EP133: How A Backcountry Trip Can Change Your Life And Practice with Chris Kelly

In this episode, Sachin interviews Chris Kelly, backcountry outfitter and friend, about the benefits of being in nature with a group, disconnecting from technology and using primal survival knowledge and skills, supporting each other, and growing naturally. Listen in for ways to embrace the natural world and put aside the office for a while.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:02] Sachin introduces and welcomes Chris Kelly to the Perfect Practice podcast. Chris is an outfitter and Sachin’s outdoor mentor, friend, and guide in so many ways.

 

[2:11] Sachin met Chris on a three-day group camping trip in Algonquin. Chris and his brother Kieran involved everyone in meaningful, positive ways. Sachin was so impressed, he brought a group of his friends the following year for another amazing trip.

 

[3:46] The Time we spend with people is magnified in a backcountry camping experience over multiple days. Sachin learned more on a four-day trip than on a three-day trip.

 

[4:55] Sachin points out that your business can never grow bigger than you. You’re like the trunk of a tree and your business is a branch coming off of that tree. Grow yourself to grow all the branches of your life, including your business. Part of that process occurs when we disconnect and go back to the essence of who we are.

 

[6:37] Chris describes the moment on a paddle when the person he was paddling with told him that his trips were transformational. It was an epiphany. People can rewrite their stories. They take down barriers they have put up. They stop telling themselves “I can’t,” knowing “I did.”

 

[8:41] In the backcountry, there are no services, electronics, or artificial lights. On the first day, you find your footing and it seems to be going in slow motion. In a new environment, you’ve got to pay attention to everything. If you twist your ankle, you’re a liability. The environment brings you new ways of thinking.

 

[10:16] When you’re out there, you’re a different person, entirely. There’s so much onboarding of these skills that we have from being hunter-gatherers for 99.9% of our existence. You might think portages are scary but you navigate it with ease. It’s amazing how we adapt. You’re breaking an autopilot. You have an intense presence.

 

[12:02] Taking high school kids to the backcountry for four days removes them from their devices. When they get home, they don’t want to see their phones. You see a shift in their behaviors. In the case of an emergency, Chris had a satellite phone available.

 

[14:05] Coming back from the first trip, Sachin realized he would rather paddle for three hours than drive for three hours to get home, it was such a magical experience that changes you in so many ways. It makes you tough; it softens you. Sachin describes the magic of seeing the sun for 15 minutes after five cloudy, rainy days.

 

[17:04] Chris says you build a relationship with nature. It’s a reflection of your relationship with yourself. As people return to the backcountry, they become more themselves. They become more grounded. Families experience great beneficial changes. Everyone’s accomplishing something together. Their stories wash away in community and love. This carries back to life.

 

[20:31] Sachin shares a reflection learned from the second trip when portaging uphill to the next lake, carrying packs or canoes. Everyone plays a role, big or small, glorious or not glorious.

 

[23:37] Chris talks of finding power in being humbled and disempowered and ultimately f