Hello Friends! Ok… Today’s topic is going to be a bit all over the place. What can I say?! It seemed fitting to go over this as I’m making 10 reminders to refill my ADHD medication before my next hiking trip. (And… just like that, I am putting myself out there today!)Lol! This post is going to be very long so feel free to jump to the category you need.
Now obviously I am not an expert regarding mental health or the various mental illnesses and camping/hiking. I do however have some personal experience with a few of the more common conditions. And, I do have some professional experience working with several others who experience mental health challenges that I don’t. Over time, I had the opportunity to discuss camping with different mental conditions at length with many of these amazing people.
I am not a fan of calling all of these conditions illnesses. Some of them, are understandably referred to that way, and you do have to fight to get better, but illness is such a depressing term to put on those of us who are doing everything we can to stay afloat. I’m going to refer to them as conditions here because I feel it gives the affected people more control over the narrative used. I have struggled at different times over the years with depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
Depression is something I periodically have to fight and it is a dark creature that feels like an illness. I can understand why people call it that. However, ADHD is something that I have learned to use to my advantage. It bothers me more when people call ADHD an illness because I have learned through the school of hard knocks to use it as a very distractable “partner in crime”. It helps me do my job and do the things I love.
I’ll share some of my own experiences here as well as some from friends who have graciously permitted me to do so, and a few clinical stories. I will be potentially changing the gender, timeline, and/or personal details about others’ stories to give them some privacy.
ANXIETY I’ll start with one of the most common conditions. Anxiety affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and it doesn’t stop just because you decide to go hiking or camping. Although, I will say it helps.
The first time I went interior camping without my parents my anxiety was through the roof. Trying to prepare for everything and anything, plus organizing everyone, plus trying to plan for the what-ifs and unthinkable situations. My nerves were shot. My dad had some great advice for the trip. He said, “You already know what to do. Just trust yourself.” Very simple. Very straightforward. Now, I realize that everyone hasn’t had the opportunity to grow up backwoods camping, or even hiking for that matter, but another thing he said was to, “Make your list. Check it twice. Then leave it or you’ll overthink too much. Then just enjoy the trip.”
Looking back now, I should have picked a different group to go with and a different site to go into but his advice was very useful.
Once you have a reasonable spot picked out, make sure you have a pack list. Check it once after you make it and once after you finish packing. Then shut that door in your brain. Your nerves will be giving you every “what-if” and “Did you do this?” that they can possibly muster up. This is a time to tell them that you are ok. You are safe. You’ve done your research. You’ve packed for the unexpected. And you can get help if needed.
I promise once you are on the trail, or water, you will start to relax. Once you are surrounded by nature and things moving naturally your nerves will start to calm down. I don’t have a recommendation for hiking vs canoeing for anxiety because the rhythm of your footsteps will calm you down if you are hiking, as will the vibrations when canoeing. I’ve always found the sound of water lapping up against the canoe to be very therapeutic, and even more relaxing is the sound of the paddle pulling through the water. Nothing makes me more tranquil and unconcerned than that sound.
Once you get to the site you’ll have some setup to take care of, and then I would bring a hammock with you if you are worried about panicking at the site. The rocking of a hammock is very soothing.
If you have a hard time relaxing then make sure you have something to do while there that will help you relax. I bring a good book with me. I bring my kindle. I normally have something downloaded that is familiar and something new. The familiar book is for when I have to wait out bad weather in my tent and I am nervous and the new one is for relaxing in the hammock or waiting out the rain in the tent.
Regarding bad weather, I will do a separate post on how to handle that and when it’s time to leave, but you should trust your nerves in that area. If your gut is telling you those clouds look dark and it’s time to pack up or there's something in the wind, it's time to buckle down or head out. It’s better to go and get refunded for the nights you didn't stay than to stay and end up in a bad situation.
I would recommend staying at one site for those who struggle with anxiety. Moving from one site to the next can be overwhelming so staying at one site for a few nights during the first several times you go back woods camping is a good idea.
For those just going on day trips: hiking or canoeing, it’s a great way to relieve anxiety from a situation. Exams, family problems, relationship problems, trying to get rid of a bad habit, and even for no reason, anxiety can make all those situations so much worse. Going for even a quick hike can help put things in perspective, give your nerves enough of a chance to calm down and reassure yourself so that you can go back to the situation with a renewed presence of mind.
DEPRESSION Here’s another common one. Depression can be so brutal to try and navigate. In today’s fast culture where you can instantly be connected to a thousand terrible things happening right now, it can drain any whisper of hope from us. My experience with this is very long and very tremulous. But I have also found that just an hour out in nature is enough to produce a little bit of renewed life fluttering around my heart.
When you are getting ready for a trip with depression you need to make a list and make sure you have everything ready to go. These are not just organizational tools, but tangible ways to look forward; something good to focus on!
