Happy Accidents Pandemic Style

The gang and I are getting ready to go camping across the Western United States. Just recently,  the bigger kids graduated to larger backpacks, so they can haul a bit more stuff, (they’ve been hauling their own tent and sleeping bags for years, but now they can take more food, water, the collected works of Elf Quest Vol. 1, and whathevs.) There was a bit of a conundrum though. Even though the gang has larger packs, it behooves one to practice with the heavier weight for a bit to get used to it, but there’s a pandemic, and therein lied the rub. 

The pandemic has—perhaps paradoxically—actually thinned out the number of camping trips we take each year. You’d think out in a forest would be better during a pandemic right? I agree, but our camping route, no matter how we’ve tried it so far always involves a bus ride for the last leg. Even if we walk to the ferry terminal in downtown San Francisco, even if we take the ferry—where we sit outside—across the bay rather than the bus over the bridge, we eventually wind up on a smallish bus for the last half hour of the trip. And so, we’re limited in our camping trips by COVID-19 case counts. When case counts go above a certain number, we don’t ride buses anymore, and so we don’t camp.

Which was turning into a bit of an issue—in my mind at least—because, as I mentioned, practice with a heavier pack is kinda nice to have. I ran through some possible solutions in my mind, the most promising of which was to load our packs and hike around the park. At the end of the day though, that seemed ridiculous to such an extent that I was worried it’d turn the kids off of backpacking altogether ala, “Where are we hiking to today?”

“Same place we went yesterday… Nowhere. That’s right, right back to the house.”

But then! The same thing that caused our first problem—rising case counts, so no transit—caused a second problem: we couldn’t take the bus to the farmers’ market anymore. Guess what though!? The farmers’ market is within walking distance of the house… So… We were back in business. The second problem solved the first. We had a reason to backpack once a week, and plenty of things to be carried that actually needed to be carried! Even better, the farmers’ market is towards the bottom of one of our legendary San Francisco hills, and our house is closer to the top, so not only did we get to pack 3 miles round trip, we got to do the mile and a half where we were pointed back up the hill loaded down with produce and bread!

And, so, we took two inconvenient things caused by this pandemic, and came out with a net gain. I wish the pandemic was over, but in the mean time I hope we can keep up this lucky trend of one inconvenience solving another.