Back to the Future
Do you ever think about what it would be like to time travel?
As a fisherman, I will often think. "What would it be like to fish this river 50-100 years ago?" I'm sure the fishing would be amazing. It can also be depressing quite often to see the destruction humans have caused.
I went through a period of reading Historical non-fiction, Books about the mapping and exploration of North America. Lewis and Clarke era stuff. In these readings, I read about a man named John Colter. Although no doubt the stories were embellished some. There was no denying he was an outdoor badass. Please forgive my potential historical inaccuracy.
One of the most catching stories was returning east after a long expedition, and they met another exploration party headed West. He asked to be discharged and returned with the other party to trap the areas he saw in his travels.
Often I find myself thinking about what it would be like to adopt modern technology to periods of the past. Can you imagine handing John Colter the keys to a 2021 Mountain sled? Talk about a mind-bender! He could cover a week's worth of ground in a day. What about handing him a headlamp and a fistful of AAA batteries. What about giving him a GORETEX jacket and a pair of waders to replace the buckskins. They would cross rivers during the winter, be sopping wet, dry out and continue. I consider myself a relatively outdoorsy guy, but the thought of a wet night in the backcountry(without proper preparedness) in the winter is quite terrifying.
What about if you pulled up next to the Lewis and Clarke expedition with a Helicopter. "Hey guys, I've got a little extra fuel today, hop in and I can take you for a ride. I'll save you a little bit of time". YA THINK ?????
As an outdoorsman, I think we are moving backwards. Maybe if we gave John Colter a GPS unit, he would think its stupid and wouldn't bother to lug along that weight. They knew how to navigate. The sun rose and set when it happened, they didn't need a gizmo to tell them when. They used Knowledge of the Sun, stars and surrounding environment to show their way and likely paid more attention to where they were so they would be able to find their way back there again. Kind of like how when you have someone spouting directions while you are driving. You never really learn how to get there. Figure it out yourself by map, establishing landmarks and paying attention to distances. You will have a much better idea of how to get back there the next time.