Once you are out in nature, especially on a trip, you will start to slowly see the new life the world is frequently creating, the changes in nature, and the beauty of it all. I am always reminded out there of the steadiness of nature. It is always changing, sometimes for good and sometimes for worse, but spring will always come again. The flowers will always come back. The animals will always have new babies curious to explore their new world. And the sun will always rise.
You are a part of that cycle. You are absolutely essential to that cycle. Without you, who would be there to watch the sunrise? Who would be there to watch the moose and her calf so she can show them how to safely be around people? Who would be there to explore the wilderness for everything it has to teach us? To appreciate its beauty even in the rain? No one who has ever been, or ever will be, on this planet can experience this as you can.
This is your gift to the world, to appreciate it as fully as you can and preserve that beauty. That is yours to hold, internalize, and share with the rest of us.
The activity of hiking and canoeing can get your heart rate up, which in itself will give you a boost.
Be gentle with yourself. If you make a mistake, that's okay. You’re just learning.
Bring a journal with you to track your thoughts and check-in with yourself. Don’t go with a large group that you know you’ll need to pretend to be happy with. Don’t expect anything out of yourself besides your basics.
Take time every day while you are there to observe and reflect even on one thing. Not something going on in your life, but something around you. Be present in the moment. Observe the otters playing and fishing with their babies and reflect on what it would be like to be an otter. Observe the beaver bringing branches and twigs back to their dam and reflect on how they instinctively know how to build the dam so no water gets through. Observe how the sun sets or rises and how the animals know how to start fishing when the sun hits the water just right. Observe the fog rolling playfully across the fields and lake and reflect on what emotions it stirs up in you.
Bring a feel-good book to read and enjoy the fact that you get to disconnect for a few days. Disconnecting from social media and taking a break from the constant pressure of emails, responding to texts, and staying in the loop (as well as the news) is very liberating! I ended up deleting Facebook two years ago after a backwoods trip for 4 days while starting to spiral again. I realized that I had nothing to gain from having it and that it sucked a lot of my good energy and happiness into the boiling pit of pointless arguments, terrible news, internet trolls, and fake living. People only put their best on social media. Even the bad day videos and posts are the best parts of that bad day or the parts of it that put that person in the best light. I kept Instagram because of the photos but even then I have to be careful not to get sucked into it too much.
ADHD As you know, I have to constantly make space for ADHD. It is the co-pilot I never wanted but have realized can still be useful. I do take medication for it so that I can focus at work a bit more, but it is a very low dose because like I said, ADHD can also help me.
At home, I find that as long as I have my to-do list (or three) and I break up my tasks into bite-sized and quick things, I can usually keep my brain distracted enough that it doesn’t realize it’s being focused. On the trail, this can look a bit different. I still have my list of things that need to get done around the site, such as food, clean-up, hanging the food bag or barrel, and tidying the tent. Those are things I can do as I’m reminded of them.
Sometimes habit stacking comes into play well here. This is when you take food out of the bag and then right away you put it back up so you don’t forget. You make breakfast and then tidy the tent before it gets too warm to be actively doing things in a tent. Do these things always happen? Heck no. That’s the spontaneous fun of ADHD. You can have a habit of doing something a certain way for years but then you see a rope stuck in a tree that you want to get down and the next thing you know your pot is boiling and you are halfway up a tree so that some creature doesn’t get tangled in the rope and while your up there you think, “Hmm… That rope is the same colour as my boss's car. Shoot! I meant to text my boss about that thing. I wonder how his dog is doing? What type of dog does Lady Gaga have again? Sh*t where is my dog? Did I feed her this morning? Oh no. She’s got a frog. Are frogs toxic to dogs? I wonder how many types of frogs there are in Canada? Or in the world? Crap the water is still boiling. Why am I up this tree again?” …If you know, you know.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is set reminders on your phone and develop systems that will keep you safe from your hijacked brain. I have a habit of checking in with myself physically while hiking when I see 45 on my watch. If it’s 11:45 I go through a list of: Have I drank water recently? Is my face flushed? Do I need to put more sunscreen on? Is the dog ok? Does she need water? Am I hungry? Am I feeling clammy or sluggish? Are any injuries holding up ok? Is my pack still good? Where am I on the map? It takes only a minute and will save you from having to stop for a few hours to recoup before you get to the site.
Another thing I have found that works are colours. When I am packing up I look for brightly colour things around the campsite and if it’s brightly coloured it probably needs to go in the bag. Brightly coloured things are more likely to catch your attention when you scan the site so if you have a habit of leaving things behind (like me), brightly coloured gear will help eliminate some of that problem.
If you are wanting to remember the trail to post about it or tell someone about it then photos and notes are the way to go. The ADHD brain doesn’t always remember things well because we get so distracted but taking lots of pictures, even if they are not THE picture will help you remember what the trail is like and key points. If you can, writing keynotes on your phone is also good for remembering. When I do a few trails in a day I’ll write down what the path is made of, how long it is, any animals, what the elevation is like and footwear along with photos to help me write up a full and detailed review of the spot.
