Arctic Perfection, Sunset \u2013 Norwegian Arctic, September 6, 1998. (On Sacred Ground by Andrew Terrill.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
A writing friend of mine sometimes quips that a now late famed outdoor and nature author would doubtless kneel in awe at the simple sight of a flock of gulls, such was their rapture for the natural world. At times I wondered if Terrill would similarly lay on the enthusiasm a little thick. \u201cI worshipped the very ground I walked upon. It wasn\u2019t soil and rock any longer but a home to tread with absolute respect. The earth beneath my feet had become sacred \u2013 I was walking on sacred ground,\u201d Terrill eulogises in the mountains of Norway. Yet the joy he manages to derive from each day on the trail is infectious, it rubs off, and you want to hear more of it.<\/p>\n
Expedition memoirs can sometimes be dull and formulaic, or worse over dramatised or pretentious. On Sacred Ground however, is written with great humility and in an intense and engaging style that gathers momentum like a runaway train. And a laugh (usually at himself) is never too far around the corner with \u2018Mad Mountain Jack\u2019, Terrill\u2019s hiking alter ego.<\/p>\n
Come the end I was saddened to finish, and I\u2019m hoping Andrew Terrill will write more. For now, both books will be treasured and keep a permanent place on my bookshelf. They are I believe elevated above many in the genre for their remarkable ability to connect so strongly with the reader. By the end, you too feel that your boots are muddied and soul enriched after countless months of walking through untamed Europe. That takes some doing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\nSnowshoeing into the Norwegian wild April 26 1998. On Sacred Ground by Andrew Terrill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Author Q&A<\/strong><\/p>\nAsh\u00a0Routen\/The Outdoor Journal:<\/i><\/strong> Last time around we asked you if you thought repeating the walk today would change the experience. You answered \u201cIn every way that matters, it wouldn\u2019t be different at all.\u201d I wonder though, particularly after the devastatingly warm summer in the Alps, if the change in climate in the past half century might have altered the landscape and wildlife on your route?<\/p>\n Andrew Terrill:<\/em><\/strong> Well, of course \u2013 to deny that there have been changes would be extremely odd! Weather extremes are clearly more extreme, averages are dramatically altered, ecological zones are shifting, glaciers are melting at shocking speed. The evidence of change was clear even twenty-five years ago, and since then the pace of change has only increased.<\/p>\n\nGlaciers may have shrunk, and climate change does \u2018matter\u2019 greatly, that\u2019s for sure. But the potential rewards from a walk like mine remain exactly the same.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
But I stand by what I said: that in \u2018ways that matter\u2019 the journey wouldn\u2019t be any different. For one thing, change has always been a constant. What in life doesn\u2019t change? Dealing with it isn\u2019t only part of an outdoor journey; it is part of life itself. For another, backpacking is still essentially the same activity. Gear is lighter, but progress still comes from placing one foot before the other. Challenge and adventure can still be found, as can freedom from the stresses of \u2018normal\u2019 life. Days can still be stripped back to basics, lived more simply. Solitude can still be found. Personal limits can still be pushed. Lessons can still be learnt. Connection with nature is still possible\u2026 for those who seek it. If you get caught in a thunderstorm you\u2019ll still get just as wet!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that someone walking into Europe\u2019s wildest places will find some of them altered. But they will<\/em> still find wild places, and if they spend 18 months embedded in them the experience will almost certainly have impact. That\u2019s<\/em> the detail that counts: the transformative power of a long and difficult undertaking \u2013 of any kind of long and difficult undertaking, not just outdoor adventures. Just as a hard physical journey will still reshape muscles, so the \u2018inward\u2019 side of a long journey will still reshape a life. Glaciers may have shrunk, and climate change does \u2018matter\u2019 greatly, that\u2019s for sure. But the potential rewards from a walk like mine remain exactly the same. These rewards are the \u2018things that matter\u2019, in the context of this answer.<\/p>\nTOJ:<\/em><\/strong> Some of the most powerful sections of On Sacred Ground<\/em> were those where you met with the kindness of strangers. People seem more self-focused than back in the late 90\u2019s. Would you really be met with the same kindness nowadays?<\/p>\nAT:<\/em><\/strong> Ah, those were some of the journey\u2019s best moments for me, too! Homes opened, help given unconditionally, hospitality from strangers, insights into other lives \u2013 gifts that I\u2019d never experienced quite that way before starting the journey.<\/p>\nBut yes, absolutely \u2013 that kindness still exists. Basic human nature took 200,000 years to evolve and it hasn\u2019t changed in recent years, even though media sources might try to convince us otherwise. Spend too much time online and one could develop a very pessimistic view of humanity! But out in the \u2018real world\u2019 away from our screens there\u2019s a different reality: the far-kinder place I experienced on my walk\u2026 and still encounter today, even off the trail.<\/p>\n
