“What do you do?”
Ah yes. That question.
The setting is a neighborhood coffee bar patio, a barbeque, an afternoon cocktail party. The one asking is usually a friend of a friend. I take a sip of my appropriate beverage.
Various responses flick to mind. An engineer by training, a marketer by profession, a writer by night, a photographer when the mood strikes me. But no. I think I’ll avoid discussing ontological engineering or product pitches while my new acquaintance props his smile fixed, eyes glazed.
The correct response springs to tongue.
“I hike.”
A perplexed look, furrowed brows.
“What?”
“I hike. Backpack. Canoe. Fastpack. Trail run. Camp. That’s what I do.”
“But…what do you do for a living?”
“Does that really matter? Hey, let me tell you about the time I was trapped in a windstorm and had to bivy on a cliff face…”
The night continues, and with the zeal of an amateur performer fueled by a few chilled pints, I regale them with tales of near tragedies and alpine triumphs. I happily field questions about why I love the outdoors so much and how they too can start hiking.
We sip on scotch. Neat. By then, we’ve switched to scotch.
“Hey. Have you considered starting a blog?”
Hmm. A blog. Good idea.
So…who the hell is Norman?
Hello. I’m Norman, a Toronto-based backcountry hiker, paddler and fastpacker, with a particular passion for philosophy, minimalism and the pursuit of nature’s quiet pleasures.
For the past seven years, this pursuit has taken me to many wild regions across North America, from bucolic New England woods to the tundras of Baffin Island, and further to many other treks around the world, like the Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland, the Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan and eastern Nepal.
I started this blog as a means to share my experiences, trip plans and outdoor advice to help you discover the joys and benefits of ‘going wild’.
Connect with me.
If you’d like to follow along in real time, you can follow me on Instagram.