For packing, I have a reusable checklist on my phone that I can put check marks on every time I pack something in my bag and then clear it when I am done with the trail or trip.
EATING DISORDERS: *possible trigger warning* Eating disorders can go both ways. Overeating and undereating. I’ll go over both here.
Binge-eating episodes on the trail are going to be hard to do. You have to pre-plan out your food and budget the weight of your food. With canoeing, you can pack more food but you have to keep in mind that it will spoil. When I was on one medication, I struggled with binge-eating episodes. My go-to on the trail or at the site was trail mix and popcorn. I found if the group dynamics around me were making me anxious, something like popcorn became a safe way to “stress eat”. It would fill me up but not be a ton of stuff that will mess up the digestive system.
This leads me to my next point, which applies to both overeating and undereating: Be careful whom you bring with you. The wrong group can trigger you to have a binge episode. The wrong people can also trigger you to avoid food or trigger body dysmorphia.
A year after the cravings to binge, I was attempting to level out my hormones and began struggling with the opposite side of the spectrum where the idea of taking a full-body picture of myself made all of those terrible self-esteem thoughts come up because I didn’t look like the Instagram hiking models. On one camping trip, a friend who happened to eat next to nothing for every meal and always looked runway ready, even in the bush, had joined me and I hit a pretty big point of food avoidance. At the time I knew that not eating properly would put me at risk for so many ailments, but I couldn’t get past that part of my brain that told me to suck it up. I struggled a lot that trip and by the third day I ended up using some cannabis medicinally to help with anxiety and knee pain, and with that came the munchies. After getting some trail mix into me and a nap, I realized how mindless I was being since I was the only one in the group with backcountry experience.
Now with some help from my amazing therapist and a wonderful network of support in my life, I can take those full-body pictures and see them as an amazing memory in nature. I can also realize that I wasn’t being mindless. I was struggling with my mind and should have been more careful about whom I brought on the trip. If I knew someone was coming who could trigger me like that, I should’ve brought a friend that could balance that out for me so I could stay in a good mindset.
Unfortunately, I only had that one friend and another who wasn’t very supportive of mental health struggles, and who would subtly encourage eating disorders. Once I realized the toxicity of it all I was able to leave that friendship behind but that trip made me realize how important it is to regulate your diet while backcountry camping.
If you are struggling with finding your appetite then protein shakes are a great boost! I do take protein powder with me in case I need it, or in case a trail mate is struggling in that regard.
On another note, if you are struggling with maintaining your diet one way or the other, take a safe friend in with you. Doesn’t have to be a human friend either. My dog reminds me to eat on the trail because she is so food motivated that she will never miss a meal!
DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMERS If you have a loved one that has been diagnosed with Dementia or Alzheimers and they love camping and being in nature, there often is a safe way to bring them with you and let them enjoy the nature they love. There are several canoe-in spots in provincial and national parks that are on islands. You will have to plan because these spots do book up fast. Canoeing would be the safest way to take them back woods camping. Once you are on the island, you can give them and yourself some freedom knowing that if they wander there is only so far they can go. Also, there is typically less large wildlife on the islands as well.
One thing I will recommend very strongly if they are a wanderer is to get a tile tracker. I use tile for my dog, my earbuds, and my phone. You can use them for wallets and keys as well! With my dog, I put a key tracker on her collar and I can track her up to 300 feet if she gets away from me. With my grandfather (who has frontal lobe dementia) we put a tracker on his belt. He always wore his belt and when he would walk and/or wander we could find him much faster. They have several different shapes and sizes that can be put into pockets, wallets, lanyards, and bags.
Make sure your loved one has good and comfortable footwear to reduce the risk of falls, and don’t be afraid to bring a rope. My dad used to do that with us when we were learning to walk and camping. He would just put a rope around the safe, even ground area and we would have that mental reminder to stay where it was safe or be careful outside of it.
You can also get lightweight hammocks, that come with a bug net that zips around the whole hammock. These are normally $40 on Amazon and you can hang them high or low enough that you don’t need to worry about a loved one having issues getting out of the hammock safely.
Another tip I would suggest is to get a tent with a zipper that fastens together and only has one door. Fine motor jobs like that will deter late-night adventures and having the affected person sleep on the side of the tent furthest from the door will make it so they have to climb over you to get out.
My last tip is, don’t go alone. Do not do a trip like that with just you and your affected person. Have a small group of you do this trip and make sure everyone knows the situation and the severity of the situation. Make sure they know this will not be a relaxing/ do whatever trip. You will need to take shifts keeping tabs on your afflicted loved one so that the primary caretaker can relax too.
That is all for this post. If you have comments, suggestions, tips and tricks, please let me know.
My next post will be up in a few days and we are going to review the TJ Dolan trail located in beautiful Stratford, Ontario. Stay safe, happy, and healthy!
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