What I learned from going hiking in the Rocky Mountains

Oct 4 2023

So I'm not much of a camper, or a hiker. The last time I did both was freshman year in undergrad when I went on an impromptu Grand Canyon week-long backpacking trip. Surprisingly I had a blast doing that, and a month ago during a week off from medical school I did something similar by going to the Estes Park YMCA, of all things, right outside Rocky Mountain National Park. There they had hikes you could sign up for, led by very jovial and experienced hike leaders who had the air of people who were enjoying giving back to those younger than them. What an amazing situation to, quite frankly, stumble into. Little did I know we would be on a six hour significant hike on rocky terrain going up a thousand or so feet and down, where one of our party members actually tripped and hurt herself pretty bad (we needed to turn around because of near posterior hip dislocation and to patch up her knee, to which everyone was asking me, the med student, for advice about). I do tend to like challenges, so reaching an alpine lake in a part of the Rocky Mountain National Park, where a lot of people don't usually get to go, i.e. Bear Lake, was a lot of fun to me, but there are some lessons I learned from going on this trip. 

My final lesson that I want to talk about here is how having a backup plan is not necessarily an admittance of lack of faith in a plan, but rather prudent living in general. I was glad that the hike leaders had a satellite phone they could text people back at the YMCA with regarding how our party was doing. This backup plan was peace-giving to everyone in the group, and having such safety nets in life to reduce the negative downsides. I think in my own personal life, with the Step 2 exam that I took recently, I had practiced taking a near full-length exam many times before taking the real thing, which in my mind was a type of satellite phone or safety net, because even if I had the worst night's sleep and things were just seemingly falling apart right before the test, I had already done it in a variety of different states and was very familiar with the challenge expected of me. This kind of insurance, in a way, plays an important part in both psychological development of kids, when they feel comfortable enough to return to their parents who are onlooking and able to rescue them from potentially dangerous situations (I am think of what some may call a "secure attachment"). I suspect having such psychological safety during endeavors as adults similarly encourages us to take risks. I would say general boundaries setting in life, trying to frequently obtain a rough idea of what to expect, gives you a "safe operating environment" and lets one unwind to levels of functioning they otherwise would be afraid to reach. I'm thinking clearly of times I have played basketball, with a certain set number of variables (five players on each team, fouls called at appropriate times, and rules being followed), where you are free to get into the mystical flow, anticipating passes, dribbling behind your back, and feeling connected, fully able to venture out for successes knowing full well there are controlled downsides.