Last week my friend, Ally, and I went camping. The weather is finally warming and the ground isn’t soaked through with soggy snow, so we packed our backpacks and set out into the Margaree valley. We ended up pitching our tent next to a set of tiny, cascading waterfalls on the side of one of Margaree’s mountains. We gathered up fallen tree branches, started a fire and ate dinner. We spent the rest of the evening laughing, writing and reading books as the smokey smell of the fire settled over us.
“How’re you doing?” I asked after a few hours.
“Good,” Ally replied, “I love this. There’s something so simple about collecting sticks. We don’t have to do anything else or go anywhere else.”
I nodded, yes, I thought, there really is beautiful simplicity found when you’re outside with nothing but the things in your backpack and nowhere to rush off to.
We gathered up our gear, put the fire out and crawled into my yellow two-man tent. When we tried to sleep, Ally was out like a light. “That sound is so peaceful,” she said, talking about the water.
I dozed off eventually only to wake up at one in the morning. I tried to fall back to sleep but I kept imagining bears and coyotes and other animals that might want to come and take the food we hadn’t tied up. I kept hearing things. You know what I mean? You put me anywhere in complete darkness and let me tell you, my hearing will turn supersonic. Every loud splash of water or ruffle of leaves, I was convinced it was a person or a bear coming after us. I tossed and turned all night until the sun rose and the sky lightened. Then, and only then, I fell back to sleep. Blissfully, I finally closed my eyes and smiled because even though my mind got away on me, I was outside, and that was my favourite place to be.
Let me rewind a bit.
I started working for Live Life InTents in June of 2020. I was born and raised in this area but got out as soon as I could (small towns, anyone?). When I returned and started working for LLIT I had just spent years living in cities abroad. Mainly I had been in London and Oxford, England. But I’d also spent time in Paris, Nice, Dublin, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin, Kampala and Cusco. As a small town girl, I never thought I would grow to love cities, but over time, I did. I love the hustle and bustle, the coffee shops and restaurants. I love that so much life and existence can take place through millions of people in such small areas. But, I admit, in those years I didn’t really spend much time outside. I was not a total hermit in an apartment; I walked through parks and sat by (very, VERY murky) rivers. I’m talking about outside. Like, the great outdoors.
So years went by and I didn’t explore much in terms of the outdoors. Even though my country roots stayed with me and people in big cities often picked on me about them, I didn’t feel connected with nature and didn’t think much about the planet we live on.
And then, there I found myself working at LLIT. Admittedly, my mother had sent me stickers and shirts from LLIT before, mailing them abroad with a note on supporting local and just how proud she was of Lee Fraser. But here I was, in the middle of it. Lee walked out in crocs and swim shorts, fresh from a summer’s morning swim in our river. He would bring coffee out and sit in a hammock in the sun and I’d sit at my laptop nervously wondering what to do. When you get accustomed to living and working in a city like London, it feels weird to sit down at work and not get yelled at about how much there is to get done. Who has time to enjoy the sunshine when I could be working?
Over those first few weeks I watched Lee give people the experiences that they were longing for; camping under the starts, laughing by the fire with friend, tubing down a river lined by lush trees while fish swam under their feet. On down time- when he found any- he’d strap on a 60L pack with food and head out to camp with friends. He didn’t even take a tent with him, saying he’d just sleep on the ground. In my mind I was thinking, uhm, what about bears and bugs and dirt?
But slowly, week in and week out, through watching Lee and making friends, I started to explore outside. At first it was small; an hour hike here, a sunset there. And then my weekends started to fill up because I suddenly wanted to spend whole days outside. Eventually, whole nights too. After work I’d put away my laptop and my friends and I would drive to the beach. We’d have fires and watch the sunset with wide eyes and smiles on our faces. When I was off work, I found myself hiking through valleys and over mountains. My hands would run along trees or reach out to touch vibrantly green, healthy plants. I’d close my eyes, tilt my head back and take in the peace and stillness that is only found when you’re 7km deep into the woods. When I was working, some friends and I would still sleep outside with nothing but sleeping bags. No tents. We’d watch the stars and I’d get up with sunrise to get ready for work. And yes of course, always, the sunset. Always the sunset, winking its way under the horizon while brilliant shades of orange, pink, purple and red splayed out over our heads; we always had to see that.
Once while backcountry in our national park I was sitting with a journal in my hand and I realized that this is what people pay so much for. These destinations, traveling to national parks and staying at Live Life InTents… people are seeking out ways to find peace and joy and relaxation and so, of course, they’re flocking to our adventure company because we offer them all of that.
On that trip I wrote this in my journal:
The trail we’re walking is well worn because people come this way frequently. Dozens of hikers, campers, slow and lazy walkers cannot resist the pull and so, they come. Walk through the forest until they hit the ocean and their hearts can find the rest it needs. And away from technology and the internet and the demand of their regular life, away from the concrete buildings and phone calls, I bet they finally find what they need. Rest. Connection. Laughter. Joy. Peace. Stillness. Nature.
Most of all, I bet they find themselves.
Out of that trip I returned to work and looked around at all that Live Life InTents was leading and inspiring in others and I was so thankful that I’d taken a job here. I honestly think that, if it were not for LLIT and the friends I made there (cheers, Carson, Lee and Ally- you guys are the best of the best) I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Working for an outdoor adventure company opens up doors to explore. To see nature around us in the purest ways. To disconnected from the constant need to work, answer that phone call, respond to that email, and to connect back to our truest self which, I now wholeheartedly believe, is found outside.
You could say that I’m paid to write these blogs, which is true… I am. But the girl writing this is so different than the one that was hired a year ago. I think I was so used to the rush and noise of cities that I forgot what stillness and adventure felt like. After being here, though? Not anymore.
I know that things are up in the air and we’re all wondering what the summer will look like- will anyone ever be able to leave the HRM?- but we want to invite everyone who can to come down, when the time is right and the restrictions are lifted. Bring friends. Bring family. Pitch a tent and spend the whole night staring at the milky way. Get on a tube and make your way down the river, letting the sun warm you and the water cool you and the mountains move you. Come out and connect with the wild and yourself and get back to the roots of who you are. Even if you have never been an outdoorsy person, you will be after a visit here. The sunrises will steal the breath out of your lungs and the beach is just down the road and there are valleys and hills to be explored.
See you soon.
Written by: Annika Phillips