Hiking In The Drought

By Jim Hammond

Our backpacks were heavier than usual because of the drought conditions in Arizona. In my pack were a total of 4 water jugs (more than a gallon of water), not to mention the other necessary items for backpacking. The weight of our packs loaded with extra water created sore spots on our hips and shoulders as we hiked up the second highest peak in Arizona, Mount Baldy in the White Mountains. We wanted to complete a loop that we were unable to complete the year before because of lightning that was too close for comfort on the top of the mountain during a thunderstorm. This year the conditions were dry, perhaps too dry according to the forest service people who told us to carry the extra water as some of the springs were drying up.

One reason I enjoy backpacking is that the journey is a snapshot of life. Your backpack holds everything you need. You carry your shelter, your kitchen (a backpacking stove and a water purifying pump and mess kit), your clothing for protection (not fashion), your food (carefully selected by weight with a little consideration for flavor), your emergency items, mole skin, band aids, and more. It is a simplified picture of life.

Drought conditions only brought this picture into clearer focus. When is a person willing to carry more weight? When this weight is necessary for comfort or survival. Would you complain if your pack felt too heavy on a journey through the drought? Would you be tempted to dump your extra water to lighten the load? If you knew water was always available you would. In fact, I did dump my extra bottles of water on the down hill side of our climb since by then I knew that side of the hike paralleled a stream and water was always available. On the last leg of our hike I carried only one full bottle.

Let’s take a quick look at Psalm 1 through the eyes of a weary hiker in a drought going up mount Baldy on the dry side. It begins, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." What if your hiking companions were mockers (ours weren’t; they were encouragers)? What if they kept telling you to dump your extra water, and that there was plenty of water ahead? What would you do as you trudged wearily while watching them skip merrily along with their lighter packs?

The Psalm continues to describe the blessed man. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Do you agree with me that Bible reading, Bible study, and Bible meditation is work? Meditating on the law day and night means putting forth a good deal of effort. It means pondering God’s truths, memorizing them, to internalize them and allowing them to transform you. Meditation is work for the blessed man hiking the uphill climb through the drought! It is how he carries extra water. But watch as Psalms 1:3 describes the payoff for such work, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

My daughter carried in her pack a 72 ounce hydration system. It is not a bottle, but more like a pouch with a tube attached. It is a very efficient system for hikers. Anytime she was thirsty, she didn’t even have to stop to take off her pack, or have someone else pull out her water bottle. She just put the hydration tube in her mouth, bit the mouth piece and cool water came squirting into her mouth. “In season and out of season” on a hiking break or not she was always hydrated.

I have a question for you. Are you spiritually dry? Are you hiking in a drought? Does your pack hurt? Why don’t you stop for a drink, and load up your water bottle while you have the chance. See you at the lake on Sunday!