Backpacking 18 miles? No problem

By GARRET MATHEWS
Courier & Press columnist
Originally published 12:00 a.m., November 19, 2006
Updated 10:49 p.m., November 18, 2006

Weary stragglers plodded Saturday past grain fields along the Copperline Road in rural Posey County toward the end of an 18-mile course.

Some limped. Others shivered.

But not retired Lt. Col. Nick Chessman.

The 52-year-old stood straight and tall as if he was just back from a stroll around the neighborhood, his uniform still freshly starched. He finished the march in a little more than four hours, coming in well ahead of men and women half his age.

"I do a lot of jogging, so that helps. I put in 12 miles out here today before my legs started to get sore. Some of the young ones think they can just head out the front door and make it that far. They soon find out otherwise."

Chessman, who teaches ROTC at Owensboro, Ky., High School, looked down the gravel road.

"I brought three kids with me, and they're still out on the course. I guess they'll get here when they get here."

On Saturday, the ROTC program at the University of Southern Indiana hosted the fifth annual Norwegian Road March. Participants were required to dress in military uniforms and carry 25-pound packs.

Eighty-seven men and women entered the event, including 22 cadets from USI. Also represented were members of the 163rd Field Artillery Battalion of the Indiana National Guard in Evansville.

A time of four hours, 30 minutes was good enough to win an award.

The idea for the march originated with Dr. Nils Johansen, an academic advisor at USI and a one-time second lieutenant in the Norwegian army.

"In my country, soldiers earn a badge for an 18-mile hike with pack. Not everybody gets it, but everybody tries. I thought it would be something good to do here."

Johansen was in the Norwegian service from 1960 until 1964, when he came to the United States to study at Purdue.

"I'm not in the best shape shape right now because of my back, but I did six of these road marches when I was in field artillery," the 65-year-old said.

Sgt. 1st Class Ken Suratt, an ROTC instructor at USI, helped coordinate the event.

"Starting in September, our cadets trained three times a week for this," Suratt said.

"Participation wasn't required, but it was strongly encouraged, if you know what I mean."

Many families who live along the course provided Gatorade, water and apples to the marchers.

"It was nice to see all that support," the 35-year-old Suratt said. "You don't feel like you're out there by yourself."

A member of the Army since 1988, he was trained as an MP.

"I haven't been to Iraq, but I was part of the team that went to Panama on the Noriega mission."

In March, Suratt will take some of his cadets to northern Michigan for a 25-mile hike with packs, called the Frozen Chosen.

"I won't have to map the course or worry about water stops, so I'll join the guys for that one."

When Suratt musters out of the service in two years, he hopes to be a golf pro.

"My second life will definitely be different from my first," he said.

The Backpacking Theory

Mark Zimmer
The Backpacking Theory

Every time this thought of lecturing about how good someone has it enters my mind, I get the same feeling that I imagine an elderly person gets when they remember the speech they just gave that started with, “When I was your age…” Although I am younger than many of the people that I explain my basic theory to, I can’t help but realize that I have a rather unusual look on not just making money but life overall.

The “theory” that I am talking about is one that I coined while trudging though some hot, stagnant aired forest with mosquitoes the size of small birds sucking blood out of me faster you could say, “Oh my God, I hope I don’t get West Nile Virus!” It was during this exhilarating experience that I came up with my “How to enjoy life: Appreciation through Deprivation” thesis.

The whole basis for this “theory,” if you can call it that, is that the best way someone can learn to enjoy their surroundings and learn to be patient while being persistent, is to take themselves out of their comfort zone, and go for total misery. And the quickest, cheapest, and easiest path that I know of to leave your comfort zone and give you a healthy dose of deprivation is: backpacking.

Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, I want to make it clear that although I enjoy pointing some of the lesser attributes of backpacking, it is an activity that I enjoy. After reading this some may wonder WHY I enjoy it, and the best justification that I can give is to tell them to give it a try. With that being said, I will get back to backpacking.

At the basis of this theory, there are two main principles that are separate issues; but they work together to address one main “problem” that many people feel that they face. The first problem addressed is the feeling of not having enough material possessions, and the second is the annoying habit of feeling sorry for oneself.

Addressing the first principle of not having enough material possessions happens almost the moment a backpacker steps on the trail. Since everything that the individual brought along is on their back, it becomes instantly obvious that more is not better. The mind suddenly starts to run through the pile of unnecessary junk on your back, and begin to wonder why that pillow, extra shirt, or toothbrush handle (no joke) is being lugged around. This thought process rapidly accelerates when walking on inclines, and jumps exponentially when pushing yourself back up after face planting down a hill. It usually doesn’t take long for the mind to reach the conclusion that although most stuff in life is nice, it sure isn’t necessary.

The second issue of feeling sorry for yourself really never actually goes away; it is just magnified so much that once you reach society again, feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t make sense, since you are excited almost to a childish level. I will give a few examples that may seem ridiculous but are actually true. Take something as basic as a real meal. Quickly jumping back to our first issue, we remember that less is better, and this goes for food as well both in weight and quantity (and usually quality). After a week of rice, beans, dried fruit, and oatmeal; a cheeseburger is a real Godsend. On a more basic level, running water is a truly exciting thing upon your return to the real world. After a week of drinking warm, fishy tasting water that has been flavored with iodine to kill any viruses that the water filter missed, a simple glass of cold water is better than can be imagined. The list of examples goes on and on from sleeping with a pine cone you forgot to move jabbing you in the back all night; to trying to bathe in water that is so cold it does disturbing things to certain parts of the male’s anatomy and makes breathing while bathing, next to impossible. The point of realizing that, “Hey, I don’t have it so bad,” sets in real quick when you hop back into your vehicle and drive to a motel for the night.

The best thing, however, that I feel backpacking offers is the chance to think. Backpacking is physically tiring but mentally stimulating. There is very little noise, and the mind gets a chance to just relax and wander.

So there you have it; the next time you feel that you have it SO hard, and that you NEED that new suit, car, gold-plated harmonica, or whatever; remember that a little bit of serious deprivation can end up making your everyday world pretty rosy. And from that foundation, one can go out and happily achieve their goals while never feeling like they HAVE to get to a certain point to be successful.