Rooted Wanderings

“There’s our boat!” We spotted the enormous shiny white and blue ferry among the ships in Aberdeen’s busy harbor. Painted on the side of the ship was a massive stylized Viking man with his long beard blowing biblically in the wind. He pointed his hand with epic drama towards the sea, towards adventure! Although we would be sitting back in cushy recliner seats rather than rowing the open ocean in a longboat all the way from Norway, we still felt that same attraction to far-off lands. This excitement pulled us towards the ferry. We zigzagged through the busy streets, waddling under the weight of our packs. Although the harbor scene wasn’t glamorous in the traditional sense, it had an excitingly intriguing flavor: neon-clad workers moved around on the decks of freighters, heavy cargo trucks roared through the streets, rain spattered down on us, seagulls squawked wildly, and a fishy ocean smell pervaded the air. Over the next two weeks, along with lots of lovely nature, we would get

Full of the enthusiasm of a new adventure, we laced up our boots, hoisted on our slimmed-down backpacks, and picked up our hiking poles. Cairngorm mountains, here we come! Our first eager footsteps began a 12-day trek meandering through Cairngorms National Park. We had previously contemplated doing one of Scotland’s popular long-distance trails, but the descriptions of the park had instead pulled us here like a magnet: remote, wild, huge (4500 square kilometers), home to many of Scotland’s tallest mountains, with a subarctic climate and tundra-like landscape… all very enticing. Now, to begin! As we set off down a gravel track into a magical world of pine trees, we waved goodbye to the town of Nethy Bridge and to Lazy Duck Campground where we had spent the past night. We also waved goodbye to our laptops and other umpteen pounds of gear that we wouldn’t need on the trek and had stashed in the garage at Lazy Duck. The campground had been the most delightfully quirky jumping-off po