Photo by John Brundage

The smoke from the wildfires reached our formation house in the first week of June. Since it didn’t look that bad, I decided to go for a quick hike. When I was almost done, a sudden rainstorm sent me scrambling for shelter. But after a hundred yards I was totally gassed. Granted, I’d spent the last week on mission in Montreal, and had consumed perhaps more than my fair share of pizza and cheese curds. But I’ve never experienced a drop-off in conditioning this dramatic. I started running again, this time trying to motivate myself by imagining that I was running for help, or away from a pursuer. No dice. Even to avoid getting soaked, and possibly even if my life depended on it, I couldn’t even cover the length of a football field without stopping to catch my breath.

After seeing how badly the smoke impacted me, I decided to back out of a camping trip that weekend. I didn’t want to risk spending dozens of hours breathing this stuff in. But I didn’t take the decision lightly. I think camping is too good of an activity to pass up in normal circumstances. I remember being out on a lake when I was in university. The sun was gently beating down on me, the birds were lightly chirping in the background, and the waters were calmly rocking me into an afternoon nap. I’m convinced that if everyone got to experience this at least once a year, the crime rate would plummet.

What is so calming about camping? Why is it so refreshing to so many even when almost everything about daily life is made more difficult and less comfortable? I think part of it is that we live our daily lives in an artificial environment. For perhaps the majority of people for the majority of history, concerns like getting food and water, and staying dry and warm etc. would have been consuming preoccupations at the forefront of their minds. Now in developed countries they are taken care of automatically with little to no thought or work required. Camping puts us back in touch with what actually goes into our survival.

And if you let it, camping can put you back in touch with God. In order to fully appreciate a painting, you need time to take it in. By gazing on the painting and paying attention to the impressions the image makes on you, you can learn a lot about yourself and the artist. But as much as you might like to, you can’t travel into the painting. Not so with nature. Nature is God’s masterpiece. Unfortunately, we spend most of our time insulated from it in creations and environments of our own making. But activities like camping allow us to be fully immersed, and to become more deeply acquainted with God and his sensibilities.

When is your next opportunity to get outdoors? In the midst of hiking, fishing, swimming, campfires, good food, and all the other things that make camping a blast, be sure to include some time and thought for art appreciation. I hope you have a wonderful time

John Brundage is a seminarian with the Companions of the Cross. He also writes a Substack Newsletter called Integrated Prayer.