To test this, I posed your question to a couple of backpacking groups online, asking hikers who have been on recent trips if they\u2019ve received help from strangers. The \u2018yes we have\u2019 response was immediate and utterly convincing. Tales of spontaneous acts of generosity poured straight in, mirroring my own experiences from twenty-five years ago.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not surprised. It\u2019s all too easy to let the narrative we are fed online affect our outlook. The cure, however, is no different than it was decades ago: step out into the world with eyes open and you\u2019ll find a more positive reality. Approach people patiently and with kindness and most of the time you\u2019ll be treated the same way back. Sure, some people are self-centred and always will be. Sure, the world isn\u2019t perfect \u2013 and never will be. And, sure, there will always be change and sometimes it won\u2019t seem good. But as I learnt during my walk: I can\u2019t control the weather\u2026 but I can control how I deal with it. And I can\u2019t control other people\u2026 but I can control how I approach them, which can alter how they respond to me. I learnt that a smile prompts a smile, that kindness breeds kindness. This hasn\u2019t changed. Go test this for yourself!<\/p>\n
\nstep out into the world with eyes open and you\u2019ll find a more positive reality. Approach people patiently and with kindness and most of the time you\u2019ll be treated the same way back<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
TOJ:<\/strong><\/em> I was left wishing I could experience the same passion and enjoyment for the natural world that you clearly did. But I wonder if it takes a long time immersed in the outdoors to truly feel it? The most I\u2019ve done is 20 days on an expedition.<\/p>\nAT:<\/strong><\/em> Well, it might<\/em> take a significant amount of time. Or it might not! Someone else might find in five days what it took me five-hundred to find! I might simply be as ridiculously slow at connecting with nature as I am at writing books!<\/p>\nHowever\u2026 I do<\/em> know that previous walks hadn\u2019t got me there, even though the longest lasted six months. Half a year might sound like a long time to walk, but for me it wasn\u2019t long enough. On those earlier trips there were moments when I felt<\/em> fully embedded in nature, when I believed<\/em> I was as happy as I could be. But it turned out that those moments of happiness and connection were only shadows of what I ultimately experienced in Arctic Norway.<\/p>\nI think that, for most people, it probably does take weeks \u2013 if not months \u2013 to strip away the habits and thought processes that modern life forces us to develop, things that can get in the way of paying attention, of living in the moment. I think it takes a significant amount of time to adapt to life outside to the point where even the roughest conditions become emotionally comfortable. (Possibly, you have to live through an entire winter outside to get to this place where discomforts become irrelevant, or even better: valuable!) I think it takes time to fully let go of expectations, to stop thinking about what we want from a walk or a climb and to accept it as it is, to see value in it no matter how it plays out. I think it takes time to tune in to all the subtleties of nature, to \u2018see\u2019 and \u2018feel\u2019 it with all<\/em> our senses and instincts \u2013 senses and instincts that we simply don\u2019t use during our indoor lives, senses and instincts that need time and nurturing to reawaken.<\/p>\nBut it\u2019s not only about time. Experiences play a massive part. Every experience has potential to change us. My own journey had a lot of \u2018experiences\u2019 \u2013 some good, some bad, some intense, some subtle. But they all built up one upon another, layer upon layer, changing me incrementally, laying the foundation for who I became, for what I was open to, and for what I ultimately found: an elevated state of happiness and connection that was utterly unimaginable prior to experiencing it; something I might even have rolled my eyes at if I\u2019d seen someone else trying to describe it. But it was real!<\/p>\n
Experiences add up \u2013 perhaps that\u2019s the biggest takeaway. The beautiful thing is we get to choose our experiences. Choose the right ones, choose enough of them, let them all come together, and who knows what we might find!<\/p>\n
