that could contribute. See! You don’t have to like everything that is related to nature (see: naturalistic fallacy).
Finally, I am a flip phone user. I don’t use a smartphone because I waste too much time on them. My phone basically only calls and texts— no internet at all. This allows me to be more connected with the outside world and spend less time on technology. My screen time is about thirty minutes per day. I’m going to stop talking about this out of the feeling that I seem pretentious.
Becoming more connected with nature makes you more of a human. I would encourage all who read this blog to take a walk outside, maybe with family, and enjoy the fresh air and each other’s presence. It is easy to become entrapped by modernity, but every once in a while you must disconnect and explore.
Hi Ian,
I would love to hear about your gym and how you don’t need many fancy amenities. To me it seems as if you are just “different than most guys” but maybe that’s just me.
The really weird thing is that I actually call you “The Outdoorsman” whenever I see you in the hallways. Of course, you are always too busy to notice me yelling this, because you are so caught up in your new phone that you got. Anyway, I’m not the big planner person with my friends. I usually let others do all of the planning and I pitch in the occasional comments. That’s why I totally understand the thought process you included behind your West Virginia Trip. (I heard West Virginia is where all the Ians go to congregate once a year.) I also loved reading about how you decided to play barefoot, because I would do the same if it meant preserving a new pair of shoes I just bought. I really liked the picture you have of Max as well, because I know that Max tends to have fishing excursions almost every week when the weather permits. Also, I’m not surprised you bragged about your daily 30 minute screen time. It makes sense coming from a pretentious person such as yourself.(For the purpose of this blog, this is a joke.) But I did enjoy reading this blog and I will definitely come back to your next one.
Ian, I have to say – your level of dedication to being an outdoorsman is honestly inspiring. The last time I traveled somewhere just for the sake of visiting was going to the Smoky Mountains with my family. We stayed in a small town in North Carolina and would make the drive into the mountains every day to tackle some other sort of trail. It was an amazing experience, other than the sprained ankle that I ignored for the most part. Surprisingly, I’ve never gone on a trip with just friends and no family. It’s definitely a bucket list item, and hopefully I’ll save enough money over the summer to be able to take one before going to college. Side note: I’m also a Prius driver, and I can definitely connect with your relief on not having to fill gas every 5 days. I will say, I’ve never tried playing sports barefoot before – I have famously weak ankle joints, so I’m always scared I’ll step on a bump in the grass and take a fall (which has happened multiple times before). I am also scared of walking barefoot on the road because of pebbles, but I will say I’m an avid supporter of going barefoot after more than 30 minutes in heels. As for fishing, the first and last time I tried was in fifth grade Outdoor Ed. I tried for a long time, but the only thing I took away was a picture of my friend kissing the catfish she caught. I hope you’re able to keep being an outdoorsman no matter what the future holds!
Hi, Ian! I love the sense of humor that you bring in every one of your blogs. Going with friends alone?? That’s pretty ballsy. I wouldn’t trust myself enough to do that. Although West Virginia is not a place I desire to go to, I think it’s so neat of you to plan out this entire trip (especially on the whim). I’ve always struggled with making decisions which leads me to never going anywhere on break. I agree with the idea that we have such unnatural tendencies. This means that we always go against the course of nature for the sake of convenience, in this case, walking with shoes. I have hard about the health benefits about letting yourself walk barefoot and it definitely does feel better. It’s pretty cool to see you go fishing numerous times despite not being good at it. It gives a nice message that you should go out of your way and attempt it anyways. My screen time is definitely at least 5 times yours, but I’m definitely inspired to get out more in the future! Thanks for the blog, Ian.
Hi Ian, I know that you said that your trip is probably never making it out of the group chat, but it is definitely worth trying. In my limited interaction with West Virginia, I have found it to be a really cool state. I only stopped in it for a bit, but nearby are some of the most beautiful car rides you can take. The mountain/hilly roads are surrounded by beautiful scenery and are a lot of fun to drive around if you go fast. On a tangent, a different place that I recommend if you are looking for isolation and nature is Idaho. Idaho is undoubtedly up there for me on the top 10 places to visit in the US if you don’t enjoy being in crowds. I absolutely love the terrain in Idaho, which in certain areas is perfect for hiking while making your own path. The hills in some national park areas seem like they are not that steep, but then extend on for ages. At some point, I want to take a trip out there by myself with no other reason other than to climb to the top of one of those hills.
I appreciate the natural lifestyle you live in, Ian. I know life’s probably a lot more difficult with the famously known flip phone you use. But like honestly though, how do you even text on that tiny thing?
Anyway though, setting all jokes aside, I’m sure you’re probably disappointed that even after planning out the whole vacation getaway in West Virginia your plan never ended up taking place. I can relate with you there. Although it’s not the same, I’ve been trying to plan for like a consecutive three-day Six Flags run where me and a couple friends spend basically a full long weekend going on all the rides and mess around at the waterpark. I feel like it would be a lot of fun, partly because I have a ton of good memories going to Six Flags growing up and it’s been a while since I’ve gone. I have this really good memory of me and my friends from elementary school being half soaked and eating dinner at this local Mexican restaurant after having gone to Six Flags. Anyway though, we’ll see what happens this spring break for me, but hopefully you and your group can come up with another trip that you all can go to this summer. I don’t know why, but I feel like just getting in a really big trip with some close friends right before heading off to college is like a very nice way of just saying goodbye to everyone.