Exploring the American Wilderness and Other Adventures

Fernan Lake Natural Area, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Writing is hard. Writing for a website where your work is immediately available for public viewing and scrutiny is hard. Writing for the public in hopes of connecting to others in some way is hard. “They” say to write like no one is ever going to read it, to write like everyone is dead, to write like you are dying. I am a bold person and this is still difficult for me. People are going to read it. Everyone is not dead. I am dying, but really, everyone is. I have neglected writing things that I knew I should. I have written about some people in kinder ways than they deserved. And perhaps I have not written about some things as well as I should. Perhaps that is part of writing for a website where your work is immediately available for public viewing in hopes of connecting with that public – to learn to do better and to write about it.

Today’s hike is a hike that I hear myself saying to just throw up on Instagram and move on, that it is too small to write about, that no one cares. As I move into the new year, facing gigantic new things in the near future, I admit that those who may think that this is too small to write about are not those who I am here to reach. I am here to reach the ones that need to know that they can have beautiful experiences on every trail and they can make adventure exactly where they are.

Barbarian Scientist, his spawn, and I joined some friends last night so we could “run into the new year” and it was really fun. We ran to a ridge near Canfield Mountain in hopes of catching a view of the neighboring towns midnight fireworks shows, but in the classic PNW fashion, the fog was so thick that we had no visibility.

I had a big hope for my First Day Hike, but was kindly talked out of it in hopes that we get some snow and that particular trail will be more fun. Barbarian Scientist and I instead went to Fernan Lake Natural Area, in Coeur d’Alene because it is close, easy, and neither of us had been there in a long time. It is located between Fernan Lake and Lake Coeur d’Alene. The trailhead is easily accessed from Lake Coeur d’Alene Drive, which is a popular place right now because the American Bald Eagle migrates through here during the winter. The trail system is small and on the side of Potlatch Hill. It is a loop with a couple of spurs to view points of both lakes, as well as an access point to Fernan Lake.

The trails are single-track and quite muddy right now. Trail work progress is evident, but when you get closer to the lake, the shore has a lot of litter left behind from fisherman. It is a relatively new recreation area, having been donated to the city only a little over ten years ago. Establishing trail systems is a long process that relies upon the slow process of gaining grant money and volunteer labor.

Overall, we walked 1.5 miles with 350′ elevation gain. It was a peaceful and easy field trip to break up a quiet day of preparing for the new year and the exciting new things we have ahead. Because this is a small adventure, I was not inclined to write about it. But as we face our new future of things to still be announced, I am faced with the opportunity to focus better on my writing and the attached goals. I may not ever have a better opportunity to start over and fix my time and energy on those things. Sometimes writing might be about telling myself the things I want to tell other people – the small adventures are what helps us get closer to our big adventures, and without them, I cannot fully write about the big adventures.