TOJ:<\/strong><\/em> Do you plan to revisit sections from the walk again, or are they best left in the past?<\/p>\nAT:<\/strong><\/em> There are so many places I\u2019d love to go back to \u2013 although flying to Europe simply to go for a walk is environmentally questionable, especially when I have perfectly good mountains on my doorstep here in Colorado!<\/p>\nBut the mountains and forests of Abruzzo call. I could happily spend months back there. I don\u2019t think I did the area justice \u2013 I saw so little of it when I was merely \u2018passing through\u2019. It would be interesting to go back to Calabria as well. I spent a lot of time in Calabria lost, thanks to the \u2018less-than-adequate\u2019 maps I had at the time. It would be fascinating to try again with a satellite map and a GPS!<\/p>\n
I\u2019d love-love-love to go back to Norway and walk the length of the country again. Knowing what I now know would make it a very different journey. I\u2019d carry a far lighter load, for one thing. And probably better snowshoes. And definitely a tent that doesn\u2019t leak!<\/p>\n
But to be honest, no place or experience from the journey has<\/em> been left in the past \u2013 or should have been. \u2018Living in the past\u2019 is often framed as bad thing, but I\u2019m not so sure that\u2019s right. As already mentioned, past experiences add up. They make us who we are. Why banish any of them \u2018to the past\u2019 when they can still bring benefits now? Instead of \u2018living in the past\u2019 consider it \u2018the past living in the present\u2019. Consider the past the foundation that our present sits upon, still there beneath our feet. What I found in Arctic Norway, for example, hasn\u2019t left me. Each day is richer because of it. A return to Norway or any part of the journey wouldn\u2019t really be a \u2018going back\u2019 \u2013 it would be a continuation, a moving forward. It wouldn\u2019t change or spoil what previously happened. It would only add to it.<\/p>\nTOJ:<\/strong><\/em> The books were decades in the making. How difficult did you find the writing process?<\/p>\nAT:<\/strong><\/em> Very<\/em> difficult! Some writers seem able to type out a book in a few weeks. But that\u2019s not me! It can take me a long<\/em> time to even get a single sentence right. I might have a clear idea in mind, but when I attempt to get it down it will frequently wobble out of shape like clay on a potter\u2019s wheel touched by a beginner. It\u2019s almost comical how hard I make it look!<\/p>\nI\u2019m not a natural writer, that\u2019s become clear to me. But despite the difficulty of the process it\u2019s grown into something I treasure for the \u2018journey\u2019 of growth it can be. At first, telling the story of my walk seemed fairly simple. It wasn\u2019t like writing fiction: they key events actually happened, the story already had good shape, and so all I had to do was transcribe it\u2026 or so I thought. But then I realised that something was missing. A mere retelling of events lacked depth. The tales were entertaining enough, but ultimately they didn\u2019t mean anything.<\/p>\n
\nWhy<\/em> had I even begun the journey in the first place? What<\/em> was the sheer bloody point of it all?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSo I pushed myself to go deeper, and that\u2019s where the hard work really began. I tried to understand the whys<\/em> and whats<\/em> of the journey. Why<\/em> had I reacted the way I did? Why<\/em> was a place the way it was? Why<\/em> had events unfolded the way they did? Why<\/em> had I even begun the journey in the first place? What<\/em> was the sheer bloody point of it all? (As my father might still ask!)<\/p>\nSearching for honest answers became a second life-changing journey, one that was far harder and took far<\/em> longer than the original walk. Honesty<\/em> was the crucial thing. Without it the story would have no value, neither to me nor to a reader. And of course, it wasn\u2019t enough to merely find honest answers and understand them myself \u2013 I had to articulate them so that they made sense to others. Looking back, I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t keep track of how many thousands of hours and rewrites this took. Like the size of my backpack during the hike, the amount of my life I put into writing is simply embarrassing!<\/p>\nThe task I set myself was to create a book that used a few emblematic moments to accurately describe an entire journey, that was hopefully entertaining and easy-to-read on the surface, but that could also offer deeper layers for anyone who cared to explore them. Once I\u2019d finished writing, and once the story had been edited and published, I still had no real idea if it would have value to anyone else. But letters from readers show me that it might. People have told me that they can identify with the journey: with its varied challenges, with how being in nature feels, with why<\/em> it feels that way. I wrote to share, and people have shared back \u2013 a fantastic reward for two decades-plus of work!<\/p>\n\u2014<\/p>\n
On Sacred Ground was published on October 1st in hardback, paperback, and ebook by Enchanted Rock Press. It is available on Amazon, and for more details see, andrewterrill.com.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Arctic](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arctic_perfection_Sunset_Norwegian_Arctic_September_6_1998-1024x721.jpg\")
![\"Snowshoeing](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/snowshoeing_into_the_Norwegian_wild_April_26_1998-1024x630.jpg\")