Long days of rhythmic, meditative footsteps across unfamiliar terrain allow for easy access to mystic-lite states of consciousness. Where the balance between the internal and external experience is a sort of perpetual motion, a physical reflection of the inner need for exploration, growth, and understanding.
But then again, I’m a romantic.
This idealized view of reality glosses over the fact that you are also stealth camping in the tropical hammocks of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. An environment filled with poisonwood trees, whose oil is extremely toxic and can blind you if you get it in your eyes.
Even more distressing are the biting insects. Despite being much smaller than mosquitoes, No-See-Ums deliver bites that are significantly more painful. These tiny insects cut into your skin, extracting blood proteins needed to fertilize their eggs.
Luckily, No-See-Ums do not lay eggs in your skin, unlike the local adult female sand flea who burrows into your skin and can grow 2,000 times in size as her eggs develop.
And that is what came to mind as my legs, covered in itchy, swollen red bites, demanded a level of attention that forced me out of the clouds and back to reality.
After dark, when I crawl into my tent, it is hard to resist the primal urge to scratch all of my skin off my body. At that time my blood is still pumping from the hike, my body radiating heat, my pores open to adjust to the lightened workload, and my skin comes alive with an unspeakable number of invisible fire ants, eating me alive.
It isn’t always easy to meditate back from that madness. Ibuprofen can be effective in easing the pain and swelling, but it was the company and stories of fellow travelers who invited me out for drinks that helped put our shared burden in perspective.
The communion of shared experiences acts as a balm, soothing the ache of solitary suffering and forging connections that make pain more bearable.
From bliss to bites and back again, we are all defining the resolution of awareness beyond one’s comfort zone.
#wandering #floridakeys #stealthcamping