Fourteen years
I sometimes wonder how many miles we have walked like that, hand in thumb. On the Superior Hiking Trail, in the Tetons, Yellowstone, in every single state park in Minnesota - that thumb of mine has a lot of miles on it. And most nights, while laying in the tent, undoubtedly at some point in the night the some will grasped as well. It must be comforting to him.
It sure is for me.
Nick turns 14 years old Oct. 19. And although it doesn’t happen quite as often, I am happy to report that my thumb still is grasped from time to time. In fact, it happened last week in Tettegouche State Park. Yes, a teenager holding his dad’s hand!
I’m super lucky.
I write this because I know that none of his friends will be reading this blog (I hope) and on the eve of his birthday just feel compelled to write about how special it is to have father and son time together out in nature. Whether it’s hiking together on the trail, paddling a canoe, setting-up camp or just riding a chairlift together talking, the times we have spent together outside are precious.
When I think back to my own childhood, my fondest memories with my dad are our times shared outdoors. As a kid, the ultimate thing that we could possibly do is take a walk to our “secret waterfall” behind the house. It was a couple mile hike, but full of thrilling adventure as we crossed the “skunk field,” up the “Laura Ingalls Hill,” passed the ‘Indian Burial Grounds” and crossed the “Indiana Jones Bridge.”
We ate watercress, smelled butterscotch, sang into “microphones.” When my sister and I were really little we had “tree rides!” If you had asked me whether I would rather go to Disneyworld or to the waterfall, I am confident I would have chosen the waterfall!
Through the years we would do things together which would mostly just be about being together in the outdoors talking. I would love summer evenings in the boat just staring our bobbers talking about everything and nothing at the same time.
Or going deer hunting, sitting quietly in the woods for a few hours, but the best part simply walking together looking for sign or driving around, listening to the radio just being together in the middle of nowhere.
My favorite kind of hunting when I was a kid, wasn’t hunting at all, actually. When my dad would go bow hunting behind the house, I would tag along and sit in a nearby tree and take photos of deer.
Even if he had a chance to slay “Oaktreehead” (a name we game to a legendarily huge local deer) he still let me sit nearby, flash busting through the evening light.
The best part of the “hunt” was walking in and out of the woods when my dad would show me fresh scrapes or rubs. We would also find places where the deer would bed down for the night in the grass. It always seemed like the deer’s body heat was still there - thrilling to think about as a little boy.
It’s safe to say that the time I spent in the outdoors has had a huge influence on who I am today. I always said that if I ever had kids I would spend plenty of time out there with them as well.
And I have.
When Nick was two years old, he went on his first trip to the BWCA, a five day canoe trip. Despite having to pack out a few pounds of dirty diapers, it was an amazingly memorable trip. It was almost shocking on day one during a crazy lightning storm, when his mother and I were struggling to hold up the tent against the wind, Nick just slept right through it. That was the first indication of how comfortable he would be in the wild.
Then, in 2001, I had the most memorable skiing experience of my life. No, it wasn’t hucking myself into Corbet’s Couloir in Jackson Hole, a deep powder day at Alta or exploring the backcountry at Whistler. The most memorable ski moment of my entire life happened at Giants Ridge. On the bunny hill.
It was the moment when a three-year-old Nick, flying down on his tiny skis, made his very first turn. His FIRST TURN!!! I was not ready for the emotional surge that would come from the first time my little boy would shift his weight the right way to make a small arc. Wow! It was so great! I can see it clear as day - it was to the left. I high-fived him about a hundred times and picked him up and hugged him, his dangling skis hitting me in the thighs. What an incredible moment!
Five years later, I would let him miss a couple days of second grade and take him to Alaska for his first trip to the big mountains. Seeing my little boy making solid turns in the pow with the Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm in the background just took my breath away. It was a trip we still talk about often - and a place he keeps asking to go back to. Hopefully, this winter…
Now that he’s older, it’s even more fun. Our backpacking trips have gotten longer and he has become skilled at paddling a canoe. This summer my dad bought him a bow so another generation of hunting has come to the family. It just keeps getting better and better.
So even though I know you probably won’t read this, happy birthday buddy! The adventures we’ve shared over the past fourteen years have been incredible. You’ve made me the happiest dad on the planet!
I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have.
In : Hiking
Tags: yellowstone "superior hiking trail" minnesota hiking son tettegouche state park "giants ridge" ski jump snowboard
Zach Johns is an alpine skier, backpacker, paddler and all-around nature lover who lives on Minnesota‘s Iron Range. Originally from Osceola, Wis., Johns attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth so he could ski every day and be close to the trails of his beloved North Shore. There, he earned a degree in Communication and was editor of the student newspaper. However, the real education he gained at UMD was in honing his outdoor skills. He took courses in subjects such as backpacking, winter camping, rock climbing and canoe tripping. By the time he graduated, that was all he wanted to do. In January of 1997, he moved to the Range where he met a group of die-hard skiers dedicated to making turns at Giants Ridge every single day of the winter (when they weren’t out skiing the big mountains of the west.) Throughout the late nineties he built a very impressive ski resume, taking several trips to Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, British Columbia and Alaska. During the off-season, he took to the hiking trails. In 1997, he hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail during the single season (what had been completed until that time) and in following years, took trips to Yosemite, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. He also made two attempts to climb King’s Peak, the highest mountain in Utah, but failed to summit both times. In 1999, he attempted the infamous 43-mile Kekekabic Trail through the heart of the BWCA and limped out after only ten miles with a hernia. He did finally complete the Kek in 2005, during one of the hottest weeks on record. Besides hiking, he also continued dabbling with paddling, making several canoe trips to the BWCA and became an enthusiastic (yet very novice) whitewater kayaker. He is now a father of two sons, Nick and Jackson, who accompany their father on nearly all his adventures. Both were skiing fairly soon after they could stand and from 2006-2011, the three hiked in every state park in Minnesota, 195 miles of hiking in 65 parks. Since becoming a dad, Johns has suddenly realized that you can’t just be out there skiing, hiking, paddling, etc. without also working to protect the very things you love. With that in mind, he founded an adventure club at work to get co-workers outside who might not otherwise be inspired to go. The club has gone on hiking, paddling, winter camping and cycling trips and annually go on a trash pick-up hike to celebrate Earth Day. He believes that once you get people out into beautiful wild places, the more likely they will be to protect them. He has also done a lot of volunteer work for the Superior Hiking Trail Association including adopting a backcountry campsite which he and the boys maintain twice a year. It is of extreme importance, he believes, to introduce children to the outdoors early. Not only is it good for them, but they will be the ones protecting these places once we are gone. Future plans? There are a few local goals to check-off including hiking the Border Route Trail in the BWCA and Isle Royale. Mostly, it’s just to take the boys hiking and camping in more of our national parks, skiing the big western mountains, and more of their usual seasonal cycle: Giants Ridge in the winter, Superior’s North Shore in the spring, South Shore in the summer and back to the North Shore in the fall.
